Title: Effectiveness of information systems in supply chain performance: a system dynamics study

Authors: Ashish Agarwal, Ravi Shankar, Purnendu Mandal

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India. ' Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India. ' Information Systems and Analysis Department, College of Business, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX 77710, USA

Abstract: Organisations are streamlining their supply chains through successful deployment of Information Technology (IT) to succeed in today|s global marketplace. Advances in information and communications technologies have made the availability of IT easier, but have they really improved the decision-making processes and performances of supply chains? Effective use of IT tools in a supply chain helps in integrating its trading partners and improving the ability to quickly respond to market changes. Previous works on system dynamics modelling of supply chain, in general, have analysed the effect of key performance variables on demand amplification and inventory level. Evidence of system dynamics simulation works focusing directly on IT implementation and its impact on supply chain are rare, which prompted the need for this study. This paper captures the impacts of using IT in various ways in a supply chain for auto industry. The dynamic interactions among different variables of the case supply chain have been modelled and analysed. Simulation result indicates that the influence of Information Systems (ISs) (through Data Accuracy (DA), Delivery Speed (DS), Usage of IT (UIT) tools, Process Integration (PI)) on the performance of supply chain is relatively more significant as compared to influences of other enabler variables.

Keywords: supply chain performance; information technology tools; data accuracy; delivery speed; process integration; change management; information systems; supply chain management; SCM; ICT; communications; system dynamics; simulation; automobile industry; automotive supply chains.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISCM.2006.011198

International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management, 2006 Vol.1 No.3, pp.241 - 261

Published online: 30 Oct 2006 *

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