Influential Contextual Factors on Information Sharing through Supply Chain: A Case of Apparel, Food and Printing Industries in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Information Sharing (IS) refers to the extern to which critical and proprietary information is communicated to one’s supply chain partner. It is one o f the most important Supply Chain Management (SCM.) practices for achieving excellence in organizational management. For evaluating IS. the measurement instrument developed by Li et al., (2005) was used. This model defines seven dimensions o f IS which covers information flow in both directions: from inside and to outside o f the. organization. The level o f IS o f each dimension was measured by five point Likert Scale. The main objectives o f the study were to analyze the impact o f important contextual factors on Supply Chain Management practices o f manufacturing firms and to find out the areas to be improved for better levels o f SCM practices. The data were collected from a random sample o f 86 firms in three industries: Apparel, Food and Printing. The contextual factors considered were: Industry, Size o f the Firm, Length o f the SC, Channel Structure and the Level o f Uncertainty in the Demand. Analysis o f Variance (ANOVA), Pairwise Mean Comparison and Rank Correlation Analysis were the major tools used in the analysis. The study discovered that the Industry, Size o f the firm and SC structure affect significantly on information sharing practice o f manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka. The attributes o f IS to be improved in the firms o f different industries and sizes were also identified by the study.