Achieving Agility of Supply Chain Management through Information Technology Applications

Abstract

Agility in supply chains is critical for competitive advantages as it helps to explore and exploit opportunities in fast changing markets. Firms are increasingly dependent on information technology (IT) for supply chain management as a competitive tool to facilitate such agility. However, little research has been done on the role of IT on supply chain agility. The paper aims to address this gap by further investigating how IT applications affect supply chain agility. We propose that IT infrastructure integration, consisting of data consistency and cross-functional application integration is critical to achieve agility as various integration processes in agile supply chains can be hampered by fragmented IT infrastructures which enable information flow and coordination activities across function units and network partners. We further illustrate IT infrastructure integration impacts on agility in various operational dimensions, such as speed, flexibility across the supply chain.KeywordsInformation technology infrastructureSupply chain agilityFlexibilityResponsiveness