The Role of Information Systems in Supply Chain Strategic agility : a systematic literature review

The prevalent competitive business environment has forced companies to devise strategies to survive. Strategic agility is one such business imperative companies require in the dynamic environment. Strategic agility is comprised of strategic sensitivity, strategic response and collective capabilities. Moreover, companies are collaborating in order to gain competitive advantage. This led to formation of supply chain to work collectively in response to the environment pressures. In addition, information systems are useful to support business initiatives to survive the competition. This study made use of systematic literature review to analyze how information systems are being used in supply chain to promote strategic agility. The findings include that in supply chain setting, strategic sensitivity is mainly required at the downstream (customer side) and information systems, such as, business intelligence system support data analysis and forecast. Strategic response is mostly required at the upstream (supplier side) and information systems, such as, enterprise resource planning systems enhance response effort. Collective capabilities are constantly required throughout the supply chain and information systems, such as, knowledge management systems enhance faster decision making. This study also proposes questions on strategic agility, supply chains and information systems role, for further research.