Manufacturing, marketing and supply chain coordination

Abstract

The field of supply chain is gaining in importance with increasing globalization of marketplace. Many companies have derived gains by implementing better quality control measures and improving internal efficiencies. The next step for them is to involve their partners and extend this efficiency through the entire value chain. It is important that an organization's procurement, manufacturing, distribution, and sales organizations are efficiently aligned. Advancements in Information technology have only increased the gains to be made by such alignment. Any investment by a supplier to align to the network of the client would entail significant investment. The study evaluates the benefits gained by suppliers when investing in such an integrated IT system. It shows that the alignment of IT systems between supplier and buyer has a positive impact on both strategic and operational performance dimensions of the supplier.