Inside Out, Outside In: Do Interorganizational Relationships Shape Intranet Use?

This paper describes a work-in-progress, qualitative research study that will examine intranet use from an interorganizational perspective. We commonly assume that internal organizational considerations, and the information technology strategies of firm executives, guide IT use. But, I have found that the use of one set of technologies--online information resources--is strongly shaped by interorganizational relationships. Could this be true of other information technologies as well? Some very preliminary data from this study suggests that, yes, interorganizational relationships may also shape the use of intranets

Online Information Resource Mediation of Interorganizational RelationshipsA Work-In-Progress Technical Research Synopsis

As we design and construct new technologies to expand and transform global information infrastructures, we will undoubtedly face new challenges, but we can also expect to encounter some of the same problems that have shaped and constrained existing information technologies.Many of these challenges are technological. Others are environmental or organizational in nature. The study that we describe in this paper is designed to examine one particular information technology--online information resources. We focus on the ways in which people within organizations use these services in their day-to-day work, and we examine the roles that these resources play in the routine activities which mediate interorganizational relationships. Online information (OI) resources have been part of the information infrastructure since the early 1970\u27s. They are curated collections of indexed electronic databases with supporting distribution services. Online service vendors have traditionally provided fee-for-service modem access to mainframes containing these databases of strategic business, scientific, legal and financial information. Initially, the services were entirely text-based. Now, most OI service providers supplement their mainframe offerings with GUI-enhanced CD-ROM products. They have also begun to provide additional access points via consumer utilities like CompuServe and America OnLine, and the World Wide Web. Systematic studies of commercial uses of OI resources show that particular institutions, such as the legal, financial and biotechnology communities, use OI resources much more than other institutions. And particular ways of using OI resources, such as via information centers and intermediaries, seem to be more common than others. However, we have found in our prior research that conceptions of OI resource usability and usage patterns, which characterize OI resource use as intensive, direct and non-intermediated, do not match observed use; and pressures to conform to these expectations rather than the actualities are perceived, by OIresource providers and information specialist intermediaries, to be increasing. Without an adequate understanding of successful current use, significant modification of those patterns is likely to prove difficult, unnecessary, counter-productive, or all of the above. In order to develop a better understanding of successful current use, we have begun an interpretive study of the ways in which OI resources are used, when they are used, how intensively they are used and by whom. This study will help to identify how organizations make use of OI resources. It will extend our understanding of information resource usage within the domain of networked technologies, as we describe and examine the interorganizational relationships which involve the use of these resource

What is a networked business?

Due to increasing competitive pressure in their market, many enterprises are implementing changes to the way they conduct business. These changes range from implementing new IT, to redesigning the structure of the organization and entering into all kinds of cooperations with other enterprises, forming what we call a ‘networked business’. In this paper, we try to explain the origin of the networked business from three different, but related, perspectives: resource dependence, transaction cost and IT impact. We also explore some terms that are used to describe interorganizational structures to find their principal components in an attempt to determine relationships between them and find a broad and precise, new definition of the term ‘networked business’

Getting on the E List: E-Mail Use in a Community of Service Provider

This case examines how a community of organizations providing service to people experiencing homelessness made use of an electronic mail list. Current economic conditions have encouraged organizations in various sectors—including nonprofits—that might normally compete for scarce resources to collaborate with one another to increase their chances of survival. One set of tools likely to be of value in such relationships includes various online discussion technologies. An examination of this community’s email list use over a three-year period suggests a somewhat complex picture regarding technology use. More specifically, some issues both constrain and enable use. Additionally, seemingly basic and minimal uses of the list provided not only the greatest functionality for the users, but also led to several unanticipated consequences for those involved

Leveraging Open-standard Interorganizational Information Systems for Process Adaptability and Alignment: An Empirical Analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the value creation mechanisms of open-standard inter-organizational information system (OSIOS), which is a key technology to achieve Industry 4.0. Specifically, this study investigates how the internal assimilation and external diffusion of OSIOS help manufactures facilitate process adaptability and alignment in supply chain network.Design/methodology/approachA survey instrument was designed and administrated to collect data for this research. Using three-stage least squares estimation, the authors empirically tested a number of hypothesized relationships based on a sample of 308 manufacturing firms in China.FindingsThe results of the study show that OSIOS can perform as value creation mechanisms to enable process adaptability and alignment. In addition, the impact of OSIOS internal assimilation is inversely U-shaped where the positive effect on process adaptability will become negative after an extremum point is reached.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature by providing insights on how OSIOS can improve supply chain integration and thus promote the achievement of industry 4.0. By revealing a U-shaped relationship between OSIOS assimilation and process adaptability, this study fills previous research gap by advancing the understanding on the value creation mechanisms of information systems deployment

Success factors for managing purchasing groups: an empirical survey

In this article, we identify success factors for managing small and intensive purchasing groups by comparing successful and unsuccessful Dutch purchasing groups in a large-scale survey. Transaction costs economics and social exchange theory are used as theoretical frameworks for our broad empirical investigation. We found that the success factors studied that are related to interorganizational trust, the formality of the group, and uniformity of the group members are not success factors for managing purchasing groups. For our data set, the most important success factors are no enforced participation, sufficient total contribution of efforts, all members contribute knowledge, all members rarely change representatives, fair allocation of savings, and communication. We discuss the academic and practical implications of the success factors found

A learning experience in the fields of economics and business: creation of student-managed inter-university virtual networks

With this article we shall describe the learning experience carried out by our students in the fields of Economics and Business at the Universities of Huelva and University of Seville within an active- and cooperative-learning framework involving creation of virtual networks between our students and others who were attending diverse universities in Spain and abroad, thus allowing us to strengthen interactions and information exchanges among students, also allowing them to apprehend on their own the characteristics of economic and business and entrepreneuring realities in which they are immersed and, very specially, the use of virtual communities in the Internet