Title: Process development in customer order information systems to gain competitive advantage: a SME case study

Authors: Batuhan Kocaoglu; A. Zafer Acar

Addresses: Department of Logistics, Okan University, Istanbul, Turkey ' International Logistics and Transportation Department, Piri Reis University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: In today's intensely competitive business environment improvement in sales order cycle time is vital for the company's success. Controlling credits and measuring payment, especially crucial for a SME to manage its cash flow more efficiently, and to gain customer satisfaction, as well. So, the order management process should be robustly designed and optimally controlled. Thus, to gain superior performance firms must initiate new process development activities using information systems in order to find new methods of improving sales order cycle time. The purpose of this study is to develop a more efficient order management process for a SME also that can be generalised for the others. This process development aims to strike an appropriate balance between measuring lost times and managing customer credit limits. In this study, after analysing the pre-sales process of a focal SME, a framework is developed that is compatible with the current ERP system and can measure required metrics.

Keywords: sales order cycle; order to cash; management information systems; MIS; enterprise resource planning; ERP; customer orders; SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; process development; logistics systems; system management; case study; cash flow management; order management; lost time; customer credit limits.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2016.073968

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2016 Vol.23 No.2, pp.209 - 230

Received: 29 May 2014
Accepted: 04 Oct 2014
Published online: 31 Dec 2015 *

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