Internet and Effect on Supply Chain Ebusiness

Today, supply chain is seen as been a critical part of a company’s value creating process. Digital technology advancement and the internet have had their way in encouraging innovation and new possibilities when it comes to e-business and supply chain management (SCM) (Ghani et al, 2009).

The impact created by this advancements and the internet has helped firms and companies gain competitive advantage by advancing their value chains through the use of integrated information systems like Enterprise resource planning (ERP), Electronic Data management (EDM) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

These systems share information along the supply chains to maximize the capabilities of activities on the company’ value chain, both upstream dealing with suppliers and downstream dealing with consumers.

The Impacts of the internet and digital technology on supply chain processes

Using the retail industry as an example, including online retailing to the high street retailing, we believe that the internet and digital technology has had some significant and beneficial effects on the supply chain processes form the decreasing of the sellers bargaining power and the increase of buyers’ power has led to a change in operating dynamics of business to business (B2B) and business to consumer operations (B2C), other effects include:

 Global Presence – companies practicing e-business through the internet and digital technology can have a nationwide or a global presence. Increasing the ability of servicing customers and collaborating with businesses from all over the world. For example Amazon.com is an online success story, which helps people buy and sell internationally through third parties and partners across the world.

 Cost efficiency - the internet and use of ERP systems helps companies of all sizes that that coordinate work flow and collaborate together to exchange information electronically over the internet with less time, without monetary waste and the extended time...