Global sourcing strategy alignment using business intelligence: a conceptual framework

Abstract

Many organisations do not have well-developed global sourcing measurement strategies in place, and thereby lose out on attractive business opportunities. Realising these opportunities requires a detailed understanding of global sourcing performance, which can be facilitated through Business Intelligence (BI) concepts applied in other areas of supply chain management. This requires amending inadequate one dimensional cost accounts of global sourcing with BI based inferencing. In this regard, this study aims to answer three questions: what are the determinants of successful global sourcing, what are the characteristics of such a BI system, and how can BI applications and strategies leverage global sourcing to achieve better performance? A conceptual framework is developed that integrates BI within the larger global sourcing framework, including macro- and microenvironmental factors, supply chain structure, optimisation and control, and global sourcing performance.