Title: Business intelligence for order fulfilment management in small and medium enterprises

Authors: Danny C.K. Ho; Daniel Y.W. Mo; Eugene Y.C. Wong; Simon M.K. Leung

Addresses: Hang Seng Management College, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong ' Hang Seng Management College, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong ' Hang Seng Management College, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong ' The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract: In this study, we investigate business intelligence (BI) tools that help a small and medium enterprise (SME) to improve its supplier order fulfilment management. Making use of the huge amount of data in its enterprise resource planning system, the company can seek opportunities for building collaborative supplier relationships to implement a just-in-time strategy. The proposed BI tools are developed to select suppliers with whom to form collaborative relationships. In addition, a BI dashboard is developed for the company to manage the cash conversion cycle of its supply chain. Developing BI tools that make use of limited information technology resources, we address the business and technical challenges of large unstructured datasets and lengthy computation time. The results show that SMEs can benefit from BI tools at an affordable cost, joining the emergent trend of deploying business analytics to make systematic innovation.

Keywords: business intelligence; BI; small and medium enterprise; SME; order fulfilment management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMS.2019.098231

International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services, 2019 Vol.6 No.2, pp.169 - 184

Received: 17 Nov 2017
Accepted: 04 Apr 2018
Published online: 06 Mar 2019 *

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