Big data analysis in supply chain management in portuguese SMEs “leader excellence”

Abstract

With the market becoming increasingly competitive, companies are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from competitors, thereby increasing the interest of organizations in analysing large data and their potential benefits to Supply Chain Management (SCM). The objective of this study is to understand the involvement of the Portuguese SMEs “Leader Excellence” with the Big Data theme and their analysis as a function of the SCM, as well as to understand if these companies are in the same line as the companies of worldwide reference, in what concerns to the topic in question. For this study, a survey was carried and applied to 80 SMEs distinguished as “SMEs Leader Excellence” certified by IAPMEI. With this random sample, from the analysis of the results, it was possible to verify that the Portuguese SMEs are not yet at the level of the big world companies with respect to the use of Big Data in the management of the supply chain. The analysis of the study results also concluded that the greatest benefit of the use of Big Data analysis it is in operations and customer service, that the SMEs recognize the benefits of the Big Data analysis and are aware of their importance in the SCM.