Implementación de tecnologías de la información y comunicación (tic) avanzadas e implicaciones en la gestión estratégica de la cadena de suministro

Resumen

Today's market volatility pushes organizations to evaluate continuously their organizational and competitive strategies in order to maintain their position in the marketplace in a successful and sustainable way. Such conditions have prompted organizations across industries to adopt Information and communication technologies (ICT) for effective supply chain management (SCM) and strategy Implementation (Gatignon and Xuereb, 1997). According to Salomon and Cohen (1999) ICT can be defined as group of technologies used to process, store and disseminate information, facilitating the performance of information-related human activities, provided by, and serving both the public at-large as well as the institutional and business sectors. These technologies are considered as critical enablers of organizational competencies and firm performance, becoming the cornerstone of firms operations across industries (Kumar, 2010). Such capabilities have revolutionized organizational computing over the past decade, qualifying ICT as the most important development in the corporate use of IT (Davenport, 1998). Several authors assert that ICT are associated with improvements in firm performance, principally by redesigning business processes, integrating managerial functions, accelerating reporting cycles, and expanding information capabilities (Mabert et al., 2003). Through the years it has been claimed That ICT offer a wide range of benefits for SCM such as; synchronization of procedures, applications, and metrics that span intra- and inter-firm boundaries; providing accurate, timely, and integrated information oriented to improve organizational decision making (Su and Yang, 2010). Some authors like Ward and Zhou (2006) claim that ICT positively affect SCM and improve supply chain performance, particularly strengthening buyer-supplier relationships through more efficient processes and reduced lead time. Much of these findings reflect the inherent capacity of ICT to impact organizational structure and firm strategy, whereas promote and disclose the importance of an integrative approach. The general idea behind this, according to Sheu et al. (2006) is that better IT capacities and better communication contribute to an enhanced platform for both parties to engage in supply chain coordination, participation, and problem-solving activities. This perspective has been positively accepted; on this matter, Bowersox et al. (1999) and Frohlich and Westbrook (2001) claimed that wider scope of integration with supply chain partners has a positive association with supply chain performance improvement. Finally, According to, Drucker (1998) and Lambert and Cooper (2000) the success of firms will depend firmly on its IT and managerial abilities to integrate and coordinate the intricate network of business relationships among supply chain members. In light of the aforementioned, this PhD thesis focuses on the role played by ICT within the supply chain scope, as a tool for enhancing supply chain management and developing innovative strategies based on Information integration; considering the necessary requirements that play a key role for such purposes. To that aim, the current research provides a vast and detailed theoretical framework which introduces the main concepts concerned with describing supply chain management, ERP systems and technology-supported strategic initiatives with a wide and complete literature review on these concepts. Further, it provides well-defined research methodologies to clarify the role of Information technologies on diverse Firm strategies. This PhD Thesis is oriented at organizations which have implemented ICT to support their supply chains management, this include any type and size of companies belonging to the private or public sectors, which have adopted ICT to coordinate, organize, and monitor operations, processes, resources, and activities. The overall and main objective of this PhD thesis is to examine the impact of ICT in supply chain management and firm strategy, exploring ICT potential and resulting benefits for supply chain initiatives and innovative ICT-enabled firm strategies. The individual scope of each chapter is described below: Besides the first and introductory chapter, this PhD thesis includes four more chapters in which we develop more specifically the central topic of this research, to finally conclude with a last chapter on conclusions, implication, limitations and future research lines. In chapter two, we present a comprehensive literature review on the main topics of this thesis. Firstly, the chapter introduces the concept of supply chain management (SCM), describing fundamental supply chain key processes and sub-processes at strategic and operational levels (Lambert et al., 2005). Furthermore, crucial aspects on supply chain integration, describing the set of approaches utilized to effectively integrate suppliers and customers (Arias Aranda et al., 2010). At this point, the chapter also introduces different strategies oriented for such purposes such as: supplier relationship management (SRM), customer relationship management (CRM), and demand supply chain management (DSCM). Secondly, chapter two presents the role performed by Information and communication technologies (ICT) in supply chain management. Principally, it describes features and functions of ERP systems as a tool for enabling efficient customer-supplier collaboration and coordination across the supply chain (Su and Yang, 2010). Furthermore, it introduces an innovative ICT advancement denominated the-internet-of-things (IoT), which promises to revolutionize multiple business sectors across industries (Miorandi et al., 2012). Thirdly, chapter two describes diverse strategic orientations or firm strategies aimed at generating market differentiation and value generation. Particularly, it´s analyzed the concept of Servitization and its strategic effect towards service provision in manufacturing firms (Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003). As well, it introduces the concept of smart services; an innovative strategy that allows the provisioning of customized and person-oriented healthcare services. In chapter three, we present the research methodology and findings of the PhD thesis. For such purposes, the chapter presents the methodological approach and the results emerged from (a) THE ROLE OF ERP BOLT-ON EXTENSIONS IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT; TOWARD A CUSTOMER-ORIENTED SUPPLY CHAIN, which following a single-case study methodology analyzes the features of Bolt-on extensions to customize generic ERP systems and extend the system capacity to consistently integrate customer and supplier information in highly customer-oriented supply chain initiatives. (b) THE IMPACT OF ERP OPERATIONAL BENEFITS ON FIRM COMPETITIVE PRIORITIES AND FIRM PERFORMANCE, which following an empirical analysis examine the effect of operational ERP systems benefits on both competitive priorities and firm performance. (c) A ROADMAP TOWARDS SMART SERVICES IN HEALTHCARE, which following a taxonomy of technologies comprised in the Internet-of-things (IoT) paradigm analyze the technological requirements necessary for the provision of custom-adapted-services, designed to meet specific users' requirements. Main conclusions arising from this PhD thesis focus on proposing a new integrative perspective in which the strategic potential of ICT to integrate partner’s information (customers-suppliers) should be understood as a key element for developing future supply chain strategies. Moreover, main implications suggest that partner’s information should be perceived as an important source of knowledge in product and service design and redesign, and new guiding principles should be defined to lead companies into innovative ICT-enabled strategies (Bustinza et al., 2010). To conclude, the present PhD thesis has been developed with a robust methodological approach. In this sense, every chapter provides detailed insights to understand the concepts presented, offering to the reader a comprehensive and coherent reading to assure a clear understanding of the overall objective of the study. In this way, this thesis attempts to contribute to the future development of management and information technology scientific literature.