Managing Information Systems and Technologies for Agility: Case Studies in Supply Chain Management.

This research examines how information systems and technologies enable supply chain agility. The research was performed through the field study method involving 18 organizations representing the OEMs, suppliers, and IT vendors within the aerospace, automotive, electronics, healthcare, and fast moving consumer goods industries. Interviews were undertaken with managers from the IT and supply chain departments. The interviewees conceptualize supply chain agility with respect to the level of agility (internal or external) and the directions of agility (upstream or downstream). While supply chain agility is essentially regarded as the capability to rapidly match demand requirements and supply constraints by sensing and responding to change in the environment, form IT perspective, it means offering products and services that could increase transparency and improve relationships between trading partners. These are exemplified through the use of emergent IS/IT services, such as Supplier Portal, Vendor-Managed Inventory, E-Marketplace, and Web-based EDI, as well as industry-wide standards and solutions