Implementation of Information Systems Infrastructure for Supply Chain Visibility

Despite the considerable recognition of the importance of and the need for supply chain visibility, organizations experience difficulties in actually achieving such visibility. This may be attributed to two major reasons. First, organizations adopt different types of information technologies such as electronic data interchange or business-to-business for supply chain activities, which cannot communicate with each other without the adoption of many common “standards” for data representation and transmission. Second, organizations may have initially adopted supply chain information systems for different reasons such as mandates and may have engaged in selective “automation” of communication with its partners. Consequently, information systems within supply chain networks are “isolated” and organizations lose supply chain visibility. This study examines the implementation of supply chain management information systems at real-world organizations for achieving supply chain visibility. The findings of this study will be useful to organizations as they strive to implement solutions for supply chain visibility.