Information plays a considerably high role in the performance of a supply chain since it directly affects the major supply

chain drivers, such as inventory, transportation, pricing etc. An efficient use of information technolo gy might increase responsiveness and efficiency in a supply chain, which are the two possible goals that a company would like to achieve. Informati on not only affects a single supply chain variable, but instead the whole network because it serves as a connection between several stages of a supply cha in. Thus, the supply chain would be coordinated like a single unit and that would help to maximize total supply chain profitability. As in the case of other supply chain drivers, the companies may have to consider the trade-off between efficiency and responsiveness when applying a new information technology. That d ecision would be depend on the supply chain structure and the market segments th at the company serves. Since the investment for the information technology has a cost for the company, it might seem as if it reduces the efficiency. However, t he use of information technology would affect the costs such as inventory and tr ansportation in a positive way and therefore might decrease the overall efficien cy. Some companies, on the other hand, which produce customized products may inv est means of information technology for higher costs, since they value responsiv eness more than efficiency in order to respond to demand of customers more quick ly. In order to analyze the affects of an innovative use of information technology o n the supply chain performance; 'Specialized Bicycle Components', which is an American manufacturer that produces bicycles and related products can be used as a model. With a forward-looking point of view, we claim that the use of informa tion technology will have a positive effects on both responsiveness and efficien cy. It will also provide a better supply chain coordination since all stages of the supply chain would work toward the objective of maximizing total supply chai n profitability by means of shared information. 'Specialized Bicycle Components' was founded in 1974 by Mike Sinyard and is base d in Morgan Hill, California. Major lines in production include various types of bikes such as mountain bikes, road bikes, cyclocross and hybrid bikes. Besides bikes, Specialized also produces helmets, shoes, saddles, gloves, bags, roval wh eels, water bottles, grips, optics, pumps and bicycle components. Customized bic yles are also produced according to the customers' preference. In fact, an infor mation system can be invested in order to respond the market rapidly. An online system which allows the customers to design bicycles according to their needs wo uld be useful. That system enables the customer to make a combination among vari ous components and sends an order to the manufacturing plant if the customers de cides to buy. Since the factory gets the order as soon as it is placed, Speciali zed would be much more responsive to the customer. In order to increase both responsiveness and efficiency, we suggest to use an in formation system which assists Specialized to predict the demand more precisely. This would be a pull system where the information on demand is transmitted quic kly throughout the entire chain. The information on demand, then, will be used b y a production scheduling system to create a schedule that enables the manufactu ring plant to produce the required products in anticipation of customer demand. As it is typical in a pull system, the manufacturer will share demand and produc tion information with the supplier. An aggregate planning will transform the for ecasted demand into plans of activity. In brief, these processes would increase responsiveness since the customers can reach the products whenever they need the m. Besides, since the firm has a better forecast for demand and produces only th e required amount, the supply chain will be more efficient. Another information system tool can be invested for the warehouses such that the warehouse managemen t system displays the availability of the warehouse's inventory. That informatio n can be used to determine whether new orders can be filled.

Since this text only suggests an idea about how supply chain management could ch ange by an innovative use of information technology, it comprises rather broad a pproaches than specific explanations of information technology tools. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and supply chain management (SCM) softwares cou ld help to achieve the goals mentioned above and share the information throughou t the entire supply chain. In the following proposal, we are planning try to pro vide a more detailed definition of the means of information technology which we suggest to be used. We also consider to display the advantages of the use of inf ormation technology for 'Specialized Bicycle Components'.