Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 30, Number 4
Fall 1999
Linking IT Applications with Manufacturing Strategy: An
Intelligent Decision Support System Approach
Ravi Kathuria
Department of Management & Information Systems, Haub School
of Business, Saint Joseph’s University, 5600 City Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19131, e-mail: kathuria@sju.edu
Murugan Anandarajan
Department of Management, Drexel University, 32nd & Chestnut
Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19104, e-mail: anandara@erols.com
Magid Igbaria
Information Science, Claremont Graduate University, 130 East
Ninth Street, Claremont, CA 91711, e-mail: magid.igbaria@cgu.edu;
and Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978,
Israel
ABSTRACT. Research has indicated the importance of
matching Information Technology (IT) applications or manufacturing
systems with the competitive strategy of a company. Selection
of the right type of IT application is, however, a challenging
task. When a company with a given dominant process structure
emphasizes two or more competitive priorities, such as quality,
product flexibility, etc., an unaided manager faces a complex
decision problem in choosing from alternative IT applications
available in the areas of product design through distribution.
In this paper, we develop an Intelligent Decision Support System
(IDSS) to assist managers with assessment of the relative importance
of competitive priorities in their organization, evaluation of
the fit between the competitive priorities and their dominant
process structure, and identification of the IT applications
that are consistent with both the competitive priorities and
the process structure. The IDSS is comprised of an interactive
user interface, a knowledge database, a decision model, and a
Knowledge-Based System (KBS) that was developed using the 1st
Class KBS shell. Validation of the system illustrates that its
performance is as good as the human expert, and it has the potential
to facilitate effective and swift decision making in the selection
of appropriate IT applications that best match an organization’s
manufacturing strategy. The choice and use of the right type
of IT application should provide a company with a competitive
edge.
Subject Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Manufacturing
Strategy, MIS/DSS & Computer Systems, and Operations and
Logistics Management. |