Evaluation of Supply Chain Management Systems in Automotive Industry of North India

Abstract

The competition no longer exists between the companies, but it is between supply chains, this newlinesummarises the importance of supply chain in today s global competitive environment. Companies are newlineusing information and communication technology in the supply chain to gain competitive advantage. newlineSupply Chain Management Information System (SCMIS) has gained a lot of importance due to its newlineability to reduce costs and increase responsiveness in the supply chain. It provides high quality, relevant newlineand timely information flow that effectively supports decision making. The implementation of SCMIS is newlinea complicated process with significant risk since disparate systems spanning across companies are being newlineintegrated. There is a strong evidence in the literature that implementation of SCMIS projects were newlineeither not completed on time or didn t bring about the planned effects and even exceeded their estimated newlinecosts. newlineAgainst this backdrop, the research was undertaken in automotive sector covering two major OEMs: newlineMaruti Suzuki India Ltd. and Honda cars India Ltd., their suppliers and distributors since the benefits newlinefrom the SCMIS can only be realised if there is an effective implementation of the system. Therefore the newlineprimary purpose of the study was to identify and analyse both product and process dimension so as to newlineprovide a guideline which helps practitioners for the successful implementation of SCMIS. To fulfill the newlinepurpose questionnaires based survey method was used. The questionnaires were focused on the newlineidentification of critical and hindrance factors as well as product factors of the system. newlineFor evaluation of the product success dimension, six factors considered were: system quality, newlineinformation quality, perceived importance of the system, user satisfaction, individual benefits and newlineorganizational benefits.