Influence of Supply Chain Actors in Tea Export Planning: A Sri Lankan Case Study

The purpose of this study is to identify the supply chain actors involved in export planning of a Sri Lankan tea export company while understanding how these actors influence the tea export planning process. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) was incorporated as a theoretical lens to make sense of how both human and non-human actors have influenced the tea export planning process. The study adopted the single-site case study approach under the qualitative methodology. Data has been mainly collected through interviews carried on with the top, middle and lower level managerial employees. In light of ANT, the findings of this study illustrate that human actors: tea department personnel, shipping department personnel, new product development (NPD) team and accounts manager influence the tea export planning process through knowledge, skills and experience. Further, the study reveals that non-human actors: auction system, multiple supplier base, supplier evaluation process, ERP system, shipment scheduling process, government entities and transactional process influence the tea export planning through providing information, facilitating communication and ensuring transparency. The study suggests that the managers and practitioners attached to export oriented companies should be conscious about the influencing factors of each human and non-human actor of the supply chain in the process of planning exports and in solving strategic and operational issues when operating within and beyond Asia. Furthermore, this study aims to fill the lacuna in supply chain and export literature through exploring the supply chain actors (human and non-human) and their influence on the export planning process.