Must post first. In discussion session I am going to ask you to consider the following topics to discuss. Please read this article which help you to get some ideas and make you ready to answer the questions and communicate with your classmate. Off course it is not enough, and I recommend you to read your textbook and other recourses to boost your knowledge.

Please make sure that I do not give you any mark if you are silent in the discussion or you just announce that you are agree or not agree. You should better provide your reasoning to be agree or not agree.

Do you think Information Systems is vital for our economy and our society. What about supply Chain Management? Can you provide some statistics to show that Information Systems can reduce the costs and also improve efficiency? What are the most important contemporary Technologies in Logistics and Supply Chain? Can you state the future trends in SCM regarding Information Technology?

Article to start to read:

According to (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-information-so-important-supply-chain-jit-hinchman/)

Information is crucial to the performance of a supply chain because it provides the basis on which supply chain managers make decisions. Information technology consists of the tools used to gain awareness of information, analyze this information, and execute on it to improve the performance of the supply chain. Information is essential to making good supply chain decisions because it provides the broad view needed to make optimal decisions. IT provides the tools to gather this information and analyze it to make the best supply chain decisions (Chopra & Meindl, 2013).

Information is a key supply chain driver because it serves as the glue that allows the other supply chain drivers to work together to create an integrated, coordinated supply chain. Information is crucial to supply chain performance because it provides the foundation on which supply chain processes execute transactions and managers make decisions. Without information, a manager cannot know what customers want, how much inventory is in stock, and when more products should be produced or shipped. In short, information provides supply chain visibility, allowing managers to make decisions to improve the supply chains performance (Chopra & Meindl, 2013).

Using IT systems to capture and analyze information can have a significant impact on a firms performance. Availability and analysis of information to drive decision-making is key to the success of a supply chain. To support effective supply chain decisions, information must have the following characteristics: Information must be accurate, must be accessible promptly, must be of the right kind, and must be shared (Chopra & Meindl, 2013).

In summary, information is crucial to making good supply chain decisions at all three levels of decision making (strategy, planning, and operations) and in each of the other supply chain drivers (facilities, inventory, transportation, sourcing, and pricing). Information Technology enables not only the gathering of these data to create supply chain visibility but also the analysis of these data so that the supply chain decisions made will maximize profitability (Chopra & Meindl, 2013).

The inherent challenges to the successful development and implementation of effective information are the sharing of information along supply chains and the discipline to ensure the integrity of the data collected, (Coyle, Langley, Novack & Gibson, 2013). The information and communication systems that are available to organizations today lead to the collection and storage of vast amounts of data, but some organizations may not be taking advantage of the abundance of data to develop information systems to improve decision-making. The accumulation and storage of data are almost useless unless the data are shared horizontally and vertically in the supply chain and used to make better decisions about inventory, customer services, transportation, and so forth. Information can be a powerful tool if it is timely, accurate, managed, and shared, (Coyle, Langley, Novack & Gibson, 2013).

IT bring it all together

Every day, organizations in all sizes have a large amount of data compiling into their systems, raw data will not make much sense without proper analysis. I believe that the most challenging part is how to make use of those data? How to make raw data meaningful and understandable in a business sense to decision-makers? How to derive the inherent insights from those data? Although it is both art and science in doing so, I believe that it requires common-sense, analytical skills, carefully think of the background of your audiences, using the right tools and of course, maintain integrity.

According to Porter and Miller (https://hbr.org/1985/07/how-information-gives-you-competitive-advantage)

The information revolution is sweeping through our economy. No company can escape its effects. Dramatic reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do business.

Most general managers know that the revolution is under way, and few dispute its importance. As more and more of their time and investment capital is absorbed in information technology and its effects, executives have a growing awareness that the technology can no longer be the exclusive territory of EDP or IS departments. As they see their rivals use information for competitive advantage, these executives recognize the need to become directly involved in the management of the new technology. In the face of rapid change, however, they dont know how.

This article aims to help general managers respond to the challenges of the information revolution. How will advances in information technology affect competition and the sources of competitive advantage? What strategies should a company pursue to exploit the technology? What are the implications of actions that competitors may already have taken? Of the many opportunities for investment in information technology, which are the most urgent?

To answer these questions, managers must first understand that information technology is more than just computers. Today, information technology must be conceived of broadly to encompass the information that businesses create and use as well as a wide spectrum of increasingly convergent and linked technologies that process the information. In addition to computers, then, data recognition equipment, communications technologies, factory automation, and other hardware and services are involved.

The information revolution is affecting competition in three vital ways:

It changes industry structure and, in so doing, alters the rules of competition. It creates competitive advantage by giving companies new ways to outperform their rivals. It spawns whole new businesses, often from within a companys existing operations. We discuss the reasons why information technology has acquired strategic significance and how it is affecting all businesses. We then describe how the new technology changes the nature of competition and how astute companies have exploited this. Finally, we outline a procedure managers can use to assess the role of information technology in their business and to help define investment priorities to turn the technology to their competitive advantage.

Strategic Significance

Information technology is changing the way companies operate. It is affecting the entire process by which companies create their products. Furthermore, it is reshaping the product itself: the entire package of physical goods, services, and information companies provide to create value for their buyers.

An important concept that highlights the role of information technology in competition is the value chain.1 This concept divides a companys activities into the technologically and economically distinct activities it performs to do business. We call these value activities. The value a company creates is measured by the amount that buyers are willing to pay for a product or service. A business is profitable if the value it creates exceeds the cost of performing the value activities. To gain competitive advantage over its rivals, a company must either perform these activities at a lower cost or perform them in a way that leads to differentiation and a premium price (more value).

A companys value activities fall into nine generic categories (see Figure I). Primary activities are those involved in the physical creation of the product, its marketing and delivery to buyers, and its support and servicing after sale. Support activities provide the inputs and infrastructure that allow the primary activities to take place. Every activity employs purchased inputs, human resources, and a combination of technologies. Firm infrastructure, including such functions as general management, legal work, and accounting, supports the entire chain. Within each of these generic categories, a company will perform a number of discrete activities, depending on the particular business. Service, for example, frequently includes activities such as installation, repair, adjustment, upgrading, and parts inventory management.

Value Chain Analysis EXPLAINED with EXAMPLES | B2U