Three studies on supply chain information sharing and coordination

Abstract

With the increasingly complex market environment and fierce market competition, many firms gain high market status through effective supply chain management (SCM). Supply chain information sharing and coordination are two important SCM practices. In this thesis, I focus on these two concepts and mainly consider customer information sharing and coordination as the core concepts for the overall framework. Extant literature still knows little about the antecedents and consequences of these two variables. Therefore, in this dissertation, I conducted three empirical studies to explore what factors drive customer information sharing and coordination and how they affect various types of firm performance. Study 1 constructs the theoretical model from a combined perspective of both the socio-technical system view and the extended resource-based view. This study proposes that information system connectivity, as a technical resource, and relationship commitment, as a social resource, jointly lead to supply chain (SC) structured and unstructured information sharing (IS). It also considers various impacts of these two IS activities on supply chain performance (SCP). We use the structural equation modeling (SEM) method and data collected from Chinese manufacturing firms to test the conceptual model. Results show that (1) customer information system connectivity is positively related to structured and unstructured IS, (2) customer relationship commitment is only positively related to unstructured IS, but is not significantly related to structured IS, and (3) both structured and unstructured IS are positively related to SCP. Study 2 focuses on relationships between customer information sharing, customer coordination, demand uncertainty, and SCP. Based on the framework of information processing theory, study 2 considers customer structured and unstructured IS as the antecedents of customer operational and strategic coordination and SCP as the consequence. Demand uncertainty is assumed to moderate relations between customer IS and coordination. Using data collected from 622 manufacturers in mainland China and Taiwan, the theoretical model is tested using the structural equation modeling method. We find that both customer structured IS and unstructured IS are positively associated with customer strategic coordination. Customer structured IS increases customer operational coordination, but customer unstructured IS does not. Demand uncertainty positively moderates the relations between customer unstructured IS and strategic coordination, and between customer structured IS and operational coordination. Also, demand uncertainty negatively moderates the relationship between customer structured IS and strategic coordination. Customer strategic coordination is positively related to SCP and to operational coordination. Customer operational coordination has no significant impact on SCP. The findings extend the empirical application of IPT. In addition, this study's findings direct SC managers to apply varied customer IS practices to enhance specific kinds of customer coordination activities, thereby enabling improved SCP. Study 3 attempts to explore the antecedents of customer coordination from the organizational capability perspectives. Cross-functional team, process, and system coordination practices are deemed as antecedents of customer operational and strategic coordination, and operational performance is considered to be the consequence. The theoretical model is checked via data collected from 410 Chinese manufacturers. We found that cross-functional team coordination was positively associated with customer strategic coordination. Cross-functional process coordination increases customer operational and strategic coordination. Cross-functional system coordination directly enhances customer operational coordination. Both customer operational and strategic coordination boosts operational performance. This study deepens our understandings of supply chain coordination (SCC) concept, supplements the empirical application of organizational capability theory, and enriches extant knowledge about SCC-performance relationships. Besides, it provides practical guidance to firms on how to implement SCC to achieve better operational performance. In general, this study contributes to the following theories, the extended resource-based view, the socio-technical system view, the information processing theory, and the organizational capability theory. The conclusions of this thesis enable firms to better understand how to manage their supply chain information sharing and coordination issues.