Supply chain (SC) strategy and information system (IS) strategy to implement Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes have been individually regarded as the vital and imperative ways to improve SCM performance. Yet what kinds of IS strategies to be implemented under what condition of manufacturing strategies in a supply chain remain to be unseen in empirical researches. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical understanding of the alignment between SC strategy and IS strategy and then investigates its impact on SCM performance. 151 manufacturers were surveyed and were mapped into three predefined SC strategies (Caretakers, Marketeers, and Innovators) and three predefined IS strategies (IS for efficiency, flexibility and comprehensiveness). A profile deviation approach was used to compute the alignment between these two strategies. The results indicated that the alignment between SC strategy and IS strategy has a positive effect on SCM performance. Suggestions to future research are discussed in the conclusion.
In recent years, manufacturing industry has paid much attention on supply chain management (SCM). Manufacturing firms face the problem of how to provide efficient and cost-effective response to gain advantages in the changing environment. Uncertainties including complicated production processes, random yields, and high quality requirements and so on all affect their supply chain performance. Efficient SCM provides better resources utilization, reductions in inventory, transaction, and manufacturing costs, and improvement in product development, competitiveness, and profitability for the manufacturing firms (Langfield-Smith and Smith, 2005).
Key words: Supply Chain (SC) Strategy, Information System (IS) Strategy, Alignment, Supply Chain Management (SCM) performance
[...] Another contribution of this study is the application of theoretical frame of strategy management and the impact of alignment perspective on SCM performance. Such “strategic alignment” notion proposed that organizational performance is the consequence of fit between two or more factors such as strategy, structure, technology, culture, and environment (Burns and Stakler, 1961). It could be one of the contributions to prove that it can be also applicable to explain the effect of strategic alignment on organizational performance in the supply chain, since few studies have paid attention on this issue for SCM. [...]
[...] 29- Li, S., Ragu-Nathan, B., Ragu-Nathan, T.S., and Rao, S.S., The impact of supply chain management practices on competitive advantage and organizational performance,” Omega pp. 107- Miller, J.G. and Roth, taxonomy of manufacturing strategies,” Management Science, pp. 285- Mische, M., in the EC: easier said than The Journal of European Business(4:2) pp. 19- Otto, A. and Kotzab, H., “Does Supply Chain Management really pay? Six perspectives to measure the performance of managing a supply chain,” European Journal of Operational Research(144:2), 2003,pp. [...]
[...] Whereas, empirical research on the topic of alignment between manufacturing SC strategy and IS strategy is extremely sparse, if not non-existent although ideal alignment between business strategy and IS strategy have been empirically investigated to play an important role in business performance (Sabherwal and Chan, 2001; Bergeron, Raymond and Rivard, 2004). Ignoring the important concept of ‘alignment', SCM research respectively investigated the influence of SC strategies and IS strategies on performance. As a result, failures in supply chain management which mismatches between these two strategies are still in common, and therefore, the performance of SCM is not as good as expected. [...]
[...] Table 8 Industry Electric machinery electronics, telecommunication Steel, motor vehicles & parts manufacturing Textile, plastics & rubber manufacturing Other manufacturing Missing information Total SCM performance Overall Customer Internal business process Innovation and learning Financial The three Strategic Configurations Frequencies Caretakers Mean(S.D.) 4.28 ( 0.81 ) 4.43 ( 1.11 ) 4.20 ( 0.98 ) 4.29 ( 0.89 ) 4.21 ( 0.87 ) Mean(S.D.) 5.13 ( 0.95 ) 5.43 ( 0.89 ) 5.16 ( 1.00 ) 5.02 ( 1.18 ) 4.92 ( 1.29 ) Marketeers Innovators Mean(S.D.) 4.69 ( 0.88 ) 4.69 ( 1.01 ) 4.59 ( 1.09 ) 4.73 ( 0.87 ) 4.74 ( 0.98 ) Total Mean(S.D.) 4.75 ( 0.96 ) 4.93 ( 1.09 ) 4.72 ( 1.09 ) 4.72 ( 1.07 ) 4.65 ( 1.13 ) Note: The cross-tabulation of strategy by industry is done in terms of observed frequencies Performance Implications of Alignment The correlation between alignment and SCM performance was significantly associated (for whole sample, we found: Pearson's correlation coefficients r = 0.650 ; significant at 0.001 Table 9 summarizes all results using linear regression with SCM performance as the dependent variable, alignment as the key independent variable. [...]
[...] 451- APPENDIX A-1 Construct Factor loading and composite consistency of Supply Chain Strategy Attributes Measure Factor Loading PRIC:Factor 1 for Supply Chain Strategy－PRICE PRIC1 The capability to compete on price compared to main competitors. FLEX: Factor 2 for Supply Chain Strategy－FLEXIBILITY FLEX1 The capability to make rapid design changes and/or introduce new products quickly compared to main competitors. FLEX2 The capability to response to swings in volume compared to main competitors. FLEX3 The capability to deliver a broad product line compared to main competitors. [...]
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