Business–IT fit in e‐procurement systems: evidence from high‐technology firms in China

Abstract

Because of the influence of globalization and updated information technologies (IT), firms in China face an urgent need to adopt e-procurement systems (EP) to deal with their daily procurement activities. However, implementing EP in China encounters various uncertainties from internal and external business environments. To address this issue, this research aims to examine the fit between business and the IT environment and to study its impact on system performance. The literature review allows the proposal of two internal business environmental uncertainties and two external business environmental uncertainties covering the perspectives of process, knowledge, partnership and environment. Based on a multiple-case study performed in four Chinese firms that supply various personal computer components to a Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer via an EP, it was found that the firms' external and internal uncertainty factors affected the performance of EP. In addition, an EP with a low level of integration -the EP type used most frequently in China -can only achieve great performance when the adopting firms faced a low uncertainty of environment, partnership and process, and had low levels of IT knowledge. It was also observed that lack of fit between the business environment and EP produced extra burdens and costs in the buyer-supplier relationship. This significantly reduced the system performance of the Chinese firms. Hence, the contribution of this research can be twofold. First, practitioners in China can use this framework to diagnose their environmental conditions and then choose the appropriate type of EP to implement. Second, researchers can build upon this model to further examine the impact of fit on EP performance and generalize the results.

Investigating the Impact of Procurement Alignment on Supply Chain Management Performance

“…Furthermore, studies adopting an alternative approach in measuring procurement alignment, validate their hypothesis through theoretical reasoning [32], or through a small number of case studies in a specific region [15]. Hence, the positive association of procurement alignment on supply chain management performance cannot be confirmed with certainty.…”

Achieving top management support with business knowledge and role of IT/IS personnel

“…It has been shown in a single longitudinal case study that the lack of IT alignment prevents the development of IT competency in the company (Chen, Sun, Helms, & Jih, 2008). Further, a case study in four Chinese companies has shown that the lack of alignment between the business environment and IT caused additional IT implementation costs (Chang, Wang, & Chiu, 2008).…”

A multi-agent based system for e-procurement exception management

“…The impact of electronic commerce on procurement processes in the supply chain was presented, which highlighted the risks and uncertainties of buyers, sellers, and the transaction processes involved [50]. Chang et al [6] evaluated the impact of uncertainties in the environment, partnership and process on e-procurement performance. Other studies have analyzed and investigated the failure of several electronic markets.…”