Coordinating for flexibility in e-business supply chains
Coordinating for flexibility in e-business supply chains
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DOI：
10.1080/07421222.2004.11045816
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发表时间：
2004-12-01
影响因子：
7.7
通讯作者：
El Sawy, OA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gosain, S;Malhotra, A;El Sawy, OA
广泛使用信息技术（IT）在供应链合作伙伴之间建立电子联系，以降低交易成本，这可能会对供应链的灵活性产生意想不到的不利影响。不断增长的业务动态、不断变化的客户偏好和颠覆性的技术转变，都需要企业间信息系统必须解决的两种灵活性——支持产品特性变化的企业间连接的能力（提供灵活性），以及改变与不同供应链参与者合作的连接的能力（合作灵活性）。本研究探讨了供应链中的企业如何建立供应链联系，使这两种灵活性共同发挥作用，并使它们能够应对无处不在的变化。根据March和Simon的协调理论，我们提出了两个设计原则：(1)推进组织间流程和信息交换的结构，使合作组织能够松散耦合；(2)it支持的动态调整，使企业能够快速感知变化并适应其供应链联系。本研究报告了对IT行业41个供应链关系的调查。在设计原则方面，我们对影响因素的实证调查表明：(1)互连过程的模块化设计和结构化数据连接与更高的供应链灵活性相关；(2)深度协调相关知识对供应链灵活性至关重要。此外，与合作伙伴共享广泛的信息不利于供应链的灵活性，组织应转而关注提高共享信息的质量。对于行业管理者来说，该研究为信息基础设施设计提供了清晰的见解。为了管理它们的相互依赖性，企业需要将它们相互连接的流程封装在模块化块中，并使用IT平台以结构化格式进行信息交换来支持这些流程。企业还需要通过建立信息系统来处理与合作伙伴交换的信息，增强他们对诸如合作伙伴的行动需要如何触发适应性响应等因素的理解，从而培养他们的执行能力。对于研究人员来说，该研究开创了一个新的理论流，重点关注信息基础设施在管理提供灵活性和合作灵活性这两个竞争目标之间的紧张关系方面的作用。
The widespread use of information technology (IT) to create electronic linkages among supply chain partners with the objective of reducing transaction costs may have unintended adverse effects on supply chain flexibility. Increasing business dynamics, changing customer preferences, and disruptive technological shifts pose the need for two kinds of flexibility that interenterprise information systems must address-the ability of interenterprise linkages to support changes in offering characteristics (offering flexibility) and the ability to alter linkages to partner with different supply chain players (partnering flexibility). This study explores how enterprises in supply chains may forge supply chain linkages that enable both types of flexibility jointly, and allow them to deal with ubiquitous change.Drawing on March and Simon's coordination theory, we propose two design principles: (1) advance structuring of interorganizational processes and information exchange that allows partnering organizations to be loosely coupled, and (2) IT-supported dynamic adjustment that allows enterprises to quickly sense change and adapt their supply chain linkages. This study reports on a survey of 41 supply chain relationships in the IT industry. For design principle, our empirical investigation of factors shows (1) that modular design of interconnected processes and structured data connectivity are associated with higher supply chain flexibility, and (2) that deep coordination-related knowledge is critical for supply chain flexibility. Also, sharing a broad range of information with partners is detrimental to supply chain flexibility, and organizations should instead focus on improving the quality of information shared.For industry managers, the study provides clear insights for information infrastructure design. To manage their interdependencies, enterprises need to encapsulate their interconnected processes in modular chunks, and support these with IT platforms for information exchange in structured formats. Enterprises also need to nurture their execution capabilities by putting in place the information systems to process information exchanged with partners, augmenting their understanding of factors such as how partner actions need to trigger adaptive responses. For researchers, the study initiates a new stream of theorizing that focuses on the role of the information infrastructure in managing the tension between competing goals of offering flexibility and partnering flexibility.