A Study of Key Success Factors for Supply Chain Management System in Semiconductor Industry

Developing a supply chain management (SCM) system is costly, but important. However, because of its complicated nature, not many of such projects are considered successful. Few research publications directly relate to key success factors (KSFs) for implementing and operating a SCM system. Motivated by the above, this research proposes two hierarchies of KSFs for SCM system implementation and operation phase respectively in the semiconductor industry by using a two-step approach. First, a literature review indicates the initial hierarchy. The second step includes a focus group approach to finalize the proposed KSF hierarchies by extracting valuable experiences from executives and managers that actively participated in a project, which successfully establish a seamless SCM integration between the world's largest semiconductor foundry manufacturing company and the world's largest assembly and testing company. Finally, this research compared the KSF's between the two phases and made a conclusion. Future project executives may refer the resulting KSF hierarchies as a checklist for SCM system implementation and operation in semiconductor or related industries.