ICT adoption and use in supply chain management: The Ghanaian experience.
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Date
2013
Authors
Banuro, F. Y.,
Kudalor, P, P.,
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Abstract
Coordination and collaboration among supply chain members are very essential to improve the performance of a supply chain. This paper therefore investigates the factors that hinder and facilitate ICT adoption in the areas of procurement management, logistics management, customer relationship management, and supplier relationship management in the supply chain in order to propose solutions for efficiency. A survey using 32 purposively selected manufacturing firms in the study area was used. Purposive sampling was used because we needed firms that both practise SCM and use ICT. Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, and observation. The collected data were analysed in SPSS producing results in the form of percentages, bar charts and hypothesis testing. The study found a high ICT adoption rate in SCM though it has not been used to fully integrate SCM activities. The desire to gain competitive advantage facilitates ICT adoption most while the steady decline in ICT prices facilitates ICT adoption the least. Risk/security issues associated with implementation hinders ICT adoption most while management of the companies studied hinders ICT adoption least. The limitations of the study are the fact that it concentrated on the Greater Accra Region of Ghana and also failed to collect data from suppliers and customers. This novel paper on ICT usage in SCM in Ghana brings to light the inadequate use of the technology. Thus, governments, managers, educationists, and the business community should find it as a guide to working towards integrating ICT and SCM in a way that will eliminate the inadequacies.
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Keywords
Supply Chain, information communication technology, adoption, competitive advantage