Improving supply chain effectiveness through collaborative project and information technology governance

The automotive industry comprises a complex network of supply chains which links the manufacturers to their numerous disparate suppliers. In a dynamic and uncertain supply chain environment, flexibility is the major challenge to manufacturers. In this complex network, decentralized and cross-company project management of automotive projects is the requisite mode of operation. Supply chain flexibility is thus contingent on close intercompany collaboration. It further requires the support of integrated inter-firm IT solutions and project governance frameworks to ensure consistent end-to-end value co-creation from the suppliers to the end customers of the manufacturer. From a case study of an automotive manufacturer, this paper proposes a combination of Collaborative Project Scorecard and Collaborative IT Governance for effective management of cross-company automotive projects and associated inter-firm IT systems integration to reduce inter-firm misunderstanding and mistrust so as to contribute towards attaining the 'controlled flexibility' goal of the automotive manufacturing supply chain. © 2010 IEEE