Information systems in supply chain management: A comparative case study of three organisations

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is recognised as a core competitive strategy for businesses in almost every industry. A strong supply chain provides products and services to consumers faster, cheaper, and better. The paper discusses SCM and information systems in the supply chain. Case studies of Wal-Mart, Amazon.Com and United Parcel Services (UPS) and their use of information systems in the supply chain are presented. Wal-Mart and Amazon have established critical and timely strategies in their supply chains through huge investments in Information Technology (IT). While Wal-Mart and Amazon are offering their products to consumers, UPS offers logistics solutions to clients. These companies use a variety of information technologies which include satellite systems, barcodes, web-based Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), data warehousing, and e-commerce in their supply chain. The supply chain and use of these technologies in SCM are reviewed and compared for these three organisations.