The model in Figure 1 shows two sets of IT variables that potentially affect the business impact of SPMS: technical
characteristics and technical outcomes of the SPMS. Information technology investments to improve technical
characteristics have been made for many decades, but research on whether IT matters for improving firm performance have only recently produced encouraging results at the firm or industry levels [21]. Technical characteristics include the level of use of Internet technologies to facilitate information flow, and the types of technology used in the SPMS to generate and process information, in particular the widespread use of Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP). ERP usage has been the focus of a plethora of studies in the IS literature [14], but the relationship between ERP usage and organizational performance is still unclear [29]. Interestingly, Liu and his colleagues found that the extent to which ERP use is assimilated in organizations is related to the perceived usefulness
of the information and business processes.