IT resources, supply chain coordination competency and firm performance: An empirical study

The much publicized potential benefits of information technology (IT) have given rise to an increased use of IT in supply chain management in recent years. However, the impact of IT investment on firm performance remains unresolved. Drawing on the tenets of resource-based view and supply chain management literature, we propose that IT-supported supply chain collaboration activities can transform IT resources into supply chain coordination competencies to achieve customer satisfaction. Based on data from an online survey of 310 Australian fast-growth small-to-medium-sized enterprises, we tested our proposed model using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of our SEM exercise show that IT resources do contribute to increasing customer satisfaction. While the adoption of IT may be duplicated by other firms, our findings demonstrate that through a process of integrating firm-specific IT resources with their causally complex supply chain collaboration processes, firms can develop their resource bundles into a unique set of IT-enabled supply chain coordination competency over time. Confirming the catalytic role of supply chain collaboration activities and coordination competencies in transforming IT resources into rent-generating assets, we offer an explanation to the inconsistent effects of IT investments on firm productivity.