The role of ICT in supply chains

PhD ceremony: Ms. X. Zhang, 16.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: The role of ICT in supply chains

Promotor(s): prof. D.P. van Donk

Faculty: Economics and Business

Many companies struggle with the question how to make effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) in their supply chains. Also, the literature is not conclusive with respect to the mechanisms and context factors that determine the success of ICT in the supply chain. This thesis elaborates upon the struggle to make ICT effective. The impact of ICT on supply chain (SC) performance is examined from the perspective that ICT business value is generated by the deployment of ICT and complementary resources within supply chain processes. Moreover, this thesis studies the role of external context factors in the generation of ICT business value in the supply chain.

The thesis analyses survey based literature to conclude that ICT is often too broadly measured, ignoring the different effects of particular types of technologies and ignoring relevant contextual factors. Moreover, current research mainly focuses on the path ICT-SCM-SC performance, neglecting possible interaction between the constructs. Two empirical chapters address those shortcomings by analyzing the empirical data obtained through a survey conducted among Chinese manufacturing companies. First, the thesis provides evidence that intra-organizational and inter-organizational ICT improve performance in a different way. Inter-organizational ICT leads to more supply chain integration, which in turn improves supplier performance, while intra-organizational ICT provides a condition under which supply chain practices are more effective. Second, the thesis shows that SC practices play an important role in making ICT beneficial, and, additionally, that ICT and associated SC practices particularly improve SC performance if demand uncertainty is high.