Product variety, supply chain complexity and the needs for information technology: A framework based on literature review

Recently, many companies are competing against each other to be the first to offer new product in the market, even when offering new products brings additional challenges for their operations. At the same time, information technology is chosen as the most effective solution to help company facing supply chain problems that arise due to increasing flow of materials and information in the supply chain. However, many companies still do not fully considered the importance of aligning the needs of information technology with the supply chain and business conditions. This paper conduct a structured literature review on the influence of product variety, supply chain complexity, and the needs level of information technology. Based on the literature review a conceptual framework is developed that highlight three propositions: the potential relations between product variety and supply chain complexity, supply chain complexity and information technology, and the importance of aligning the implementation of information technology with the company's business condition. Finally, the main propositions from this study is that there are potential connections among product variety, supply chain complexity, business condition and information technology.