Assessing the Impact of IT in Supply Chain Management Process

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

Presented To the Faculty Of The

Department of Master in Business Administration
IQRA University - Gulshan Campus

In The Fulfillment of Course Research Method

MBA Program
Spring 2015

Submitted to:
Dr. Feroz Siddiqui
By:
Kamran Uddin (8534)
kamranpasha80@gmail.com
Owais Majid (7621)
owais1122@gmail.com
Syed Talal Hasan (7454)
stalalh@hotmail.com

CONTENTS
Serial

Topic

Number

Page
Number

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Supply Chain Management Overview

4-6

IT as an Enabler of SCM

6-9

Research Question

Research Variables

9-10

K-Electric

10

Thematic Analysis

11

Conclusion and Recommendation

10

References

11

Appendix A IT Solutions to SCM

12

Appendix B Interview Questionnaire

13

Appendix C Coded verbatim transcription

14

Appendix D Summary Memo

15

Appendix E Email confirmation

16

Appendix F Request letter copy

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Acknowledgement

We would like to offer our special thanks to our facilitator, Dr. Feroz Siddiqui for
his support, assistance and direction that helped us to accomplish our objective
of conducting this research in the area of assessing the impact of IT in the supply
chain management. His willingness to give his time so generously has been very
much appreciated.
We would also like to thanks, interviewee, our parents & friends for their great
support and never ending guidance.

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Assessing the Impact of IT in Supply Chain Management Process

Introduction
A supply chain consists of networks of participants and channels of different functions from inside as well as
outside an organization that affect the desired outcomes of the supply chain. Supply chain management (SCM)
involves coordinating and integrating activities and processes among different business functions for the benefit
of the entire supply chain.
The integration of multiple functions and enterprises, particularly in a global supply chain context is complex.
New technology for supporting supply chain/logistics management has the potential to assist the organization in
achievement of both a cost and a value advantage in a supply chain.

Supply Chain Management Overview

Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the
ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers (Harland, 1996). The term
was coined by Keith Oliver, a Booz Allen Hamilton executive in1982 as an extension of logistics, though some
scholars see the terms interchangeable. Logistics, as well as many other terms commonly used in business,
originate from military terminology. In business language it generally refers to the management of the flow of
goods, information and other resources, between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to
meet the requirements of consumers. In this study it is not necessary to take up the cudgels for or against any
definition, by confining to the widely cited definition of the Supply Chain Management Council.
Supply chain management (SCM) means integration of key business processes from end user through original
suppliers that provides products, services, and information that add value to customers and other stakeholders
(Lambert et al., 1998).The key business processes of SCM, constituting the field of integration, are (Cooperet
al., 1997; Croxton et al., 2001):

Customer relationship management

Customer service management

Demand management

Order fulfillment

Manufacturing flow management

Procurement

Product development and commercialization

Returns management

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The two major understandings of SCM are, one sees SCM as a logistics-oriented concept which comprises intercompany logistics (Weber, 2002, Gopfert, 2001) and the other understanding is SCM as holistic concept which
spans across further business functions (Tan, 2001). Cooper et al. (1997) stated there is definitely a need for the
integration of business operations that goes beyond logistics. The integration of business processes across the
supply chain is what all call supply chain management. Therefore, SCM aims for improvement of all material,
informational and financial flows both within the internal supply chain and the extended supply chain from the
original supplier to the end customer.
Supply chains vary in terms of length, meaning the number of supply chain members involved from the raw
materials producer to the end customer of a product, and in complexity, referring to the interdependencies
between different supply chain members. The activities of each member of a supply chain are typically plan,
source, make, deliver, and in some supply chains also return. All of these activities are supported by information
systems enabling visibility of products, processes and progress. The need for such information visibility can be
demonstrated by the impact of it on the so called bullwhip effect which was first mentioned by Forrester in
1958 (1961). Latter, Lee et al.(1997) refers to increasing variability of demand further upstream in the supply
chain, according to them, four distinct causes lead to information distortion and result in the bullwhip effect:
1.

Demand Signaling

2.

Order Batching

3.

Fluctuating Prices

4.

Shortage Game

All four causes are based on behavior of supply chain members trying to maximize profit individually rather
than maximizing the entire supply chains profit. The overall costs of the supply chain are higher, resulting from
higher inventory levels, unavailability of products, irregular orders, unused over capacities and higher logistical
efforts (Gronau, 2004). Simulations of information sharing along the supply chain indicate that the magnitude of
the bullwhip effect can be reduced (Joshi, 2000). Enterprise systems enable the flow of information within both
the intra-company supply chain and the extended inter-company supply chain thus being a key component in
SCM efforts.
Supply Chain Management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory and
finished goods from point-of-origin to point-of- consumption (supply chain).Supply Chain Management
encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion,
and logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with
channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers and customers. In
essence, Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand management within and a cross companies.
More recently, the loosely coupled, self-organizing network of businesses that cooperates to provide product
and service offerings has been called the Extended Enterprise (Ross2006).
Supply chain management must address the following problems:

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Distribution Network Configuration: Number, location and network missions of suppliers, production
facilities, distribution centers, warehouses, cross-docks and customers.

Distribution Strategy: Including questions of operating control (centralized, decentralized or

shared);delivery scheme(e.g. direct shipment, pool point shipping, Cross docking, Direct Store
Delivery (DSD),closed loop shipping; mode of transportation (e.g. motor carrier, Including truckload,
parcel; railroad; ocean freight; airfreight); replenishment strategy(e.g. pull, push or hybrid);and
transportation control(e.g. owner- operated, private carrier, common carrier, contract carrier, or third
party logistics 3PL)

Supply chain execution is managing and coordinating the movement of materials, information and funds across
the supply chain. The flow is bi-directional. The elements are:

Information: Integration of and other processes through thesupply cha into share valuable information,
including demand signals, forecasts, inventory, transportation and potential collaboration etc.

Inventory Management: Quantity and location of inventory including raw materials, work-in- progress
(WIP) and finished goods.

Cash-Flow: Arranging the payment terms and the methodologies for exchanging funds across
entities within the supply chain.

Recent development in technologies enables the organization to avail information easily in their premises.
These technologies are helpful to coordinates the activities to manage the supply chain. The cost of information
is decreased due to the increasing rate of technologies. Manager needs to understand that information
technology is more than just computers. Except computer data recognition equipment, communication
technologies, factory automation and other hardware and services are included.

IT as an Enabler of SCM
According to Bowersox & Daugherty (1995), benefits of supply chain management can be reached by the use of
information technology and the construction of integrated supply chain information systems (Narasimhan &
Kim, 2001). Concerning the use of information systems (IS) to integrate business processes across the supply
chain, various studies have shown that an internal integration should precede the external integration with
suppliers and customers.

Stadtler (2002) introduces the House of SCM in which the coordination of information in the supply chain is
one of the building blocks. He states that information and communication technology is essential to efficiently
automate processes and coordinate information flows along the supply chain.

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Schlegel and Smith (2005) argue that technology is a key for the success of SCM systems and indicate that the
successful supply chain integration positively influences the companies stock market performance.
Nevertheless, they state that all projects which aim at enhancing the supply chain performance must be
understood as part of the larger initiative of supply chain integration. Therefore, they introduce a model of the
Dynamic On-Demand Supply Chain which among two other principles is based on technology integration.

There has been a lot of enthusiasm and major investments in the area of new smart tag technologies over the last
few years. This could help supply chains competing in optimizing their logistics processes by reducing
uncertainty, collecting valuable data, reducing inventory levels, increasing company productivity and improving
accuracy by minimizing manual work, where mistakes can occur. Many diverse industries have put their focus
on this technology concentrating on product movement visibility and data management. Especially large
cooperation, which are product-centric take a really close look on this, because they hope for instant supply
chain improvements by achieving better supply chain practices.
Prior to 1980s the information flow between functional areas within an organization and between supply chain
member partners were paper-based. The paper-based transaction and communication is slow. During this
period, information was often overlooked as a critical competitive resource because its value to supply chain
members was not clearly understood. IT infrastructure capabilities provide a competitive positioning of
business initiatives like cycle time reduction, implementation, implementing redesigned cross-functional
processes.
Three factors have strongly impacted this change in the importance of information. First, satisfying in fact
pleasing customer has become something of a corporate obsession. Serving the customer in the best, most
efficient and effective manner has become critical. Second information is a crucial factor in the managers'
abilities to reduce inventory and human resource requirement to a competitive level. Information flows plays a
crucial role in strategic planning.
Information sharing between partners in the supply chain is also crucial and these integration attempts are
accompanied by IT initiatives. Such IT initiatives include:

Use of bar-coding in logistics systems

Use of EDI to communicate between branches

Use of Material Requirements Planning

Enterprise Solutions like ERP

Internet and Web Services for communication between partners

Early studies on the impact of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) on Just-in-Time (JIT) shipments in the
automobile industry showed significant earnings with lowered shipment errors (Srinivasanetal, 1994).

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In the seven principles of SCM, Anderson etal (1996) pointed out that it is necessary to develop a supply chainwide technology strategy that supports multiple levels of decision making and gives a clear view of the flow of
products, services, and information. For this an IT system, that integrates capabilities of three essential kinds.
For the short term, the system must be able to handle day- to-day transactions and electronic commerce across
the supply chain and thus help align supply and demand by sharing information on orders and daily scheduling.
From a mid-term perspective, the system must facilitate planning and decision making, supporting the demand
and shipment planning and master production scheduling needed to allocate resources efficiently. To add longterm value, the system must enable strategic analysis by providing tools, such as an integrated network model,
that synthesize data for use in high-level "what-if" scenario planning to help managers evaluate plants,
distribution centers, suppliers, and third-party service alternatives.
The functional roles of IT in SCM have been outlined as follows (Auramoetal2005):
Functional roles of IT in SCM

Transaction Execution

Collaboration

Decision Support

Coordination
Functional Roles of IT in SCM

Objectives and Benefits of IT in SCM

The objectives of IT in SCM are (Simchi-Levi,2003):

Providing information availability and visibility

Enabling a single point of contact for data

Allowing decisions based on total supply chain information

Enabling collaboration with partners

IT in SCM enables great opportunities, ranging from direct operational benefits to the creation of strategic
advantage. It changes industry structures and even the rules of competition. IT is key in supporting companies
creating strategic advantage by enabling centralized strategic- planning with day-to-day centralized operations.
In fact supply chain become more market-oriented because of IT usage. Ciscoreportedsavingsof$500million by
restructuring its internal operations and integrating processes with suppliers and customers with the help of
web-based tools (Berger,2000). The Wal-Mart & P&G experiences demonstrate how information sharing can

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be utilized for mutual advantage. Through sound information technologies, Wal-Mart shares point of sale
information from its many retail outlet directly with P&G and other major suppliers Andersonetal (1996).
Celestica, one of the world's largest electronic manufacturing services companies, has applied a web- based IT
tool to regulate its global supply base (Shore, 2001). IT has helped Celestica to improve its responsiveness to
customers, thus helping its customer, Dell to maintain its delivery promise to end-users.

Challenges in Implementing IT within SCM

Any company that has undertaken the mission of implementing an integrated supply chain management
strategy with the use of IT tools knows that one of the greatest challenges it faces is the significant change in
internal culture that is required to make the supply chain redesign successful. It is not an easy thing, torecondition people to accept change, especially in organizations where a certain mindset has prevailed for many
years. However difficult it may be to accomplish, change can be implemented successfully when directed by a
strong and knowledgeable leader, who understands the tools available for achieving positive change, as well as
their role in initiating and sustaining these changes.
Integrating new applications with existing and legacy systems could also pose problems. Incompatible systems
at buyer and vendor facilities are another management challenge to tackle. Data sharing with diverse
stakeholders like suppliers and customers, filtering and mining data generated and finding "business" value of
the data are other issues.

Disconnected enterprise systems create data redundancy, errors and can lead to costly business in efficiencies.
Poor coordination between enterprise systems leads to flawed production plans, increased supply chain
pressure and poor customer service. Lack of visibility of orders, schedules and shipments can lead to costly
administrative decision making processes.

According to Macleod (1994), supply chain managers increasingly want to automate all of the supply chain,
from forecasting to distribution, and to link every element of the chain. More and more companies want an
integrated solution to enable them to see the entire supply chain at once. For instance, they want to know that if
they drill down to forecast, they can see the demand history, which is a combination of data which have come
from sales order processing, inventory management and the warehousing system.

Van Oldenborgh (1994) says that the ability to reduce human intervention yet over see minutely the flow of
parts and products along the entire length of the supply chain can help dramatically in cutting logistics costs
and boosting customer satisfaction. Unfortunately for many mid size companies in these times of economic
recession, such clarity in global distribution remains largely restricted to major multinationals with deep
pockets and volumes large enough to justify the hefty initial investment in IT that can run in to millions of
dollars.

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Towill (1997) sums up "To survive, let alone win, a company must be part of one or more supply chains
producing world class performance". Hence companies need to work together and optimize the complete
pipeline by establishing a seamless supply chain to maximize their market share. Only with this support of the
holistic chain concept can further significant and radical improvements in individual business performance be
realized. Process manufacturers and IT system endorse are working to develop a filter to sift through the
barrage of data from process control systems to move important information to higher level IT systems.

Research Question
How to assess the level of implementation of IT within Supply Chain Management process?

Research Variables

Logistics process

Vendor relationship

Customer relationship

Procurement process

Demand management

Inventory management

Order fulfillment

Manufacturing flow management

Product development and commercialization

Returns management

Decision making process

etc.

K-Electric
K-Electric Limited formerly known as Karachi Electric Supply Company Limited (KESC) is at present the only
vertically-integrated power utility in Pakistan that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of
electricity to the city. The Company covers a vast area of over 6,500 square kilometers and supplies electricity
to all the industrial, commercial, agricultural and residential areas that come under its network, comprising over

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2.2 million customers in Karachi and in the nearby towns of Dhabeji and Gharo in Sindh and Hub, Uthal, Vindar
and Bela in Balochistan.
Companys mission is to Brightening lives by building the capacity to deliver uninterrupted, safe and
affordable power to Karachiites.

Thematic Analysis

Demand Management
Monitoring Demand
Demand is essential phase for any business/organization. IT helps in monitoring the demand very well.
IT helps in monitoring real time data to maintain the current demand and supply relation within the

market.

Measuring Demand
Measuring demand is itself a necessary part. IT helps in monitoring the current demand. Current stock

availability and past consumption helps to measure the current demand

Forecast Demand
Forecasting is one of the important technique of Supply Chain. IT helps in determining and assessing
the previous records, previous demand and current demand, which leads towards demand forecasting
efficiently.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that demand plays an important role for running any organization. IT helps in
determining the current demand and forecasting as well. Monitoring, measuring the demand by
analyzing the current stock availability, previous stock consumption and current market demand helps
in forecast demand.

Procurement Process via IT

Raise PO
Purchase order is basically generate after raising the material requisition. Once determining the need of
material, online system i-e ERP helps to raise the requisition of that material. After the approval of

current department and finance department, PO is generated.

IT in Procurement
Modern era IT becomes the necessary part in whole procurement process. IT helps in determining the
current stock position, which leads to determine the need of material requisition. From material
requisition to payment confirmation every single step in done through IT .

PR & Payment
Now a days Purchase requisition and payment process done through IT. Once PR is raised and material
is delivered the payment is transferred through online system.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that the organizations are largely focuses on their procurement process that it must be
done efficiently and effectively. For that purpose they move forward towards IT infrastructure. ERP

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system is being implemented now a days. From material requisition, PO, vendor selection, PR till
payment all the process is being done via IT infrastructure.

Inventory Management
Inventory Process
Inventory is one of the most important phase of an organization. Inventory process is to maintain the
stock level, keep the inventory as low as possible. The process manages the stock requirement and

stock consumption.

Buffer stock
Buffer stock is the excess inventory, which an organization doesnt want to keep. IT system helps to
maintain the excess material in the inventory zone. ERP system automatically intimates the stock

position.

IT in Inventory
The inventory process is done through IT system in many organizations. It helps to maintain the
inventory, stock level, stock consumption and requirement as well. Organizations keep focusing on
implementing ERP system to maintain and improve their inventory process efficiently.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that inventory process is ongoing process for an organization. IT plays a vital role in
Inventory management. IT helps to maintain the stock level, stock consumption, stock requirement as
per the need of the organization. IT also manages the Buffer stock whenever it goes up online system
automatically manage it.

Vendor Relationship:
Vendor selection process
In an organization, Vendor selection process is done through their past records, performance, quality
material, quantity and lead times. Vendor is selected according to the needs of the organization. Vendor
is being selected according to their capabilities and past records and also it must meet the standards of

the organizations.

IT in Vendor management
IT helps to evaluate the vendor management process effectively. IT helps to allocate the vendors
according to the organizational needs & helps in evaluating and measuring the performance of the
vendor. IT highlights the specified vendor according to the organizational requirement and demand. IT
highlights the past records (i-e material quality, quantity, delivery schedule etc). Although most of the

vendors are not that much developed to connected with IT system with the organizations.

Vendor Management
Vendor management enables organizations to control costs, drive service excellence and mitigate risks
to gain increased value from their vendors throughout the deal life cycle.
Vendor management helps to select the right vendors, categorize the vendors to ensure the right
contract, create relationship and also determine the ideal number of vendors.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that vendor management is managed by the organizations with its requirements and
needs. Vendor is being selected by their past records, quality, quantity,

Logistics Management:
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Transportation
Logistics plays a vital role in SCM for any organization. Transportation itself a part of logistics
management. Organizations used transportation as per their requirement. Different modes of
transportations have been practiced in organizations. In fact multimodal transportation are also used as
per requirement. From purchasing to distributing material, transportation facilitates and create value

among the consumers. This all process have been effectively done with the help of IT.

Logistics outsourcing
Logistics also used as outsourcing agent. It all depends on organizational capabilities and requirements
and their needs. Organizations largely focuses on outsourcing the logistics area. For that purpose 3 rd
part logistics(3PL), 2PL, 4PL and even 7PL is being introduced. And organizations largely

implemented according to their needs and requirement in order to get max: benefits.

Logistics types
Different types of logistics have been used in organizations. Basically, Inbound and Outbound
Logistics have been used in the organization. Inbound logistics covers all the internal functions of the
organization i-e production, purchasing etc. Whereas outbound logistics covers all the external
environment of the organization i-e Distribution etc.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that logistics management becomes the backbone for any organizations Supply Chain
Process. Organizations used different modes of transportation according to their needs and
requirements. Multimodal transportations are widely practiced in the organizations. Even organizations
are now primarily focuses of outsourcing the logistics as well. For that purpose 3PL to 7PL have been
introduced inorder to give the benefit to the organization. Logistics have been used for both internal
and external environment for an organization. Organizational improvements are largely dependent on
efficient logistics process

Return Management
Reverse Logistics
The concept of reverse logistics comes form return Management. Whenever there is a gap created in
organizational process and customers expectations or any flaw raised then there is a big need of
reverse logistics. It manages customer collections, swaps, and advance replacements and facilitates

returns and reporting and link to financial transactions as required.

Customer care services

Customer care centres are introduced by the organizations to facilitate the customer and fulfills the gap
b/w organizational commitments and customers expectations. Organizations Contact Center Solution
provides real-time support, troubleshooting and returns management administration to proactively
address the reasons for a return, resolve customer dissatisfaction and manage the Returns Management

Authorization (RMA) process.

Inventory Returned
The inventory is a necessary part for an organization. If any rejections and defects in
the inventory, it will be sent back to the store/vendor with the claim or justification
about this return.

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Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that Return management is one of the difficult phase for an organization. Reverse
logistics process determines the recollection from customers, swaps, return of materials by means of
transportation. Customer care centres are being introduced to manage and fulfills the gaps b/w
organizations and customers. Inventory return also one of the important part of return management.
Any defects and rejects cause the inventory return to the store and vendor. IT helps to identified it by
focusing on Return management. This whole process of returning should be done on online system.

Customer Relationship:
Customer Service
Customer Service given by the organization in order to fulfills the gap and maximize their profit. Better
customer service leads towards strong customer loyalty. Normally, Customers are given access to the
level of their account via the web portal though which they can engage with the organization, they can

lodge complains.

Customer Relationship Management

Better CRM(Customer Relationship Management) leads towards better Supply Chain for an
organization. Now a days organization gives online approached so that one can easily engaged with the
organization. IT plays a vast role in fulfilling the gaps b/w organization and customers. Generally, the
customers are linked to organizations through their web page, email, facebook, twitter and other social

links.

Customer Queries
Customer relationships are built by managing customer queries effectively. Organizations have 24/7
call centers logging the complains of customers through email facebook and twitter and coveys it to
Complains department. Each and every complain is assigned a unique complain number generated by
online IT system which remain open till the consumer complaint is addressed or fault is rectified.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that Customer Relationship Management is very important part of Supply Chain
management. Organizations focuses on CRM to create the good relationship with the customers. For
that purpose organizations largely opens their customer care centres to ensure the good relationship
with the customers, also provide 24/7 online service so that one can easily approached to the
organizations. Organizations fulfill the queries and problems of the customer so that customer should
feel of being valued.

Decision Making Process:

Assessing information
Decision-making is one main activity of management & is a huge part of any process of
implementation. Organizations generally used IT system i-e ERP to assess the current information in
order to take effective decisions. For instance, On organizational level, The last consumption of the
material becomes the part of the decision making when purchasing the material for the next year. And

these consumptions can easily be assessed using the centralized ERP.

Planning & Scheduling

Planning and scheduling is pre-requisite for effective decision making. Effective planning for any

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matter leads towards strong decision making. Proper assessing the information and meaningful data
helps in proper planning and scheduling. Decision making should be take place on the basis of efficient
planning and scheduling. Now a days information is being assessed and planning and scheduling
should be done through IT. In the decision making process, proper planning and scheduling helps the
management to choose one course of action from a few possible alternatives.

Post decision
The decision regarding any particular area can be assessed through IT infrastructure i-e ERP. Decision
should be checked whether it will be beneficiary or not. Past records and past decisions leads and
highlights the post decision making results, which helps to made effective post decision making.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that Decision making is a daily activity for any human being and for any business
organization as well. Decision making process identifying and choosing alternatives based on the
values and preferences of the decision maker Effective and successful decisions make profit to the
company. Generally, IT system are implemented to assess the real time data which helps in proper
planning and scheduling and leads towards effective decision making. Post decision making have been
controlled by tracking the past records and past decisions.

Order Fulfillment
Strategies
Order fulfillment is the complete process from point of sales inquiry to delivery of a product to the
customer. Basically, it all depends on the lead times. Different strategies have been used within the
organizations. It all depends on their requirements. Some of the commonly used strategies are: Push &

Pull, Make to order, engineering to order, Assemble to order etc.

Process
Now a days, Process of order fulfillment have been done on IT based. The process contains product
inquiry till delivery. Organizations are also largely focuses on settlement and Return process in order to
get strong market position. Process contains Product inquiry, invoicing, product confirmation,

selection, order booking, delivery, return etc. Hence all of it should be done through IT.

Advantages
Order fulfillment benefited the organization by fulfilling the gap b/w sales forecast and actual demand.
The de-coupling point minimizes the dependency on forecasting and helps to work on Just-in-time. It
creates strong customer satisfaction.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that order fulfillment is one the process that helps to minimize the gaps b/w
organization and customers. Different strategies have been used by the organizations. It all depends on
the organizational requirement and needs. Mostly organizations used IT infrastructure to fulfill the
orders which was given by the customers. Online order fulfillment reduces the dependency on
forecasting and also reduces the gaps b/w organization and customers.

Manufacturing flow management

Strategic Process
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Manufacturing process produces and supplies products to the distribution channels. Organizations used
different strategies to run and flow their manufacturing process effectively. Generally organizations
largely focuses on the strategic process in order to improve their supply chain process i-e Push and Pull
boundaries etc. Organizations should have flexibility to manage themselves according to the current
situations.

Advantages
Different advantages have been obtained by managing smooth flow of manufacturing process.
Organizations keep focusing on getting maximum profit and lower cost as well. It helps in obtaining
shorter lead time, operations efficiency as well.

Researchers Conclusion:
It is concluded that manufacturing process is an integral part for any process industry. Now a days,
Organizations keep focusing on improving their manufacturing process. Organizations implements
different strategies as per their requirements. Which leads them to get max: profit, operations
efficiency, shorter lead time and low cost as well. Organization should have flexible manufacturing
system(FMS).

Product development and commercialization

Development Process
Good product development process leads the most desirable products like Microsoft, Apple etc and
other successful companies have adapted a development process that suited to their specific business
and product needs organizations are very sophisticated to developed their product. They follow the
following steps in order to developed their product. I-e conceptualization, product definition, product
concept feasibility, design and development and then process validation. These steps helps in building
the new product with in the market.

Commercialization
Commercialization the process of launching a new product; it may involve heavy promotion and filling
the distribution networks with the product. Above the Line (ATL) and Below the Line (BTL) activities
have been taken by the organizations for commercializing the product. It all depends on the
organizational strategy

Advantages
Proper Product development and commercialization helps to get the space and also achieved the
desired goals within the market. If Product development process is properly strategized then it is easier
for the organization to launched their product effectively due to which it becomes easier to the
customer to aware from the new brand launched in the market.

Researchers Conclusion:
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It is concluded that product development process is essential part for an organization in order to
launched and developed their product within the market effectively. Proper strategy leads the product
name raised in the market. Commercialization process helps the product to launched among the
consumers. It depend on organization that which type of strategy they are going to follow in order to
commercialize it.

Conclusion & Recommendations:

Benefits of IT in SCM are multitude and vary in the context of their implementation. Moreover, as the
use of IT is closely related to process changes, most of the benefits are overlapping and interlinked. Then, it
is hard to specify the origin of benefit very explicitly. Notably, strategic benefits are only achievable when
the introduction of IT is coupled with process re-design. The ideas of ERP are then closely related to
current study. Our study corroborates that Information Technology is strategically benefitting in SCM. The
change in processes needs not to be total, but without any process changes, IT becomes merely an
automating force, providing efficiency benefits in a limited scope. The study presented in this paper has
limitations. First, the sample of companies included in the study was selected by expert assessment and is biased
towards companies willing to discuss and share results openly. Second, the viewpoint of this paper was on single
company rather than on the entire supply networks. Additionally, since the company was interviewed only once,
some important insights might not have been captured during the process. However, the findings of this study
present an opportunity to further develop understanding of the underlying mechanisms of how IT
investments benefits supply chain management. To further knowledge development is to study entire supply
networks and analyse the situation from various points of view. Sufficient emphasis should be paid to various
organisational issues. Additionally, propositions presented in this paper should be tested with larger data set to
gain further understanding of various contingencies (type of network, business environment, used technology
etc.) that have an impact how the benefits are composed.

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Logistics. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 8, (1), 1-13.
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Appendix A IT Solutions to SCM

Existing IT Solutions and Applications for SCM
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Introduced in the 1970s and popularized in the 1980s, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technology has been
widely used by firms in supply chains to facilitate transactions and information exchanges. EDI is defined as
computer to computer exchange of structured data for automatic processing. EDI is used by supply chain
partners to exchange essential information necessary for the effective running of their businesses. These
structural links are usually set up between organizations that have a long- term trading relationship.

For example, some multiple retailers will supply electronic point of sale (EPOS) data directly to suppliers,
which in turn triggers replenishment of the item sold. Therefore, the consequence of this type of strong link
those suppliers will be able to build a historical sales pattern that will assist their own demand forecasting
activities. Because there is no need for employees to collate the information manually, EDI has many benefits,
for examples, it is providing timely information about its customers' sales as well as highly accurate and very
efficient. Moreover, it is utilized for sending invoices, bills of lading, confirmation of dispatch, shipping details
and any information that the linked organizations choose to exchange (Rushton et al., 2000).

The main advantages of using EDI are to enter only informative needs on the computer system once, and then it
is able to speed of transaction and to reduce cost and error rates. Other benefits of EDI are Quick process to
information, Better customer service, reduced paper work, increased productivity, improved tracing and
expediting, Cost efficiency and improved billing. Through the use of EDI supply chain partners can overcome
the distortions and exaggeration in supply and demand information by improving technologies to facilitate real
time sharing of actual demand and supply information.

Although companies gain a lot of benefits from EDI, it is often the mismatch between EDI's expectations and
the company's activities undertaken to achieve the desired performance. Also larger organizations are major
adopters of EDI, whereas Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) often do not use EDI.

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Bar Coding & Scanner

Bar Codes are the representation of a number or code in a form suitable for reading by machines (Rushton et al.,
2000). Bar codes are widely used throughout the supply chain to identify and track goods at all stages in the
process. Bar codes are a series of different width lines that may be presented in a horizontal order, called ladder
orientation, or a vertical order, called picket fence orientation. For example, goods received in a warehouse may
be identified by the warehouse management system and added to stock held in the warehouse. When put away,
the bar code is used to associate the storage location with the bar-coded stock, and on dispatch the stock record
is amended. The use of bar codes can speed up operations significantly. On the other hand, the problems can
occur if bar codes are defaced or the labels fall off in transit. The maintenance management must be applied for
extending the long-life period of this equipment.
Bar code scanners are most visible in the check-out counter of super markets and hyper markets. This code
specifies name of product and its manufacturer. Other applications are tracking the moving items such as
components in PC assembly operations, automobiles in assembly plants.

In 1983, with barcodes printed on most goods, Wal-Mart introduced checkout scanners in all its stores. They
updated inventory numbers for individual items at point of sale and enabled headquarters to easily aggregate
sales and inventory data at its centralized IT department. Later in 1987, a satellite communications network
installation linked all the stores with the headquarters with real-time inventory data.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems are Enterprise-wide Information Systems used for automating all
activities and functions of a business. These are transaction-based information systems that are integrated across
the whole business. Basically, they allow for data capture for the whole business into a single computer package
which's give a single source for all the key business information activities, such as customer orders, inventory
and financials. Many companies now view ERP systems from vendors like Baan, SAP and People soft as the
core of their IT infrastructure. ERP systems have become enterprise-wide transaction processing tools which
capture the data and reduce the manual activities and task associated with processing financial, inventory and
customer order information. ERP system achieve a high level of integration by utilizing a single data model,
developing a common understanding of what the shared data represents and establishing a set of rules for
accessing data.

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In addition to the huge costs that are involved in procuring an ERP application, installation of such systems will
entail widespread change within the organization. It will have implications in terms of Business Process
Reengineering (BPR), changes in organizational structure, people and change management. Many companies
have benefited from using this system whilst some have experienced severe problems with their application.
Generally, they also require a lot of customization and training for each user.

Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)

Warehouse management systems are systems that control all the traditional activities of warehouse operations.
Areas covered usually include receipt of goods, allocation or recording of storage locations, replenishment of
picking locations, production of picking instructions or lists, order picking, order assembly and stock rotation.
Some systems are used in conjunction with radio frequency (RF) communication equipment. This equipment
can be mounted on fork-lift trucks. The warehouse management system communicates with the RF system and
directs the activities of the warehouse staff (Thongchattu et al, 2007). For example, when picking that it will
provide the tasks for the operative to carry out. Once the task is complete the operative updates the system and
is directed to the next task. This has the advantage of updating the stock holding in real time.

There are highly sophisticated systems that control the operations of fully automated warehouses. This may
include automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and the many
other devices that are relatively common in today's modern warehouse such as, conveyors, carousels, sortation
systems, etc. A number of computer models have now been developed to assist in the planning of warehouse
design and configuration. These are generally very sophisticated 3D simulation models that provide a graphic,
moving illustration on the computer screen of the layout of the warehouse.

Transportation Management Systems (TMS)

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Transportation Management Systems provide more visibility into shipments and orders. Scheduling issues are
also addressed on time. Multiple transportation options can be explored as a result of earlier visibility into the
supply chain. Timely communication and status reports can also be obtained. By having control on its supply
chain, businesses can make efficient routing decisions.

An example of such a system is developed by Target Corporation and NTE. Initially Target was making
transportation requests manually for inbound shipments. There was limited visibility for shipments and as a
result of this; there were more number of less-than-truckloads, which was not cost-effective. Implementation of
the new system resulted in target vendors submitting the relevant freight information electronically with
increased speed and efficiency. The new system resulted in improved cost controls, better labor planning and
reduced administrative overheads.

Inventory Management Systems (IMS)

During the mid to late 1990s, retailers began implementing modern inventory management systems, made
possible in large part by advances in computer and software technology. The systems work in a circular process,
from purchase tracking to inventory monitoring to re-ordering and back around again.
Retailers such as Target, Lowe's and Best Buy stock tens of thousands of items from all over the world. WalMart alone stocks items made in more than 70 countries, according to its corporate Web site. It is estimated that
at any given time, the Arkansas-based retailer manages an average of $32 billion in inventory. With those kinds
of numbers, having an effective, efficient inventory control system, or inventory management system, is
imperative. Wal-Mart's system helps it maintain its signature "everyday low prices" by telling store managers
which products are selling and which are taking up shelf and warehouse space.

Inventory management systems are the rule for such enterprises, but smaller businesses and vendors use them,
too. The systems ensure customers always have enough of what they want and balance that goal against a
retailer's financial need to maintain as little stock as possible. Mismanaged inventory means disappointed
customers, too much cash tied up in warehouses and slower sales. Factors such as quicker production cycles, a
proliferation of products, multi-national production contracts and the nature of the big-box store make them a
necessity.

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Modern inventory management systems must have the ability to track sales and available inventory,
communicate with suppliers in near real-time and receive and incorporate other data, such as seasonal demand.
They also must be flexible, allowing for a merchant's intuition. And, they must tell a storeowner when it's time
to reorder and how much to purchase.

Emerging and New IT Solutions for SCM

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

The bar code was intended to improve efficiencies in the retail space, but the bar code cannot uniquely identify
the specific object such as when items are produced, the lot of the items was made and when will the items
expire. RFID was able to take care of these issues.

Both RFID and Bar codes are indeed, quite similar, both being auto-ID technologies, which are intended to
provide item identification. The primary difference is the reading data from the items. In bar coding, the reading
device scans a printed label with optical laser or imaging technology and in RFID; the reading device scans a tag
by using radio frequency signals.

The need to minimize operating costs and employed assets has resulted in the adoption of radio frequency
technology to track inventories within a supply chain down to the item level, thus reducing channel volume and
enhancing forecasting and planning capabilities (D'Avanzo et al.,2004). RFID is a type of automatic
identification system. The purpose of an RFID system is to enable data to be transmitted by a portable device,
called a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed according to the needs of a particular application.
The data transmitted by the tag may provide identification or location information, or specifics about the product
tagged, such as price, color, date of purchase, etc. (EPIC, 2002).

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The tag is a microchip connected to a small antenna. The chip can capture a certain amount of data. The radio
waves via which the tag and the reader communicate with each other can vary from low frequency (125 KHz) to
microwave frequency (6 GHz). In the view of Wachter and Pleysier (2004) the impact of RFID from a supply
chain perspective includes: supply chain inversion, pressure on inventory, increased regulation and legislation,
cost control, connectivity and visibility. Supply chain inversion concerns shifting from a push system to a pull
system. Pressure on inventory is related to the use of RFID to reduce lead times of information through faster
and more reliable registration and increased visibility in the supply chain. In terms of increased regulation and
legislation, government regulation has led to more product information and safety requirements. RFID has been
used for traceability and visibility of products. In terms of cost cutting, RFID is used to reduce labor costs.

Other practical applications of RFID include authentication (Coronado et al 2004) and shrink prevention. In
terms of authentication, the use of electronic sealing through RF- tags can warrant the authenticity and origin of
a product. RF tags can be used to prevent non-malicious and malicious shrinks. Non-malicious shrink is
associated with product handling. Malicious shrink is usually associated with theft and fraud. RFID systems
have permitted the tracking of work-in-progress in automotive manufacturing and computer hardware
manufacturing. Tags are re-used on other components or products or they may remain permanently fixed to the
product to provide a secure serial number (Schneider, 2003). Original equipment manufacturers (OEM's),
retailers and suppliers benefit equally from tracking inventories. In the view of Schneider (2003), retailers are
very interested in turning the supply chain management industry into an RFID-dependent business as long as it
is cost efficient. The drinks sector has been using RFID to track and manage its inventory to decrease product
losses and increase revenues. For example, Scottish Courage Brewing Ltd, which owns 45 per cent of the UK
draught beer market, has invested approximately $14 million (USD) in RFID to track 2 million kegs and 736
vehicles (Schneider, 2003). RFID has helped the brewing company enjoy significant reductions in keg losses
and a more efficient delivery process. Since, the company deployed its RFID systems four years ago they have
improved cycle times by four days.

Software Agents

Artificial Intelligence emerged into the paradigm of software agents with the application area of multi-agent
systems. A software agent is a software system, which has attributes of intelligence, autonomy, perception or
acting on behalf of a user. Agents can behave autonomously or proactively. The intelligence of an agent refers to
its ability of performing tasks or actions using relevant information gathered as part of different problem-solving
techniques such as influencing, reasoning and application specific knowledge. Java has been the most common

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tool for building such intelligent agents which are increasingly becoming mobile. Most of the agent platforms
available today like Agent-Builder, Aglets, Voyager, JADE, ZEUS and FIPA are implemented using this
language.

One classification of agents given by Haag (2006) suggests that there are only four essential types of intelligent
software agents:

* Buyer agents or shopping bots - Buyer agents travel around network (i.e. the internet) retrieving information
about goods and services. These agents, also known as 'shopping bots', work very efficiently for commodity
products such as CDs, books, electronic components, and other one-size- fits-all products. Amazon.com is a
good example of a shopping bot. The website will offer you a list of books that you might like to buy on the
basis of what you're buying now and what you have bought in the past.

* Monitoring and Surveillance Agents are used to observe and report on equipment, usually computer systems.
The agents may keep track of company inventory levels, observe competitors' prices and relay them back to the
company, watch stock manipulation by insider trading and rumors, etc.

* User agents (personal agents) - User agents, or personal agents, are intelligent agents that take action on your
behalf. In this category belong those intelligent agents that perform tasks like checking your e-mail and sorting
it according to the user's order of preference, and alert you when important emails arrive; Play computer games
as your opponent or patrol game areas for you; Assemble customized news reports for you. There are several
versions of these, including news-hub and CNN.

* Data mining agents - This agent uses information technology to find trends and patterns in an abundance of
information from many different sources. The user can sort through this information in order to find whatever
information they are seeking. Classification is one of the most common types of data mining, which finds
patterns in information and categorizes them into different classes.

Monitoring and Surveillance agents and Data mining agents are being considered for applications in SCM. For
example, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has an agent that monitors inventory, planning, and scheduling

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equipment ordering to keep costs down, as well as food storage facilities. These agents usually monitor complex
computer networks that can keep track of the configuration of each computer connected to the network.

Agent-based solutions are being introduced for SCM. Air Liquide America LP, a producer of liquefied industrial
gages, reduced its production and distribution costs using agents. Merck and Co, a leading research-driven
pharmaceutical company used agents to help it find more efficient ways to distribute anti-HIV drugs. Proctor
and Gamble used agents to transform its supply chain network into a network of software agents whose
behaviors are programmed through rules.

Decision Support Systems (DSS)

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a specific class of computerized information systems that supports
business and organizational decision-making activities. A properly- designed DSS is an interactive softwarebased system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal
knowledge, and/or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present would be:

* An inventory of all of your current information assets (including legacy and relational data sources, cubes,
data warehouses, and data marts)

* Comparative sales figures between one week and the next

* Projected revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions

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* The consequences of different decision alternatives, given past experience in a context that is described
In SCM, there is always a likelihood of having disagreements among parties for a certain decision making
process. This phenomenon gets worse, when the business environment becomes more competitive and turbulent.
Accordingly Decision Support Systems (DSS) have been integrating in various areas like logistics, inventory
management, facility design, sales analysis etc.

Baan, a leading ERP vendor unveiled an application, Baan Enterprise Decision Manager for aiding corporate
decision- making. Major retailers like Walmart, Sara Lee, Roebuck have increasingly started using Collaborative
Forecasting and Replenishment (CFAR) which uses DSS for jointly developing forecasts. GAF Materials Corp,
the largest manufacturer of asphalt-based roofing materials in the US, uses a freight-management DSS (Lee et
al, 1999).

Web Services

Web services are application interfaces accessible via Internet standards that use XML and that employ at least
one of the following standards: Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Description Language
(WSDL) or Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI). These standards, and the next-generation
standards that are being built on them, are defining the way that forward-thinking enterprises manage
lightweight integration tasks.

In the view of Sun Microsystems (2004), web services interoperability for supply chain management is being
used to support business-to-customer models. The computing giant provided an example where retailers offer
electronic goods to consumers. To fulfil orders, the retailer has to manage stock levels in warehouses (Coronado
et al 2004). A typical business-to-business model is used when an item in stock falls below a certain threshold.
In that case the retailer must restock the item from the relevant manufacturer's inventory. In order to fulfil a
retailer's request, a manufacturer may have to execute a production run to build the finished goods. In reality, a
manufacturer would have to order the component parts from its suppliers and that may be a manual process
which is supported through the use of fax.

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The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) protocol is one of the major building blocks
required for successful web services. UDDI creates a standard interoperable platform that enables companies
and applications to quickly, easily, and dynamically find and use web services over the internet (UDDI, 2004).
UDDI also allows operational registries to be maintained for different purposes in different contexts. UDDI is a
cross- industry effort driven by major platform and software providers, as well as marketplace operators and ebusiness leaders.

The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) (Sun Microsystems, 2004) is an organization committed
to promoting interoperability among web services based on common, industry-accepted definitions and related
extendible mark-up language standards support. Towards this end, the WS-I organization is producing a set of
deliverables that is intended to assist developers in creating and deploying interoperable web services.

Electronic Commerce (EC)

Electronic commerce refers to the wide range of tools and techniques utilized to conduct business in a paperless
environment. Electronic commerce therefore includes electronic data interchange, e-mail, electronic fund
transfers, electronic publishing, image processing, electronic bulletin boards, shared databases and
magnetic/optical data capture. Companies are able to automate the process of moving documents electronically
between suppliers and customers. This system provides access to customers all over the world and thus
eliminates geographical limitations.

Some of the E-commerce applications with applications in B2C (Business to Consumer) and B2B (Business to
Business) space, which are changing the dynamics of Supply Chain Management include:

E-Tailing: using the Internet for selling goods over the internet. The archetypal e-tailing application is that of
a bookseller such as Amazon. This company is renowned for the fact that it only sells books over the internet
and doesn't even take telephone orders.

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Customers of Amazon interact with its website and carry out a number of functions including:

* Browsing readers reviews of books

* Reading feature articles about books and authors similar to those found in magazines and newspapers.

* Searching for details of a book based on information such as the author's name or the title of the book.

* Browsing the books which are the Amazon bestsellers.

* Ordering books using credit cards or some other similar payment method.

* Tracking the progress of an order

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E-Procurement:

The term procurement is used to describe the purchase of goods and services which are not directly used in the
main business of a company. For example, a car manufacturer will procure stationery for its employees or
procure training courses for them to attend in order to improve their skills. An eProcurement system which
would automatically take the form produced by the person making the procurement, check that it satisfies all the
company rules for procuring the item that is required, carry out authorization if it is below a certain limit or send
the form to someone who can carry out authorization and then log the purchaser into the site of the supplier. He
or she is then able to use this site to make the purchase, quoting an automatically generated procurement
requisition number.

E-Auctions:

These are sites on the web which run conventional auctions. There are two types of auction: those that are
carried out in real time, where participants log in to an auction site using a browser at a specified time and bid
for an article until the highest price is reached and no other bids are forthcoming. The other type of site - and the
most common - is where an item is offered for sale and a date advertised after which no more bids are accepted.
Such sites make a profit from two sources: first they usually charge a commission on the items that are sold and,
second, they display adverts which are viewed by visitors to the site. The auction site will then receive some fee
for displaying the advert, a further fee if a visitor clicks on an advert and it takes them to the advertiser's website
and another fee if they purchase something from this site. Again, this is just an online analogue of a
conventional business.

Electronic Supply Chains (ESC)

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Electronic Supply Chains (ESC) refers to those supply chains that are electronically facilitated between or
among participating firms. Also called Virtual Supply Chains (VSC), these are realized in two forms, EDI-based
or Internet- based. EDI generally connects firms through proprietary Value Added Networks (VAN), whereas the
Internet generally connects firms through open networks which use standard protocols. The ESC links trading
partners to allow them to buy sell and move products, services and cash.

Due to the low implementation costs, the introduction of the Internet has brought about opportunities that allow
firms to transact with other enterprises electronically. Amazon is one such example. New types of intermediaries
have been created as a result of virtual supply chains. The e-supply chain also envisages use of internet-based
applications to transact and exchange information like product and inventory information with their downstream
or upstream trading partners. Supply Chain initiatives like Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and
Replenishment (CPFR), Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), Efficient Customer Response (ECR) and Quick
Response have been increasingly facilitated in the new e-supply chain paradigm. Information sharing among
suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers are greatly improved. American-On-Line and lastminute.com
have achieved innovative results using ESCs (Gunasekharan et al, 2004).

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Appendix - B

Questionnaire
1.

In what areas of supply chain management, IT is being used by your organization?

To assess the use of IT in how many areas
To gather how it is being used
To know its level of use

2.

Which software is being used in your organization?

To know which system they are using
To know the level of system
Which version

3.

What type of benefit did u get by using these systems?

In all areas what benefits they are getting
How the system is supporting in supply chain management
More deep info will come out

4.

What are the problems your organization facing with current system?
In all areas what problems they are facing
Will tell level of use of IT
Where they are unable to use IT

5.

How effective is your S&OP process to improving the agility of your supply chain?
To know the effectiveness of their forecast
To gauge how IT is playing its role in S&OP
To assess how their S&OP flow

6.

How do you monitor demand & what are measures to meet the demand?
To assess the role of IT in real time data availability
How IT plays it role in meeting demand
How IT helps in forecasting demand

7.

How is procurement process done in your organization?

How they raise PO
How quick process is done with the help of IT
Will tell Process of PR & payment confirmation either it is manual or not

8.

How inventory is managed?

Will tell the process after procurement
How they got intimation of buffer stock
How IT helps in data of inventory in hand
In warehouses how pallets are monitored

9.

If some inventory is returned then how you handle it?

How they inform vendors about defected material
How record of it is maintained through IT
How they sent back the inventory

10. How do you manage vendor relationship?

To assess level of use of IT in vendor management
Are their vendors linked with their information sharing system

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How much they use IT in vendor selection Process

11. How IT helps in providing better customer service?

To assess level of use of IT in customer relationship management
How their queries are catered through IT
How much access are they give to customer (Customer Service)
12. How logistics process is operated through IT?
To know what the process they are operating
What role IT is playing in logistics
Which areas of logistics are being covered by IT
13. What are the transportation modes used by your company?
Medium of transport
How IT helps in locating transport
Which technology is being used manage the transportation systems
14. What is the medium to share information in the organization & how departments are interlinked?
To assess the medium
Whats the function
How everyone is updated with Info
15. How does IT support in decision making process?
To assess the past data for decision making
How much IT helps in decisions making
How IT analyze the post decision making
16. Through which procedure any new product is developed?
To gauge what are the IT tools in gathering research for NPD
To analyze the features and specifications of new product
How they implement new product development through IT
17. How customers & your suppliers are involved in product development? If they are involved.
To assess in new imitative how IT plays significant role in indulging customers & suppliers
How to approach customers and suppliers in Product Development.
How Customers and suppliers give their input in Product Development
18. Tell us about warehouse operations?
To gauge operations
How they manage operations
How IT helps in enlisting each and every FG in warehouse

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APPENDIX - C
Date: 5th May, 2015
Location: K-Electric, SITE Area
Length: [42:00:00]
Respondent: Danish Baig (Deputy General Manager - Supply Chain)
Interviewer: Kamranuddin
Transcribers: Owais Majid, Syed Talal Hasan

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Appendix - D
Summary Memo

We started this assignment for the research question How to assess the level of implementation of IT
within Supply Chain Management process?Given us by our respected teacher Dr Feroz Siddiqui.
Group members were Kamran Uddin, Owais Majid and Syed Talal Hasan.
The organization selected was K-Electric Limited.
We sent an email to one of the Deputy General manager of the organization and he agreed to give his
time for our research.
We requested for a request form from University but the letter was issued after we conducted the
interview, but still we sent it to the selected representative.
Majority of websites were used to have a sound knowledge of the research question which helped us in
making the questionnaire.
When we got the appointment, we went to K-Electric Limited and met Mr Mirza Danish Beg (Supply
Chain) with the designed questionnaire.
After the introduction, we started the interview in which all of the three shared questions to be asked.
Respondent gave in depth answers to every question and it was a very interactive session. The whole
conversion was being recorded via digital Dictaphone.
All the discussion was later coded, transcribed, analysed and sent to Mr Mirza Danish Beg for his
review and feedback.

Tentative Conclusions about the Participant

The interviewee Mr. Danish Baig was a person filled with knowledge, wisdom and vision, discussion
we has was very informative and interactive. HE told us about himself, his education background,
experience and about his organization. He explained detailed about the functionalities of his
departments operations and how he is playing a key role in managing the Supply Chain. Coming on to
the interview, Mr Danish main focus was on Supply Chain functions like Inventory Management,
Forecasting, Planning, Material Management, Vendor Management. He shared his experience about
how top Information Technology contribute in the success of any organizations. He shared the value of
Information Technology and its importance in 21st century. According to him, the functions of the
Supply Chain are managed efficiently with the use of ERP System. While talking to Mr Danish Baig,
we felt that he is a motivator, a person who can walk his talk. The time we spent with him went very
fast and at the end we thank him for his precious time and said ALLAH HAFIZ

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Appendix - E
Email Confirmation

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Appendix F
Copy of Request Letter

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