Challenges in relating supply chain management and information and communication technology : An introduction

Purpose – The paper's purpose is to provide a motivation for investigating the relationship between supply chain management (SCM) and information and communication technology (ICT), to describe associated theoretical and practical problems and to introduce the papers of the special issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is partly based upon a short literature review, including the papers of the special issue. Findings – An important finding is that the relationship and integration of SCM and ICT in all papers of this special issue are strongly intertwined with managerial and organizational theory related issues. Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests three possible avenues for building theory in the joint field of SCM and ICT on the one hand and organizational theory on the other hand. Practical implications – Implicitly the paper argues for a better use of organizational and managerial insights to increase the usage and implementation of ICT in the context of SCM. Originality/value – The paper offers a research agenda for incorporating organizational theory to develop the integration of SCM and ICT.