Revisiting operations agility and formalizing digitalization in response to varying levels of uncertainty and customization

Abstract

This paper aims to find how digitalization supports inter-organizational purchasing/order fulfillment processes and the required agility to respond to supply/demand uncertainties. The research method includes multiple case studies. Qualitative data are collected via interviews and documentation review. Within-case and cross-case analyses of the research lead to 14 propositions and a novel framework, which formalize and link agility and digitalization at different levels. The research findings point out the agility in micro and macro types for the demand and supply sides of the business, responding to different levels of uncertainties. The findings categorize the relevant applications of digitalization at three levels: data interchange, data integration, and predictive data analytics. Moreover, the agility-digitalization relationships are defined for different levels of customization, represented by customer order decoupling points. This paper contributes to the literature by offering an in-depth and explicit understanding of the impacts of digitalization on different types of agility for different levels of customization.