Effects of enterprise technology on supply chain collaboration: analysis of China-linked supply chain

Abstract

Supply chain collaboration has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners in recent years. However, our understanding of how enterprise information technology facilitates supply chain collaboration is still very limited, especially with regard to Chinese enterprise ownerships such as state-owned firms, joint-venture firms and local village-owned firms. This paper extends the theory established in enterprise information technology (IT) and supply chain collaboration literature and relates it with coordination in China-linked supply chain. Drawing upon an empirical study from 177 Chinese companies, we provide three major findings: (i) uncovered the importance of leveraging enterprise IT through supply chain collaboration; (ii) identified the relationship between enterprise ownership and enterprise technology use and supply chain collaboration in China-linked supply chain and (iii) illustrated effects of supply chain collaborative activities on operational and market performance.

Keywords:

• enterprise information technology
• supply chain collaboration
• China-linked supply chain
• enterprise ownership
• exploitation
• exploration

Acknowledgements

This paper won the best paper award at the 5th International Conference on Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems, Aalborg, Denmark, 16–18 October 2011. The author would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments. This research has been supported by a grant from Norfolk Southern Corporation. The author would like to thank Norfolk Southern Cooperation for its generosity in promoting supply chain management research.

Notes

1. ‘Collaboration Key to Optimizing China Supply Chains, Says APL Logistics Chief’, retrieved 15 December 2008 from http://www.nol.com.sg/newsroom/06news/061024.html.

2. http://www.most.gov.cn/eng/programmes1/.

3. The Association for Operations Management is formerly known as American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS).