Turning Isomorphic IT Innovations into Unique Capabilities

Firms often innovate with IT due to institutional pressures, which can lead into rash decisions and drive firms to innovate IT similarly, e.g. mimicking the industry leaders. This drives firms to look alike and turn homogeneous. However, recent observations show that firms can actually become heterogeneous while innovating with IT under institutional pressures. We argue that firms can learn from the IT innovation process and they can turn these learnings into better use of the technology, which can ultimately lead to heterogeneous capabilities. Thus in other words we argue that firms can revive disappointing IT innovations due to institutional pressure and turn them into competitive advantages. This study uses case studies to further explore this nascent phenomenon

Effects Of Supply Chain Strategies And Practices On Firm Performance

A number of studies have looked at the impacts of supply chain strategies on firm performance. Yet, how different supply chain practices translate to firm performance remains unclear. Drawing from the resource based view, this study investigates the role of supply chain capabilities in mediating the relationships between supply chain practices and firm performance. A survey was conducted with 171 manufacturing firms in five Chinese cities to empirically validate the research model. Our findings suggest that, supply chain practices, as driven by supply chain strategies, create different supply chain capabilities and lead to firm performance. The findings shed some lights on the mechanism in which supply chain strategies and practices translate into firm performance

A Design Theory for Supply Chain Visibility in the age of Big Data

Existing literature has extensively discussed that supply chain visibility (SCV) can help to improve supply chain performance. Yet there is no sound approach available to effectively operationalize SCV. We posit that information sharing alone is not decisive for SCV, as SCV is context sensitive. On one side, there is the generator role that shares information. However, we posit that there is also the utilizer role, which aims to solve specific management problems. This study documents three knowledge moments in the search for SCV in the age of big data. The first knowledge moment is of a nomothetic science, where we define SCV from a utilizer and generator perspective. The second knowledge moment is of a nomothetic design, where we developed an ISDT and proposed five design principles. Finally, the third knowledge moment is of an ideographic design, where we described an actual implementation in an actual garment supply chain

Towards a Framework for Aligning RFID Applications With Supply Chain Strategies

Supply chain management has two streams of strategies, namely lean and agile. However, current RFID applications tend to overlook supply chain strategies and are designed for obvious RFID applications, like simply replacing barcodes. However, the full potential of RFID might not be achieved when RFID applications are not aligned with the supply chain strategies. Therefore, this study analyzes the current literature to investigate whether RFID applications are indeed misaligned with their strategies. Results shows that RFID is still at its infancy and most RFID applications focus on cost reduction, a lean practice, and less attention has been paid on how RFID can satisfy customer demands, an agile practice. It is therefore suggested that management should ensure that RFID applications are aligned with their supply chain strategy, in order to gain the most benefits out of RFID

Towards A Reference Framework For RFID-Enabled Garment SC Visibility

In the current environment organizations can no longer compete on price alone. Supply chains are becoming important, where efficiency and effectiveness play the pivotal role. RFID is a highly heralded technology in the supply chain field, which can synchronize the information flow with the material flow. However, organizations are still not widely adopting it, as the industry is missing compelling business cases to illustrate how to implement the technology and how it actually can bring benefits to the business. In this study we develop and demonstrate an innovative information infrastructure to facilitate a smooth supply chain operation. The infrastructure is designed based on an in-depth case study of a typical complete garment supply chain. SCOR model is used to ensure that the design is applicable in various supply chain set ups