The Impact of Information Technology on the Development of Supply Chain Competitive Advantage

This paper explores the impact of Information Technology (IT) practices on building competitive advantage throughout the supply chain. A competitive advantage is based on capabilities that provide the necessary grounds of an organization to differentiate itself from its competitors. The majority of the relevant empirical literature identified price/cost, quality, delivery dependability, product innovation, and time to market as the most decisive sources of competitive advantage. As far as the standards in the economic environment are changing and global competition is fiercer, organizations realize that they have to re-evaluate their enterprise business model in order to gain supply chain efficiencies. To meet these challenges and improve their competitive advantage, companies need to both support their internal functions and exchange information with supply chain partners in an effective way. Therefore, companies must exploit IT including enterprise applications such as ERP and CRM, as well as e-procurement and e-commerce. The empirical findings from a survey of 76 manufacturing firms in Greece confirmed the crucial role of IT practices and techniques on the establishment of a sustainable competitive advantage based on Supply Chain Management. Managerial implications are discussed.