Based on the premise that in a supply chain there are numerous cause and effect links between events with the potential to determine the differentiation between competing firms, this study seeks identifying a correlation between the productive performance of a company and its capability. At first, it was identified, in a literature review, that capability and competence are terms used interchangeably and in the past they related primarily to production technologies and skills of employees of the company range. Presently, they refer to the conduct of business in terms of efficiency in service, responsiveness and cycle time of delivery. Thus, companies establish strategies for capability. This study, exploratory and descriptive kind, aimed to evaluate the relationship between the dimensions of strategy and capability and the moderating impact of productive performance in this relationship. The data collected from 90 companies in the metal-mechanic industry, and processed by descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis revealed that there is positive correlation between strategy and capability with magnitude that allows the interpretation that the productive performance may have acted as a moderator in this result. Due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, with a fixed sample of companies of different sizes and different contexts in metal-mechanic industry, and data collected at a single time, understanding the correlations was limited. It is recommended, therefore, the application of a new longitudinal research with a focus on a smaller number of firms for prolonged periods, so as to observe the process of changes in wider contexts in order to identify a cause and effect relationship and produce more meaningful academic and scientific results.
Supply chain management; Strategy; Capability; Production performance; Metal-mechanic
