Supply Chain Management and Portal Technology

The role of corporate portals as tools for managing organizational knowledge has been constantly changing throughout their short lifetime. An important recent advancement in the functionality of portals is their ability to connect companies together, joining internal and external knowledge sources to assist in the creation of valuable knowledge. Nowhere is this increased functionality and utility more evident than in the use of portals to manage the supply chain. A common trend in supply chain management (SCM) is the formation of one central strategy for the entire production network, which involves going beyond an organization’s external boundary. This represents a shift from a commodity-based approach to SCM to a more collaborative and relationship-building strategy. As this “extended enterprise” comes into being, an extended IT infrastructure is needed. Systems, such as portals, that assist in spanning organizational boundaries and ensuring a timely information exchange can help support this strategy. Portal technology allows the IT infrastructure of one firm to span multiple organizations and be utilized by many (Dyer, 2000). The globalization of supply chains also presents an opportunity for the utilization of portal technology (Tan, Shaw, & Fulkerson, 2000). Geographically dispersed organizations have an increasingly greater need to share information, even though they experience issues with systems spanning different processes, cultures, and vast distances. A portal’s ability to utilize the Internet can assist in the networking of such distributed firms. The fundamental resource required for these extended organizations is knowledge, whether it is knowledge of markets, supply conditions, manufacturing, and logistical strategies, or of a supply partner’s needs and capabilities. As knowledge is a resource characterized by “perfectly increasing returns” (Dyer, 2000, p. 61), knowledge can flow within a supply network and dramatically add value for all members. A small innovation at one end can often have a ripple effect through the supply chain, and result in a significant development at the other end. All forms of supplier networks require supporting technology to facilitate the creation and utilization of supply knowledge, and portal technology is often fulfilling this need. bacKground

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