The Influence of Industry Culture on an Inter-Organisational Information System Adoption Process

Organisational and national cultures have been extensively studied in information systems. In this paper, we introduce and argue that the concept of industry culture has a strong influence in the adoption of an inter-organisational information system (IOIS). Data was collected from eight organisations in three industries which showed that industry culture rather than organisational culture has a greater influence in the adoption of an IOIS. In all cases, The practice component of the industry culture was examined. In the retail sector of a Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry, organisations prepared to change their culture to achieve shared IOIS adoption benefits such as sharing data across organisations. Industry culture was however shown to be an inhibitor to IOIS adoption in the foodservice industry. In the healthcare industry, customers (hospitals) were prepared to change their practices to adopt an IOIS whilst some suppliers were reluctant to change because they would lose their benefits and power they once held

Information risk management within supply chains.

Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.A supply chain is an integrated process wherein different organizations combine their efforts in acquiring raw materials, transforming the raw materials into finished products and delivering the finished products to the final consumers. Organizations are continuously searching for means to reduce costs and simultaneously making effort to enhance the quality of their products, and ultimately satisfying customers’ demand. There are three major components essential to achieving these: information flow, cash flow and material flow. In this research, we evaluate modern competitive global market, where it is challenging for any organization to function in isolation of its trading partners, and where organizations need the enhanced flow of information as well as an easier, reliable and faster access to the necessary information; as information has been identified as the foundation upon which decisions regarding the other supply chain process and activities are made, and is the link between all operations in any supply chain. This research considers the supply chain as a concept which is centred on the development of a value chain network. This network consists of entities that are committed to providing information, cash and resources in order to achieve the goals of an effective supply chain. In the global economy, this network is expanding, and this expansion is causing the extent of information flow in the supply chain to increase and hence become complex. The increasing length of information flow in the supply chain and the complexity of the value chain network are presently exposing information within the supply chain to risk. Hence, the objectives of this research are to identify information risks and consider ways in which these risks may be managed within supply chains. This study helps in identifying what information flows and how information flows within the supply chain. It provides an understanding of information vulnerabilities and risks associated with these vulnerabilities. It also helps identify how these information vulnerabilities and risks may be managed

Understanding collaboration in inter-organisational information systems: Implications for supply chain management

This thesis seeks to explore how management can work together to adopt an Inter-organisational Information System (IOIS) for Supply Chain Management (SCM) at different levels of collaboration sophistication. 20 common issues associated with collaboration and adoption of IOIS for SCM, were identified from the current literature. Two theoretical frameworks were developed. First, an IOIS for SCM Adoption Framework was constructed to understand the IOIS for SCM adoption process. Secondly, an Inter-organisational Collaboration Framework was constructed and used as a lens to examine and understand the process of inter-organisational collaboration. Five underlying theories, namely agency, needs and motivation, resource dependency, cultural and negotiated order, were drawn on to develop an understanding of collaboration in this latter framework. The study of collaboration for IOIS adoption is exploratory. Eight organisations were approached from three industries and sixteen interviews were carried out with managers who are involved in the supply chain activities. Data was primarily collected using an interview instrument based on literature, and documentary and archival evidence. Interviews were transcribed and cross-case analysis was conducted on the data. Three of the four levels of collaboration sophistication were supported. At the highest level of collaboration, namely cooperation sophistication, the organisations that were studied have growth motivations, same interests and common business objectives, and prepare to develop strategy and finance projects while reengineering their business processes and redesigning their supply chains collectively. Collaboration is not limited to one dimension but multi-dimensional. An organisation collaborates with its partners in one project but that at the same time, they may not want to collaborate on a different project due to differences in business objectives. When there is a disagreement between parties, negotiation is an important process to help resolve their differences. The process of collaboration was summarised into three perspectives: industry, intra-organisational and inter-organisational. These perspectives can assist practitioners who need to understand how to address the process of collaboration in the adoption of IOISs for SCM with their partners

Examining organisational flexibility in an interorganisational context: A case study of a grocery retail supply chain.

The objective of this thesis is to clarify the complex notion of flexibility and to explore the impact of Interorganisational Information Systems (IOS) on the flexibility of organisations. Previous studies have shown that while the utilisation of IOS can contribute significantly to organisational flexibility, it does not provide equal benefits to all trading partners. Although flexibility is increasingly becoming more important for the survivability and competitiveness of organisations, its meaning is still ambiguous and a rigorous conceptualisation of the notion is lacking in the literature. Most researchers examining the impact of technology on organisational flexibility identify technological as well as organisational issues influencing flexibility, but fail to analyse flexibility as a dynamic concept embedded in the social context. Moreover, they mainly focus on the flexibility of the individual firm, paying less attention to flexibility as a property of the interaction between firms. This research proposes an interpretive approach and examines the notion of flexibility by including a thorough investigation of the organisational context within which it is embedded. Since IOS involve interaction between different organisations, issues of cooperation and relationships with trading partners are also considered. Therefore, the concept of flexibility is viewed from both an organisational and an interorganisational (business network) level, referring to the interaction of trading partners. A synthesized research framework, based on previous research and the theoretical perspectives of appreciative systems thinking and web models, enables us to perceive flexibility as a multidimensional and dynamic concept, embedded in and shaped by the organisational/interorganisational context. In the proposed framework, flexibility is presented not only as the ability of the organisation/business network to respond to environmental disturbances, but also as its capability to evolve and to change over time. A multiple case design in a grocery retail-supply chain in Greece, comprising three suppliers and four retailers, provides the empirical data to support the argument of this thesis. The analysis of the data relates differences in organisational contexts to variations in the flexibility achieved by the organisations. It shows that IOS can provide constraints even for the more competent organisations and illustrates how the interaction with trading partners may influence the flexibility achieved at an organisational level. It finally demonstrates the dynamic nature of flexibility, it describes the relation between its different dimensions and discusses their change and evolution, following and influencing the changes of the organisational and interorganisational contexts