Enterprise-wide adoption patterns of inventory management practices and information systems

The adoption of inventory management practices and their relationship with the enterprise-wide adoption of information systems are empirically evaluated. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses of survey responses indicate a strong enterprise-wide emphasis on materials requirements planning (MRP)-and just-in-time (JIT)-based inventory management systems as well as a continued relevancy of the economic order quantity model. Furthermore, the investigation suggests a positive correspondence between enterprise-wide information systems and MRP adoption and a negative correspondence between enterprise-wide information systems and JIT adoption. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.