IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Impact of information technology on supply chain performance

Impact of information technology on supply chain performance

Introduction

The use of IT is considered as a prerequisite for the effective control of today's complex supply chains. Indeed, a recent study conducted by Forrester Research indicates that U.S. manufacturers are increasingly dependent on the benefits brought about by IT to: improve supply chain agility, reduce cycle time, achieve higher efficiency and deliver products to customers in a timely manner . However, IT investment in the supply chain process does not guarantee a stronger organizational performance . In fact, the adoption of a particular technology is easily duplicated by other firms and it often does not provide a sustained competitive advantage for the adopting firms . The implementation of IT in the SCM can enable a firm to develop and accumulate knowledge stores about its customers, suppliers and market demands, which in turn influences firm performance . The main objective of this paper is to provide a framework that illustrates the impacts of IT on SCM and evaluate this impact for some Iranians automobile industry supplier with their qualitative judgments. It is hard to explain the IT impact on SCM in quantitative values as the interaction of IT and SCM is not clear; thus, the Lee and Li fuzzy ranking method have been used for evaluating the impact of IT on SCM. (Twist,2005,225)

The application of information technology to improve productivity is the focus of considerable scholarship ongoing in both marketing and SCM. However, the link between investment in IT and performance has not been firmly established in the literature, leading to what some have labeled the Information Technology productivity “paradox.” To account for this paradox, theoretical explanations that emphasize the mediating and moderating role of other variables between IT and performance have been advanced in the literature. Three articles in the special issue describe empirical studies of these variables and their role within supply chains. In their article, extending explanations that emphasize the strategic “fit” of resources and the environment, Davis-Sramek, Germain and Iyer (2010) posit and empirically investigate the role of environmental unpredictability on the implications of two forms of supply chain IT for two levels of firm performance. Drawing on the resource-advantage theory of competition, Davis and Golicic (2010) develop and test a model that proposes market-oriented IT competence as a mediator of the effects of IT infrastructure on marketing information flow, which in turn yields comparative advantages in supply chain relationships. Finally, Richey, Tokman and Dalela (2010) empirically examine various interactions involving the use of collaborative supply chain technologies and other variables including relationship quality, resource complementarity, and retailer logistics service on financial performance and ultimately on the overall performance in the partnership. In each case, findings from the studies add to our understanding of the intervening effects of select variables on the link between IT and performance.

It systems:

As for IT systems, when discussing the use of IT in SCM, we refer to the use of interorganizational systems that are ...