Research on the Impact of Management Information Competence on Agility in Sichuan Food Enterprises

The Chinese food industry has evolved beyond the stage of rapid scale expansion and is now entering a mature phase driven by quality enhancement, operational efficiency, and technological innovation. In this context, enterprises are increasingly required to improve their internal capabilities to respond swiftly to market changes and digital transformation demands. This study focuses on Management Information Competence (MIC), defined as the organization's ability to effectively acquire, process, integrate, and utilize information to support decision-making, and explores its influence on organizational agility. Drawing upon an extensive literature review, the study refines the conceptual dimensions of MIC and organizational agility and proposes a series of hypotheses regarding the pathways through which MIC affects agility. To empirically validate these hypotheses, the research adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaire-based surveys, field visits, and statistical analysis. The investigation is conducted among food enterprises in Sichuan Province, a key region in China's food manufacturing landscape. Data collected from these enterprises are analyzed using structural equation modeling to examine the relationships between specific MIC components - such as information integration, real-time responsiveness, and decision support capabilities - and core aspects of organizational agility, including adaptability, responsiveness, and innovation capability. The results reveal that higher levels of MIC are positively correlated with enhanced agility, indicating that enterprises with stronger information management capabilities are better positioned to adapt to environmental uncertainties and pursue intelligent transformation. These findings contribute to both theoretical and practical domains: they enrich the academic understanding of MIC as a strategic enabler of agility and provide actionable insights for food enterprises seeking to navigate the challenges of digital and intelligent upgrading. Overall, this study highlights the strategic importance of Management Information Competence in fostering organizational agility and supporting the sustainable development of China's food industry in the digital era.