The roles of JIT supply chain practices in new product ramp-up: the moderating effects of IT integration

Supply chain practices in mature production are widely investigated but little is known about their roles in new product ramp-up. To address this gap, this study specifically investigates the impact of two just-in-time (JIT) supply chain practices (i.e. JIT delivery by suppliers and JIT link with customers) on new product cost and speed-to-market performance. Moreover, the moderating effects of information technology (IT) integration are examined according to organisational information processing theory. After regression analysis with a survey data of 193 firms, the study finds that JIT delivery by suppliers improves cost performance while JIT link with customers increases speed-to-market performance. Moreover, the positive performance effects of JIT delivery by suppliers on cost performance is enhanced by both internal and external IT integration while that of JIT link with customers on speed-to-market performance can only be enhanced by internal IT integration. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed.