Information Technology (IT) contributes towards making logistics more efficient and effective in the generation of value within a company. As a result, there are numerous IT systems available for application in logistics. However, logistics managers do not always have the expertise required in order to select the most appropriate IT system in relation to the characteristics of a given supply chain. This problem threatens to undermine the benefits offered by the concept of supply chain management (SCM) in conjunction with IT. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to identify the main IT systems used in SCM within the gas industry. Six strategic organizational variables: Integration, Warehousing Costs, Transportation Costs, Speed of Transportation, Competitiveness, and Interorganizational Coordination were used to analyze the impacts of IT investments on SCM in the industrial gas sector. The findings indicate that Integration, as a strategic organizational variable, undergoes the greatest impact with the use of IT, being followed by Competitiveness, Transportation Costs and Speed of Transportation.
Information Technology; supply chain management; strategic organizational variables
