How Information Systems Assist the Management of the Supply Chain in an Emerging Country Like Brazil

Part 1: Knowledge Discovery and SharingInternational audienceIT has an important role in the performance of companies, provides a flow of information that makes the supply chain become more robust and resilient, without compromising efficiency. Most companies are applying IT systems, mainly in Supply Chain Management (Supply Chain Management - SCM) to enhance their performance in competitive global markets. The research is important because it will provide a study of what are the IT systems used to manage the supply chain and likely future trends. To achieve the objective of this work was carried out a survey with consultants and professionals in IT and supply chain who work in large companies. To collect the data needed for analysis, we used the exploratory research of a qualitative nature. Thus, we can conclude that the use of IT in the supply chain directly impacts in the areas of planning, manufacturing suppliers, customers and delivery

Judging the quality of customer segments: segmentation effectiveness

Market segmentation is well established in marketing theory and applied by organisations from all industry sectors. Despite widespread use, developing and implementing segmentation schemes is rarely problem free. Testing the quality and robustness of segments is one of the difficulties which marketers face. The literature describes segment quality criteria which are intended to help with this task, yet there is little evidence of their deployment and efficacy in practice. Using a longitudinal case study from the Eastern European mobile phone market, the practical application, impact and efficacy of these segment quality criteria are examined. The findings reveal the value of combining 'hard' statistical and 'soft' segment quality criteria to test the validity and robustness of segmentation outputs prior to implementing the segmentation. Implications from this case for managers seeking to select and deploy suitable quality criteria are considered