How do Partners Benefit from IT Use in Supply-Chain Management: An Empirical Study of Taiwan’s Bicycle Industry

Jing Li, Chien-Wen Chen, Chi-Hui Wu, Hsing-Chun Hung and Ching-Torng Lin
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Jing Li: Program in Management, Dayeh University, Changhua 51591, Taiwan
Chien-Wen Chen: Department of Business Administration, Feng Chia University, Taichung 40724, Taiwan
Chi-Hui Wu: Department of Management and Information, National Open University, New Taipei 24701, Taiwan
Hsing-Chun Hung: Program in Management, Dayeh University, Changhua 51591, Taiwan
Ching-Torng Lin: Department of Information Management, Dayeh University, Changhua 51591, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-24

Abstract: To be sustainable and growing amongst uncertain environments and intensive global competition, supply-chain network leaders have established supply-chain management systems (SCMS) to leverage the resources and knowledge of their partners to achieve greater supply-chain capabilities (SCC) to respond to market changes and complexity. Although several studies have investigated the benefits to network leaders from these systems in various industries, little attention has been paid to the delivery of substantial benefits and advantages to its partners. Based on information technology (IT) applications and SCC literature, this paper proposes a model relating partners use of SCMS to benefits. Data from 168 partners using an SCMS implemented by a leading bicycle supply chain in Taiwan to test the hypotheses that SCC and operational performance has a mediating role linking SCMS use in order to affect a partner’s performance. The results indicate that SCMS implementation has a significant impact on SCC, which in turn create a significant positive effect on operational (sustainable) performance, ultimately leading to improved growth rate and profitability in partners. Another interesting finding of the research is that SCMS cannot directly affect financial performance. In addition, from sustainable performance aspects, it is revealed that IT enables supply chain management (SCM) to achieve environmental value through information sharing (up and down), process integration (vertical and horizontal) and automation (i.e., planning, operation and control). This finding highlights the importance for maximizing benefits and sustainability for the whole supply-chain partners, the IT implementation must be integrated with the sustainable development goals and inserted in the eco-operation supply-chain platform process. The results also contribute to the debate in prior studies by disclosing why so many partners could not find to gain benefit from these IT implementations. Furthermore, this study represents the first attempt to examine how partners benefit from IT use in SCC for traditional industry.

Keywords: information technology application; supply-chain management systems; supply-chain capabilities; operational (sustainable) performance; financial performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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