Supply Chain Information Systems Research Articles

Resource-based modelling of B2B information systems' effect on achieving supply chain ambidexterity: a focus on dynamic heterogeneity

Drawing on organisational theories of resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability, this paper introduces a novel concept of dynamic heterogeneity to better characterise the significant impact of B2B information systems (B2BIS) on achieving supply chain ambidexterity. This paper contributes to supply chain research and information systems (IS) research on three aspects: First, we specify the positive link between B2BIS and B2BIS-enabled capacity-related resources, which in turn directly enhances supply chain ambidexterity practices and ultimately improves the level of supply chain ambidexterity; second, our findings suggest that B2BIS bring in intention-related resources, which ensures the capacity-related resources can take effect; third, B2BIS-independent resources is presented and considered as a premise for temporal separation and parallel structure supply chain ambidexterity. By analysing the effects of B2BIS on supply chain ambidexterity, we conclude that it takes not only capacity-related resources but also associated intention-related resources to improve supply chain ambidexterity. Only by taking advantage of these two types of resources simultaneously can we achieve B2BIS dynamic heterogeneity and thus to achieve optimal supply chain ambidexterity.

Contributors

Contributors

The impact of aligning supply chain and information system strategies on performance

Supply chain (SC) strategies and information system (IS) strategies in implementing supply chain management (SCM) processes have been individually regarded as vital to SCM performance. However, in empirical research, it remains unclear what kinds of IS strategies should be implemented under what particular SC strategies. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical understanding of the alignment between SC strategies (caretaker, marketeer and innovator) and IS strategies (efficiency, flexibility and comprehensiveness) and then to investigate its impact on SCM performance. A profile deviation approach is utilised to compute the alignment between these two strategies. A survey was conducted on 151 manufacturers. Our results indicate that the correct alignment between SC strategy and IS strategy contributes a positive effect to the overall SCM performance.

Model-Based Supply Chain Management

Model-Based Supply Chain Management The paper is focused on application of modelling and simulation approaches in supply chain management. First, essentials of multi echelon supply chain management are discussed including the functionality of supply chain information systems. Then, a variety of modelling and simulation approaches are analyzed in the context of supply chain management, for example, simulation, stochastic programming, business process modelling and reference model. Finally, some illustrative examples are provided on application of simulation and modelling approaches to supply chain management.

A post‐retail consumer application of RFID in medical supply chains

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to investigate the feasibility of using radio frequency identification (RFID) total asset visibility technologies for post‐consumer monitoring and ordering of medical supplies.Design/methodology/approachA laboratory experiment in a consumer context was designed. This involved the application of RFID tag technology for glucose monitoring and supply management.FindingsIt was found that embedded RFID monitoring of blood glucose levels can be used to effectively monitor and help manage patient care. An integrated system of monitoring and management with an effective medical supply chain information system is presented.Research limitations/implicationsThe laboratory study provides initial validation of the merits of the approach. Extensive human field‐testing would still be required prior to any strong inference about the viability of the technology in this application.Practical implicationsThe findings provide a directly relevant system design template for home managed patient care settings where self‐administered medication protocols are required. The findings may also be extended into consumable consumer products like food and beverages where the management of home‐based supplies are a critical component of supply chain effectiveness and consumer satisfaction.Originality/valueThe results extend the use of RFID as a total asset visibility tool for enterprise resource planning in a supply chain. Post‐consumer consumption monitoring, tracking, and automated re‐ordering have not been extensively addressed in the literature.

Facilitating substance phase-out through material information systems and improving environmental impacts in the recycling stage of a product

The amount of electrical and electronic products is increasing rapidly, and this inevitably leads to the generation of large quantities of waste from these goods. Some of the generated e-waste ends up in regions with sub-standard recycling systems and may be processed under poor conditions. During uncontrolled incineration, halogenated dioxins and furans can be generated from brominated and chlorinated compounds in the products. In order to reduce the health and environmental risks involved in the recycling stage of the life cycle of electronics, an effective design-for-environment process must be established during the product development phase. Knowledge of the chemical substances in the product is crucial to being able to make informed decisions. Through full knowledge of the material content of procured components, phase-outs of unwanted substances, such as halogenated substances, can be performed in an effective manner. Therefore, information is the key to success in phasing-out substances; facilitating compliance of legal provisions for manufacturers of electrical and electronic devices; and improving the environmental footprint of products as they reach the end of the life cycle. After an introduction to the challenges of electronics waste management, this paper describes supply chain information systems and how they are used to facilitate substance phase-outs in the electronics industry. Sony Ericsson has been working with phase-outs of unwanted substances since it was founded in 2001. Through the introduction of a material declaration system that keeps track of all substances in the components used in the company's products, Sony Ericsson has been able to replace unwanted substances to improve environmental impacts at the recycling stage of a product.

Future State of Outsourcing Supply Chain Information Systems

The purpose of this study is to acquire knowledge that will help clarify outsourcing trends in general and an information systems utilization perspective in particular. The authors review recent studies on outsourcing and conduct a nationwide survey. The results of the survey reveal that 60 percent of the respondents are focusing on their supply chain for cost reduction and/or competitive advantages and less than half of the respondents plan to outsource supply chain processes and information systems within the next 5 years. Results also show that major reasons for outsourcing include a lack of ability to handle in house and return on assets, while the largest barrier to outsourcing is cost followed by control concern.

Process modelling in demand-driven supply chains: A reference model for the fruit industry

The growing importance of health in consumption is expected to result in a significant increase of European fruit demand. However, the current fruit supply does not yet sufficiently meet demand requirements. This urges fruit supply chains to become more demand-driven, that is, able to continuously match supply capabilities to changing demand requirements. Realisation of such dynamic supply chains requires the design of customised supply chain configurations and subsequently the engineering of enabling information systems. Reference process models can be valuable means to support this. Based on a case study in four European countries, this paper presents a reference model for designing business processes in demand-driven fruit supply chains. The model consists of a reference modelling framework and an application of the framework to fruit supply chains. The framework defines process models at different levels of abstraction and includes a method of how they can be composed from a repository of building blocks. The applied model comprises a definition of the model building blocks in fruit supply chains and a set of pre-configure models (templates). Together, they combine fruit-specific knowledge with the reuse of generic knowledge as captured in cross-industry standards. The developed reference model bridges the gap between supply chain design and information systems engineering by providing a consistent set of process models that are on the one hand understandable for business managers and on the other hand serve as a basis for information system implementation.

An efficiency comparison of supply chain management and information systems practices: a study of Turkish and Bulgarian small- and medium-sized enterprises in food products and beverages

Using data envelopment analysis (DEA) this study attempts to compare the relative efficiencies of supply chain management (SCM) and information system (IS) practices of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in food products and beverages in two neighbouring South East European countries, Turkey and Bulgaria. While there exist some significant differences between the efficiency level of SCM practices and the country of origin of the sample firms, no significant differences were found between the efficiency levels of both IS practices and the composite variable of SCM&IS practices, and the country of origin of the SMEs. Turkish SMEs tend to achieve higher efficiency level with respect to the implementation of SCM practices. There are also significant differences in returns to scale for each group of input variables with respect to the country of origin of the SMEs. The analysis of the improvement potential of inputs indicates that Bulgarian SMEs place more emphasis on managing most of the SCM practices to enhance their SCM efficiency. However, no statistically significant differences in general were noted between both groups of firms with regard to the level of resources and efforts exerted on IS and SCM and IS practices. In terms of the overall average of output deficits, Turkish SMEs were found to have significantly higher output deficits than Bulgarian SMEs with respect to all three groups of input variables.

Critical success factors for B2B e‐commerce use within the UK NHS pharmaceutical supply chain

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine those factors perceived by users to influence the successful on‐going use of e‐commerce systems in business‐to‐business (B2B) buying and selling transactions through examination of the views of individuals acting in both purchasing and selling roles within the UK National Health Service (NHS) pharmaceutical supply chain.Design/methodology/approachLiterature from the fields of operations and supply chain management (SCM) and information systems (IS) is used to determine candidate factors that might influence the success of the use of e‐commerce. A questionnaire based on these is used for primary data collection in the UK NHS pharmaceutical supply chain. Factor analysis is used to analyse the data.FindingsThe paper yields five composite factors that are perceived by users to influence successful e‐commerce use. “System quality,” “information quality,” “management and use,” “world wide web – assurance and empathy,” and “trust” are proposed as potential critical success factors. Of these, all respondents ranked information quality, system quality, and trust as being of most importance, but differences in the rankings between purchasing and selling respondents are evident.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical study is limited to a single supply network, and although the findings seem intuitively to be of relevance to other sectors and supply contexts, there remains an opportunity to test this through further research. There is also an opportunity to extend the survey research, particularly into the wholesaler organisations that operate in the sector of study.Practical implicationsThe managerial implications that result from this research provide practical guidance to organisations in this sector on how to ensure that e‐commerce systems for B2B buying and selling are used successfully.Originality/valueThis paper furthers knowledge and understanding in the fields of operations management, IS, and SCM, by suggesting potential determinants of successful e‐commerce use in both buying and selling organisations within supply networks.

A causal analysis of the impact of information systems and supply chain management practices on operational performance: Evidence from manufacturing SMEs in Turkey

This study has empirically tested a framework identifying the causal links among supply chain management (SCM) and information systems (IS) practices, SCM–IS related inhibiting factors and operational performance based on a sample of 203 manufacturing SMEs operating in the manufacture of fabricated metal products and general purpose machinery within the greater metropolitan area of Istanbul in Turkey. Moderating effect of SCM and IS related enabling factors on the above mentioned relationships is also investigated in this study. Tests of hypotheses indicate that both SCM and IS practices positively and significantly influence the operational performance of sample firms. The results of the structural model also indicate a strong support for negative relationships between SCM–IS related inhibitors and the implementation levels of both SCM and IS practices. Similarly, a strong support was found for the hypothesized negative relationship between SCM–IS inhibitors and operational performance of SMEs. Finally, we verified the moderating impact of SCM–IS enablers on the link between SCM practices and operational performance. A similar moderating impact was also found with regard to the relationship between IS practices and operational performance.

Information sharing and strategic signaling in supply chains

Information sharing in procurement occurs in rich and varied industry contexts in which managerial decisions are made and organizational strategy is formulated. We explore how information sharing ought to work in procurement contexts that involve investments in inter-organizational information systems (IOS) and collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) practices. How and under what circumstances does a firm that plays the role of a supply chain buyer decide to share information on key variables, such as point-of-sale consumer demand data with its supplier, up the supply chain? This is a key issue that crosses the boundary between supply chain management and information systems (IS) management. The answers that we provide are based on our use of a game-theoretic signaling model of buyer and supplier strategy in the presence of uncertainties about final consumer demand. We also explore the connection between operational costs that are associated with the firm’s information sharing and information withholding strategies. Our results provide normative guidance to supply chain buyers about how to interpret different demand uncertainty scenarios to improve their decisions and generate high value. From the IS management perspective, we show the impacts on the firm of different information sharing approaches that are made possible by present day technologies.

Information technology support for integrated supply chain modeling

Multiple interrelated decision-making models are frequently used in supply chain modeling. Model integration is a precondition for efficient development and utilization of these models. This paper discusses use of modern information technology (IT) techniques and methods for integration of supply chain decision-making models. The overall approach to using IT at various stages of model development is presented. Data and process modeling techniques are used to developed semi-formalized representation of integrated models. These models support integration of decision-making components with other parts of supply chain information system. Process modeling is also used to describe interrelationships among multiple decision-making models. This representation is used as the basis for implementation of integrated models. The service-oriented architecture is proposed as an implementation platform. The presented discussion serves as the basis for further developments in developing integrated supply chain decision-making models.

Un environnement de modélisation pour le système d'information de la Supply Chain. Application au Nouvel Hôpital Estaing

This paper objective is to propose an approach and a modelling environment for the design of Supply Chain Information System and decisional tools. This software environment is an integrated set of tools and methods organized in order to model and evaluate Supply Chain performance. The interactions between Supply Chain entities and the problems complexity for Supply Chain Manager and Data Processing Specialist show that it is necessary to conceive and implement a modelling environment for Supply Chain. The method is applied on a real case study, the New Hospital Estaing.

Evaluating the integration of supply chain information systems: A case study

Supply chain management (SCM) is the integrated management of business links, information flows and people. It is with this frame of reference that information systems integration from both intra- and inter-organisational levels becomes significant. Enterprise application integration (EAI) has emerged as software technologies to address the issue of integrating the portfolio of SCM components both within organisations and through cross-enterprises. EAI is based on a diversity of integration technologies (e.g. message brokers, ebXML) that differ in the type and level of integration they offer. However, none of these technologies claim to be a panacea to overcoming all integration problems but rather, need to be pieced together to support the linking of diverse applications that often exist within supply chains. In exploring the evaluation of supply chain integration, the authors propose a framework for evaluating the portfolio of integration technologies that are used to unify inter-organisational and intra-organisational information systems. The authors define and classify the permutations of information systems available according to their characteristics and integration requirements. These, classifications of system types are then adopted as part of the evaluation framework and empirically tested within a case study.

Performance benchmarks and cost sharing models for B2B supply chain information systems

In this paper, we propose a set of standard benchmarks for evaluating B2B supply chain information systems. The supply chain management systems that we focus on communicate between collaborating partners via the Internet using such languages as the extensible markup language. We divide the benchmarks into three distinct categories: benchmarks to study the performance of querying a partner's data, modifying a partner's data, transmitting large amounts of data between partners. We propose a model for estimating the data‐communication and computation times incurred by the B2B information system using the above benchmarks. In addition, we discuss an algorithm for equitable sharing of the costs of a virtual private network by the partners. We present numerical examples to describe an actual application of the above models.

Integration of reverse logistics activities within a supply chain information system

This article deals with problems related to the integration of reverse logistics activities within an organization and to the coordination of this new system. Reverse logistics activities refer to the recovery and processing of unused products and to the redistribution of reusable materials. For better control and management of these activities, new approaches and information support system are proposed here. A new organizational system, which represents the course of the operational processes and the management of the organization's resources (labor, material, etc.), and an information system architecture are proposed for a rehabilitation center.

3rd International workshop in supply chain management and information systems

3rd International workshop in supply chain management and information systems

The quest for e‐fulfillment quality in supply chain

Recent supply chain literature are mainly concentrated on the quality of conventional supply chain information systems, the study on the e‐fulfillment has not been visibly noticeable. This paper uses factor analysis to determine four e‐fulfillment success factors: information quality, service quality, system quality, and work performance quality. Later, this paper uses discriminant analysis method to identify the key e‐fulfillment practices that the high satisfaction group would emphasize more than the low satisfaction group. A critical analysis of areas that require the improvement is also discussed.

Streamlining the supply chain information system of the semiconductor industry using multi-XML schema

This study develops a supply chain informational infrastructure that streamlines message exchange among partners in the semiconductor industry to enhance the performance of the semiconductor industry's supply chain system, from the upstream IC design partner, through the midstream IC manufacturer, to the downstream end customers. Although the Electronic Commerce (EC) environment has slowly matured toward integrated supply chain management, diverse standards makes integrating various information systems on the information infrastructure system-level and the middleware level architecture, difficult. This study presents a model that uses a multi-XML schema to construct an XML system framework used for exchanging data on the Internet or an Intranet. The model can overcome the weakness of traditional object-oriented languages, by information sharing through a complete hierarchical tree structure definition of inner elements. The model can also eliminate the constraints of storage and management of heterogeneous metadata while processing other metadata.