Effects of Enterprise Technology on Supply Chain Collaboration and Performance

Abstract

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. This paper extends the theory established in enterprise information technology and supply chain collaboration literature.Keywords: enterprise information technology, supply chain collaboration, supply chain performance. IntroductionEnterprise Information technology integrates business functional areas and links suppliers and customers of the entire supply chain. Today, e-solutions are a must-have weapon for a supply chain to improve collaboration to compete in the global market. Equipped with integrated information technology, many manufacturing producers have adopted the collaborative strategy on production planning, demand forecasting and inventory replenishment to provide the end user what he wants, how he wants it, and when he wants it. This study is to investigate the effects of enterprise technology on supply chain collaboration and performance. Structural equation modeling is employed to test the multi-phased conceptual model which is shown in Figure 1. Enterprise technology assimilation is indicated using two factors: enterprise technology use for exploitation (F1) and enterprise technology use for exploration (F2). Based on the theory of organizational learning [1] [2], we define enterprise technology assimilation for exploitation as the use of technology for the execution of supply china routine processes. Similarly, enterprise technology assimilation for exploration is defined as the implementation of unstructured and strategic supply chain activities. Planning collaboration (F3) and forecasting and replenishing coordination (F4) are considered as supply chain collaboration measures. Collaboration and coordination in planning is defined as jointly plan for supply chain key activities [3] [4]; while operational collaboration and coordination are defined as information sharing to achieve efficient task execution [5]. Operational benefits (F5) are defined as first-order benefits that