An innovative model of supply chain management: a single case study in the electronic sector

This paper will report and analyse a case study on the utilisation of information systems by one of the largest global manufacturers of high-technology/electronic products. It will focus on their adoption of the services of an electronic marketplace called E2open and is based on 12 semistructured interviews undertaken with both organisations. The paper will make three contributions. It will firstly show how a new type of organisational entity is emerging, which challenges the validity of current ontologies for the organisational actors within the supply chain. Secondly, it will consider how the connectivity between buyer and supplier may be following a similar pattern to the transportation of material goods between these entities, in that it is emerging as an activity that will increasingly be managed by a third party. Finally, it will show how the use of the application service provider model of software provision is being used to enable the development of information systems which manage the supply chain and not just the operations of individual organisations. The extant theory will then be used to interpret the findings, as well as eliciting from the findings what the implications of this case are for further research in this field and for supply chain managers.

[1]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[2]  Jos van Hillegersberg,et al.  Enterprise resource planning: introduction , 2000, CACM.

[3]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[4]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  Theory and research in strategic management: Swings of a pendulum , 1999 .

[5]  J. Gupta,et al.  Application service providers: issues and challenges , 2002 .

[6]  Yemisi Bolumole.  The Supply Chain Role of Third‐Party Logistics Providers , 2001 .

[7]  JoAnne Yates,et al.  Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies , 1987, CACM.

[8]  C. Cunningham,et al.  Electronic trading, interorganizational systems and the nature of buyer-seller relationships: The need for a network perspective , 1993 .

[9]  M. Sawhney,et al.  E-hubs: the new B2B (business-to-business) marketplaces. , 2000, Harvard business review.

[10]  Donna B. Stoddard,et al.  Interorganizational business process redesign: merging technological and process innovation , 1996 .

[11]  Martin Grieger.  Electronic marketplaces: A literature review and a call for supply chain management research , 2003, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[12]  G. Stefansson.  Business-to-business data sharing: A source for integration of supply chains , 2002 .

[13]  Ghassan Alkadi,et al.  Effects of Information Technology on the Business World , 2003, International Conference on Internet Computing.

[14]  Markham T. Frohlich,et al.  e-Integration in the Supply Chain: Barriers and Performance , 2002, Decis. Sci..

[15]  Jayashankar M. Swaminathan,et al.  Models for Supply Chains in E-Business , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[16]  Juliet Webster,et al.  Networks of collaboration or conflict? Electronic data interchange and power in the supply chain , 1995, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[17]  N. Karacapilidis,et al.  Enhanced supply chain management for e-business transactions , 2004 .

[18]  M. Christopher.  The Agile Supply Chain : Competing in Volatile Markets , 2000 .

[19]  M. Christopher.  Logistics and supply chain management , 2011 .

[20]  E. Morash.  Supply chain strategies, capabilities, and performance , 2001 .

[21]  Khalid S. Soliman,et al.  An exploratory study to identify the critical factors affecting the decision to establish Internet-based interorganizational information systems , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[22]  D. Lambert,et al.  SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT -- MORE THAN A NEW NAME FOR LOGISTICS , 1997 .

[23]  Robert J. Kauffman,et al.  B2B E-Commerce Revisited: Leading Perspectives on the Key Issues and Research Directions , 2002, Electron. Mark..

[24]  Shirley Gregor,et al.  A theory of industry-level activity for understanding the adoption of interorganizational systems , 2000, ECIS.

[25]  Nancy L. Cassill,et al.  Implementation of technology and relationships to supply chain performance: apparel manufacturers' perspectives , 2001 .

[26]  Terry Anthony Byrd,et al.  Examining possible antecedents of IT impact on the supply chain and its effect on firm performance , 2003, Inf. Manag..

[27]  Arun Rai,et al.  Intermediate Performance Impacts of Advanced Manufacturing Technology Systems: An Empirical Investigation* , 1999 .

[28]  Elizabeth M. Daniel,et al.  Electronic marketplace-to-marketplace alliances: emerging trends and strategic rationales , 2003, ICEC '03.

[29]  Jay Bal,et al.  Virtual Teaming in the Agile Supply Chain , 1999 .

[30]  P. Swamidass,et al.  Strategy, advanced manufacturing technology and performance: empirical evidence from U.S. manufacturing firms , 2000 .

[31]  Michael J. Shaw,et al.  Information infrastructure for electronic virtual organization management , 1998, Decis. Support Syst..

[32]  S. Hertz,et al.  Strategic development of third party logistics providers , 2003 .

[33]  Pär Åhlström,et al.  Assessing changes towards lean production , 1996 .

[34]  Andrew White,et al.  The impact of e-marketplaces on dyadic buyer-supplier relationships: evidence from the healthcare sector , 2004, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[35]  Eric K. Clemons,et al.  Information Technology and Industrial Cooperation: The Changing Economics of Coordination and Ownership , 1992, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[36]  Atieno A. Ndede-Amadi,et al.  What strategic alignment, process redesign, enterprise resource planning, and e-commerce have in common: enterprise-wide computing , 2004, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[37]  Tracy R. Lewis,et al.  Managing Dynamic Competition , 2002 .

[38]  Juha-Miikka Nurmilaakso,et al.  XML‐based supply chain integration: a case study , 2002 .

[39]  T. Corsi,et al.  Adopting new technologies for supply chain management , 2003 .

[40]  Vicky Manthou,et al.  Virtual e-Chain (VeC) model for supply chain collaboration , 2004 .

[41]  Elizabeth M. Daniel,et al.  The impact of e-marketplaces on buyersupplier relationships: a cross industry perspective of the ''move to the middle'' hypothesis , 2004, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Manag..

[42]  G. Stevens.  Integrating the Supply Chain , 1989 .

[43]  Mike P. Papazoglou,et al.  Interoperation support for electronic business , 2000, CACM.

[44]  M. Cooper,et al.  CHARACTERISTICS OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PURCHASING AND LOGISTICS STRATEGY. , 1993 .

[45]  Douglas M. Lambert,et al.  Internet-enabled coordination in the supply chain , 2003 .

[46]  Wendy L. Currie,et al.  Exploring the supply-side of IT outsourcing: evaluating the emerging role of application service providers , 2001, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[47]  Paul Schönsleben,et al.  With agility and adequate partnership strategies towards effective logistics networks , 2000 .

[48]  Karen Locke.  Grounded Theory in Management Research , 2000 .

[49]  Daniel T. Jones,et al.  From lean production to the lean enterprise , 1994 .

[50]  Michael J. Shaw.  Building an E-Business from Enterprise Systems , 2000, Inf. Syst. Frontiers.

[51]  John T. Mentzer,et al.  THE EFFECT OF INVESTMENT IN INTERORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN A RETAIL SUPPLY CHAIN , 2003 .

[52]  B. Mahadevan.  Making Sense of Emerging Market Structures in B2B E-Commerce , 2003 .

[53]  D. Lambert,et al.  Supply Chain Management: Implementation Issues and Research Opportunities , 1998 .

[54]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[55]  Denis Royston Towill,et al.  Total cycle time compression and the agile supply chain , 1999 .

[56]  Paul D. Cousins,et al.  Supply base rationalisation: myth or reality? , 1999 .

[57]  Zach G. Zacharia,et al.  DEFINING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT , 2001 .

[58]  Cornelia Dröge,et al.  The effects of information system infrastructure and process improvements on supply‐chain time performance , 2000 .

[59]  David C. Yen,et al.  Exploring the rationales for ERP and SCM integration , 2002, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..