DEVELOPMENT OF A UNIFIED OPEN E-LOGISTICS STANDARDS DIFFUSION MODEL FOR MANUFACTURING SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATIONS

Open E-Logistics Standards (OELS) is important to facilitate the integration of the supply chain. In OELS, the transmission and the manipulation of data are governed by open data and process standards that define their format, structure, and the semantics of data flow between trading partners. Despite the significant investments made by governments and leading firms, there remain concerns about OELS’ slow development progress and low adoption rates. The potential failure of OELS represents a significant stumbling block for governments and supply chain practitioners who have envisioned a globalized supply chain network electronically enabled by OELS. Researchers are also concerned about the inadequate models that are used to explain and understand the adoption of OELS. Although analysing adopter configurations in what is known as configuration analysis has been examined in disciplines related to science and economics, its application in the study of OELS remains sparse. This research aims to integrate multiple theoretical views, and apply configuration analysis with an improved methodological approach in order to examine OELS diffusion decisions and processes. The project will result in a new algorithm integrating structural equation modelling and neural network, and a decision support system which helps firms improve their OELS adoption decision

Inter-organizational Information Systems: From Strategic Systems to Information Infrastructures

This paper reports on a series of panels and workshops held at the Bled eConference since 2004. It aims at reconstructing the developing understanding of Inter-organizational Information Systems (IOIS) over the years as evidenced by these workshops, which have been designed to provide a forum to discuss emerging topics, fields, and strategies for IOIS research on a network and industry level. This paper provides an overview of the workshops and a detailed coverage of the last one in order to give a thorough and vivid account of its contributions. The paper not only takes a historical lens in documenting the workshops but also in discussing the transformation from strategic systems to information infrastructures. It reflects the enabling role of the Bled eConference for workshops series and the workshops’ contribution to the Bled conference

Studying IOIS as Structurally Coupled Systems

The complexity of studies concerning the development of inter-organisational information systems (IOIS) over large timescales poses severe challenges on existing models and theoretical frameworks. Such ‘evolutionary’ research requires multiple perspectives on the phenomenon in order to account for changes as well as persistent elements of the IOIS. In this paper the theoretical concept of ‘structural coupling’ derived from autopoietic theory is proposed as a means to conceptualise the required alignment of independent organisations that venture into an IOIS. The need for a new concept is motivated against the backdrop of a case study covering the evolution of an electronic ordering system over almost three decades. Subsequently, the case study is used to illustrate the applicability of the concept to the empirical data. The paper finds that conceiving IOIS as structurally coupled systems offers a new and promising venue to study these systems on large timescales