LOGISTICS INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN MACEDONIAN FIRMS: CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

This study aims to explore the current status and future patterns of Logistics Information Systems [LIS] of organizations in Macedonia. Basically the aim and objectives of this research are threefold: 1) To identify the major challenges and developments of Logistics Information Systems by firms’ in Macedonia, 2) To assess the current state and future policies of LIS 3) To clarify the need of LIS efficiency and effectiveness to organizations strategies. Grounded methodology is adopted in order to analyze the data collected as well as other sources of information. However, the questionnaire used in this research was adopted from the study developed by Ketikidis et al. (2008) but again changes were incorporated. The data collected from 65 companies are analyzed by the employment of descriptive statistics by utilizing ‘Statistical Package for Social Sciences’ (SPSS) software in order to test the collected data. The findings, nevertheless recommend that organizations face common challenges in general, majority of the respondents state that they are emphasizing more into closer partnership with suppliers and Just In Time (JIT) supply rather than concentrating on customer service. Thus, findings suggest that firms in Macedonia are not ready yet to play an important role in the South-East European supply chains or in global supply chains. The present obstacles that embrace the abilities of developing relationships with the forward links, weak organizational strategic planning and low level of infrastructure as well as low level of Logistics and Supply Chains Management education are the main drawbacks for this country. Indeed changing managerial mentalities within these companies is gradually progressing and in the future it is expected for better Logistics and Supply Chain knowledge.