Logistics information systems: The Hong Kong experience

With the growing importance of logistics to the economies of Hong Kong and China, logistics information systems (LIS) are becoming essential tools for companies in Hong Kong and China to successfully compete in a global market. However, little empirical research has been conducted to study the use of information technology applications to support logistics operations and to identify the factors that are important to the adoption of LIS in Hong Kong logistics companies. This paper proposes a model for the adoption of LIS that examines the relationships among the organizational context, the perceived benefits of LIS adoption and the perceived barriers of LIS adoption. In addition, this research investigates the use of information technology (IT) applications to support logistics operations. We conducted a survey of 195 logistics companies in Hong Kong, and applied logistic regression to test the proposed model. The empirical results indicate that the use of IT in logistics is at a satisfactory level. Specifically, the logistic regression model shows that perceptions of resource barriers and a company's entire operations have a significant effect on the company's decision to adopt an LIS. The implications of the findings are discussed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.