Transforming information into supply chain agility: an agility adaptation typology

• Published date: 11 February 2019
• Pages: 329-355
• Date: 11 February 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-09-2017-0237
• Author: Dawn M. Russell,David Swanson
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

Transforming information into

supply chain agility: an agility

adaptation typology

Dawn M. Russell and David Swanson

Department of Marketing and Logistics, University of North Florida,

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediators that occupy the gap between information

processing theory and supply chain agility. In today’s Mach speed business environment, managers often

install new technology and expect an agile supply chain when they pressoEnterW. This study reveals the

naivety of such an approach, which has allowed new technology to be governed by old processes.

Design/methodology/approach –This work takes a qualitative approach to the dynamic conditions

surrounding information processing and its connection to supply chain agility through the assessment of 60

exemplar cases. The situational conditions that have created the divide between information processing and

supply chain agility are studied.

Findings –The agility adaptation typology (AAT) defining three types of adaptations and their mediating

constructsis presented. Type 1: informationprocessing, is generally anexercise in synchronization thatcan be

used to supportassimilation. Type 2: demandsensing, is where companies areable to incorporate real-timedata

into everyday processes to better understand demand and move toward a real-time environment. Type 3:

supply chainagility, requires fundamentallynew thinking in the areas of transformation, mindsetand culture.

Originality/value –This work describes the reality of today’s struggle to achieve supply chain agility,

providing guidelines and testable propositions, and at the same time, avoids “ivory tower prescriptions,”

which exclude the real world details from the research process (Meredith, 1993). By including the messy real

world details, while difficult to understand and explain, the authors are able to make strides in the AAT

toward theory that explains and guides the manager’s everyday reality with all of its messy real world details.

Keywords North America, Process management, Agile, Information technology, Supply chain innovation,

Supply chain processes, Conceptual research

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Effective information processing should result in people and products moving in a

synchronized fashion throughout the supply chain. However, organizations still struggle to

translate their big data and real-time information processing into boots on the ground and

products on the shelves. In effect, companies struggle to translate information processing

into supply chain agility. This is likely because companies fail to identify that old processes

should be retired with expired technology, and, in fact, new processes should be introduced

and developed along with changing technological paradigms.

In today’s Mach speed information technology environment, technology often drives

business processes. Adoption of high visibility and trending technologies becomes a race to

implementation, often at the expense of the meaningful process revisions required to

synchronize processes and technology. Managers often install new technology and expect

an agile supply chain when they press oEnter W. This study reveals the naivety of such

an approach, which has allowed new technology to be governed by old processes. This work

investigates the modern day business scenarios that create a gap between information

processing theory and agile supply chain management practices, identifying mediating

constructs that bridge the gap.

Businesses tout the value of disruptive technologies to catapult business forward,

but business processes have to be adapted if the organization is to advance. Without

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 30 No. 1, 2019

pp. 329-355

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-09-2017-0237

Received 16 September 2017

Revised 8 March 2018

2 July 2018

Accepted 2 September 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

329

Supply chain

agility

fundamentally rethinking the business processes to take advantage of the capabilities that

are enabled by real-time information, organizations are unable to process information that

leads to supply chain agility. Companies miss out on the very performance improvement the

new technologies were intended to provide. To close the gap, researchers must take a

fundamentally new view of the problem. Questions about what is causing the

disconnections and how they can be bridged need to be posed. This work explores

information processing theory and raises questions that need to be answered in the pursuit

of supply chain agility. It seeks to understand what mediators occupy the gap between

information processing theory and supply chain agility.

Attributes of successful implementations were not pre-determined, but were qualitatively

identified from 60 exemplar business cases. Attributes of success were analyzed to identify

how firms successfully use information processing to achieve agility. Demand sensing was

chosen as the representative technology because it is a relatively new and unestablished

technologythat companies view as important to managementof big data. This presents a rich

environment to study the challenge of bridging the gap between information processing

theory and supply chain agility.

This paper begins by exploring extant literature related to information processing theory

and supply chain agility. The progression of this research ultimately led to an adaptation

typology which includes five mediating constructs: synchronization, assimilation,

transformation, mindset and culture. This research develops propositions that introduce

the mediating value of each of the five constructs for bridging the gap between information

processing theory and supply chain agility.

Literature review

Two literature streams are important for the theoretical development of this study:

information processing theory and supply chain agility. A review of literature illuminates

the challenge of translating information processing theory into supply chain agility.

This extant literature on information processing delineates a host of organizational

barriers to achieving better, more timely and useful information to support decision making

(Cegielski et al., 2012; Dehning et al., 2007; Prater, 2005; Melnyk et al., 2004; McNamara et al.,

2002; Galbraith, 1973, 1977). In effect, the prior studies reveal that there is a gap between

having information and the ability to transform that information into supply chain decisions

that are a catalyst for agility (Cegielski et al., 2012). Adding to the complexity, agility

requires synchronization across supply chain partners (Christopher and Lee, 2004). As a

result, supply chain agility is quickly becoming a major field of academic research (Charles

et al., 2010). Fayezi et al. (2017) provide a contemporary and comprehensive literature review

of supply chain agility and the related concept of flexibility, noting the literature argues that

supply chain agility can influence an organization’s success and prosperity (Baramichai

et al., 2007; Mathiyalakan, 2006; Qrunfleh and Tarafdar, 2013; Swafford et al., 2006;

Fayezi et al., 2017). Even more applicable to the idea of connecting information processing

and agility, studies highlight that information technology integration and flexibility in an

organization’s internal functions have been shown to act as the precursors of supply chain

agility through increased processing and operational management efficiencies (Swafford

et al., 2006, 2008; Fayezi et al., 2017). Blome et al. (2013) provide another literature review

with additional and complementary journal sources. These studies help researchers

understand the complex definitions and dimensions of agility which remain ambiguous in

the literature (Gligor et al., 2013). Furthermore, antecedents of supply chain agility continue

to be under researched (Gligor and Holcomb, 2014; Blome et al., 2013).

While improvedperformance can be enabled by effectiveuse of technology, investmentsin

information technology have often delivered disappointing performance results because

companies regularly use technologymerely to mechanize old processes (Hammer,1990, 2015).

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