Aligning supply chain management characteristics and interorganizational information system types: an exploratory study

Supply chain management (SCM) and interorganizational information systems (IOIS) have gained significant importance in recent years, aided by anecdotal success stories of firms obtaining competitive advantage using these systems. Historically, the two streams of research have developed relatively independently, with operations and logistics researchers studying supply chains and information systems/information technology researchers covering the IOIS domain. Here, we describe the enhancement of knowledge that can be obtained by juxtaposing these two areas. This research study proposes a framework, the “supply chain management–interorganizational information system (SCM–IOIS) matrix,” to help understand the alignment of IOIS capabilities with the needs of supply chain members. The framework is validated using data from IndustryWeek’s census of manufacturers. The findings from this exploratory study support our proposition that firms align the levels of IOIS with the sophistication and coordination of their SCM efforts.