Third, there is evidence that information technology capabilities
significantly influence overall logistics competence. Specifically, overall
logistics competence is primarily influenced by logistics operating timeliness,
usage driven formatting, and flexibility. In the case of logistics planning
systems, the major influences are accuracy and internal connectivity. While
the direction of the relationship is as expected for usage driven formatting,
flexibility, and external connectivity, it appears that firms with better
logistics competence are more critical when evaluating timeliness and
accuracy. It appears that these criteria influence overall logistics competence
but the best organizations are more critical of their capabilities across these
two well-understood and measurable criteria.