Abstract: Based on 176 surveys collected from Chinese manufacturing companies, this paper studies the impact of company’s resources (information technology, top management support and strategic purchasing) on supplier integration (supplier focus, supplier involvement and supplier communication) and subsequently on financial performance, using structural equation modeling based on PLS. The empirical results reveal that supplier focus can be enhanced by the three kinds of resources, supplier involvement can be enabled by information technology and top management support, while supplier communication can only be driven by strategic purchasing; supplier focus and supplier communication can marginally significantly improve financial performance.

Key words: information technology, top management support, strategic purchasing, supplier integration, partial least squares