University Supply Chain Management: IT and Innovation Report

This report comprehensively examines the influence of Information Technology (IT) on supply chain management, using Dell as a primary case study and extending the analysis to the automotive industry, specifically focusing on the tyre supply chain. The report begins with an abstract and introduction, outlining Dell's strategic organization of supply chains and IT, including its cognitive hierarchy model and authority-based web presence. It then delves into IT's positive impact on supply chain performance, citing Dell's significant investments and supplier integration strategies. The second part of the report shifts to the automotive sector, analyzing the tyre supply chain. It details how IT facilitates raw material acquisition, manufacturing, marketing, and financial transactions within the tyre industry. The analysis highlights the use of e-commerce, inventory management, and digital platforms to enhance efficiency and revenue generation. The report concludes that IT significantly boosts the performance of supply chains in both contexts, emphasizing the importance of technological integration for innovation and operational excellence.

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Task 2 for part 2 (Dell)....................................................................................................................2
1. Abstract:...................................................................................................................................2
2. Introduction:............................................................................................................................2
Organisation of supply chain and IT at Dell:...........................................................................2
Cognitive hierarchy:................................................................................................................2
Hub or authority:......................................................................................................................3
3. IT and its influence of performance of supply chain:..........................................................3
4. Conclusion:..........................................................................................................................3
Task 2 for part 2:..............................................................................................................................5
Abstract:...................................................................................................................................5
Introduction:............................................................................................................................5
Part 1. Critical evaluation of IT in relation to automotive industry:...........................................5
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Task 2 for part 2 (Dell).
1. Abstract:
The aim of the report is to delve into the role of IT in enhancing the performance of the
supply chain management. The research would be conducted by qualitative analysis of the
information sourced from the secondary sources like articles, journals and relevant websites
namely, the official website of Dell Inc. It has been found from the analysis that IT enhances the
performance of the supply chain of Dell.
2. Introduction:
Organisation of supply chain and IT at Dell:
Dell organizes its supply chain and information technology strategically in alignment
with the business needs. The company being one of the largest computer hardware, software and
technological support systems in the world having presence in more than 50 countries organizes
its supply chains according to the requirements of the its individual markets. The company in
order to ensure acquisition of spare parts from these suppliers at economies of scale, maintains
dedicated supply chains to serve respective respective markets.
Cognitive hierarchy:
The research about the role of IT in supply chain management in Dell would be
conducted by analyzing data collected from secondary sources like articles, journals and official
website of Dell. Dell uses Cognitive Hierarchy model in involves making predictions about the
thought processes of human like games. Here the humans can refer to customers and Dell
attempts to predict the future orders which the former can create in the future to place orders on
its supply chains (Gracia-Lázaro, Floría & Moreno, 2017).

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Hub or authority:
The web pages of Dell belong to the authority category since the content which these
pages show are fed to Dell and edited by the company. The users of the official website can only
gain information which ensures that user can gain the same information (Kanathey, Thakur &
Jaloree, 2016).
3. IT and its influence of performance of supply chain:
Information technology of Dell has great positive influences on the supply chains’
performance. The company in order to maintain its supply chain invests more than $ 3 billion
which is evident from its official website (Corporate.delltechnologies.com, 2019). The
multinational company namely Dell, allows its suppliers to be parts of its final product assembly.
This high level of partnership which Dell holds with its suppliers encourage the latter to provide
more timely suppliers of raw materials and work-in-progress to the company. The company
manages its supply chains using information technology. The suppliers can gain information
about all the criteria, terms and conditions which they have to fulfill in order to enter into
procurement contract with the company. Similarly, the company makes the invoices and
payments available to suppliers on the digital platform (Giannakis & Papadopoulos, 2016). Thus,
it is evident from the analysis the Dell integrates SCM and IT to manage its suppliers efficiently
and brings about exploitative innovation. Information technology in fact enables the suppliers to
collaborate with the company and generate high revenue. Thus, it is evident that IT boosts the
performances of the supply chains of Dell.
4. Conclusion:
It can be concluded from the above analysis that information technology enhances the
performance of the supply chains. This is evident from the discussion above. It can also be

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pointed out that ‘authority’ nature of the official website of Dell Inc ensure that the information
available is authentic and its authenticity remains intact. The discussion also shows that Dell in
order to boost the performance of its suppliers invests $ 3 bn annually and even allows eligible
suppliers to participate in its manufacturing process at the final stage. Thus, it can be concluded
that information technology at Dell Inc. boosts supplier performance.

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Task 2 for part 2:
Abstract:
The aim of the report is to study the importance of information technology in ensuring
high performance of supply chains. The supply chain which has been chosen for the research is
tyre supply chain. The research would be conducted by acquiring secondary information from
articles and journals. It has been found from the research that IT plays a very significant role in
ensuring performances of the supply chains of tyres.
Introduction:
Information technology plays a very significant role in the performances of supply chains
of the automotive companies. The aim of the report is to delve into the role of information in
achievement of the performance of supply chain of one of the components which forms parts of
the finished products of the automotive industry namely, cars. The supply chain selected for the
analysis is tyre. The analysis shows how the companies supplying the automobile companies
with tyre acquire their raw materials to manufacture tyres. Finally it would be shown how tyre
making companies employ IT to market their finished products namely tyres among the car
manufacturing companies.
Part 1. Critical evaluation of IT in relation to automotive industry:
Information technology plays a critical role in the performance of the supply chains of
tyres, which would be the selected supply chain for the research. The leading automobile
companies in the world acquire tyres from a large number of firms some of which are
multinational companies while the other are SMEs. The analysis of the information technology
adopted in the tyre supply chain shows that the former plays a very significant role in the

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performance of the latter (Ganji, Shah & Coutroubis, 2017). It can be pointed out that tyres,
which forms a part of the finished products namely car models are finished products of the tyre
manufacturing companies. The tyre manufacturing companies acquire raw materials like rubber
and tubes from their respective supply chains (Sitepu, McKay & Holt, 2016). The tyre
manufacturing companies use information technology applications like ecommerce to gain raw
materials like rubber from various suppliers. These tyre manufacturing companies control their
inventory management and manufacturing processes using IT. The tyre manufacturing
companies then market their finished products namely, tyres using the digital platforms to create
awareness among automotive manufacturing companies. The automotive manufacturing
companies like Toyota acquire tyres from the tyre manufacturing companies which in turn is a
part of the former’s supply chain. It can also be pointed out that some of the major automobile
manufacturing companies manufacture their own tyres in their specialized units. Thus, it can be
pointed out that IT has positive impacts on the supply chain of tyres (Badenhorst-Weiss &
Tolmay, 2016). Firstly, information technology enables the tyre manufacturing companies
acquire their respective raw materials namely, rubber and tubes. Secondly, it can be pointed out
that tyre manufacturing companies use information technology to manufacture tyres in their
assembling plants. Thirdly, it can be pointed out that these companies use IT to market their
products before the automobile manufacturing companies. Fourthly, it can be pointed out that the
entire financial transactions which these tyre manufacturing companies indulge into takes place
through the online platforms. Thus, it is clear that IT enhances the performances of the supply
chains of tyres (Miller, Gibson & Chon, 2018).
Information technology enables the companies supplying tyres to not only generate
revenue but also capital. The listed companies manufacturing tyres are able to raise huge capital

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by issuing shares online. Similarly, they are able to manage their operational areas like
manufacturing and marketing of tyres using IT. It can also be pointed out that these companies
use the ecommerce platform to receive orders online and sell their products. This analysis shows
that information technology enables the tyre making companies generate revenue as well. Thus,
it can again be establish on the strength of the analysis that IT boosts the performances of the
supply chains of tyre (Nurmela, 2016).
Conclusion:
It can be finally be concluded that IT has strong positive impacts on the operations of the
supply chains of automobile companies. The discussion shows that the chosen supply chain
namely, supply chains of the tyres acquire raw materials from their respective suppliers using IT.
Information technology finds usage in the manufacturing and marketing of the tyres as well.
Thus, finally it can be concluded that IT have several strong impacts on the automotive
manufacturing companies.

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References:
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Corporate.delltechnologies.com. (2019). Retrieved from
https://corporate.delltechnologies.com/en-us/social-impact/advancing-sustainability/
sustainable-supply-chain.htm
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Ganji, E. N., Shah, S., & Coutroubis, A. (2017, December). Sustainable supply and demand
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Gracia-Lázaro, C., Floría, L., & Moreno, Y. (2017). Cognitive hierarchy theory and two-person
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Nurmela, T. (2016). A Comparison of B2C E-Commerce in Finland, Germany and United
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Sitepu, M. H., McKay, A., & Holt, R. J. (2016). Towards a framework for sustainable
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Yusof, W. S. E. Y. W., Zakaria, O., & Zainol, Z. (2016, May). Establishing of knowledge based
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