Factors Affecting Perceived Impact of Electronic Marketplaces

Although B2B e-commerce represents today an important business activity with stable growth, it has not grown according to initial expectations, partly due to the difficulty in measuring its performance. Recent academic literature tries to explain the motivations and behavior of companies participating in electronic markets as well as the benefits deriving from this participation. Following this stream of research, the purpose of this paper is to present the preliminary results of a field survey studing e-marketplace participation across two dimensions: The first one examines the attitude of user companies towards e-marketplace participation (motivations, goals, expectations, fears etc.). The second dimension examines the perceptions of e-marketplace participants about the impact and benefits they derive from their participation as well as the factors affecting the perceived impact. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire, among participants of five e-marketplaces (a total of 62 companies participated), allowing for comparisons both between buyers and sellers and between different types of emarketplaces. The statistical analysis of the quantitative results renders interesting findings that come to confirm or compliment existing literature and indicate concrete directions for further research. The results indicate a generic transaction-based orientation of the e-marketplace participants towards the exchange, the negative effect of external pressure on benefits perception and the importance of participating years and company size to the impact of e-marketplaces

Measuring the Business Value of Electronic Supply Chain Collaboration: The Case of Electronic Invoicing

In the last decade, supply chain management has changed its focus, centring now on value creation, by taking into consideration the recent trends of partners integration and implementation of internet technologies. Within this context, this paper presents measurable results regarding the business value of supply chain collaboration practices enabled by e-commerce technologies. The presented research addresses electronic supply chain collaboration by examining the case of electronic invoicing (the electronic exchange of invoice data between supply chain partners) as a type of collaborative message-based system. The paper presents the quantitative and qualitative results of a series of case studies from the grocery retail sector. The results indicate considerable cost savings, especially as the extent of collaboration increases. Additionally, qualitative results from the interviews are provided, supporting suggestions for future research

Ο ρόλος των διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών στη συνεργασία μεταξύ αγοραστών-προμηθευτών: οργανωσιακοί παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν τη συνεργατική εφοδιαστική αλυσίδα

This thesis examines the role of business-to-business electronic services in buyer-supplier collaboration. In addition to a review of the pertinent literature, a preliminary research was conducted. Τhe first part of the preliminary research identified the importance of organizational factors as factors affecting the intention to use and perceived impact of B2B e-services. Additionally, the preliminary research emerged the need to further investigate how the use of strategic B2B e-services is related to the level of buyer-supplier collaboration. So, two main research questions were examined: (RQ1) Which organizational factors affect the use of B2B e-services? (RQ2) What is the relation between the use of B2B e-services and buyer-supplier collaboration? In order to specify the factors affecting the use of B2B e-services, two dual moderator focus groups with market experts were conducted that highlighted the importance of trust and organizational culture as factors affecting the intention to use the services and the users’ perception of impact. These factors were further examined through a field survey addressed to companies using electronic services through electronic marketplaces. The analysis provided valuable results regarding the culture characterizing companies using electronic services by defining Electronic Collaboration Culture. In order to examine the relation between the use of B2B e-services and buyer-supplier collaboration, a field survey was designed and conducted. The Continuous Replenishment Program (CRP) was selected as a representative service. Τhe results demonstrate that partners using the CRP have statistically significant differences than companies that do not use it. This thesis: • Relates the use of B2B e-services to the buyer-supplier collaboration in the collaborative supply chain. • Examines how trust and the use of B2B e-services relates to satisfaction from the buyer-supplier collaboration in order to identify two types of relationships in the collaborative supply chain. • Proposes a new scale to measure the level of buyer-supplier collaboration. • In addition to external institutional factors, examines culture and trust as organizational factors affecting the use of B2B e-services. • Distinguishes and defines B2B e-services into strategic and transaction-oriented. • Complements the discussion in the literature about institutional pressures. Από την περίληψη θα ληφθούν υπ’ όψη μόνο οι πρώτοι 2500 χαρακτήρες μαζί με τα κενά (~450 λέξεις). Η περίληψη πρέπει να περιλαμβάνει τον στόχο, τη μεθοδολογία και τα αποτελέσματα - συμπεράσματα της διατριβής.Η εν λόγω διδακτορική διατριβή πραγματεύεται το ρόλο των διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών στη συνεργασία αγοραστών-προμηθευτών. Εκτός από τη βιβλιογραφική επισκόπηση, πραγματοποιήθηκε μία προκαταρκτική έρευνα η οποία αναγνώρισε τη σημασία των οργανωσιακών παραγόντων στην υιοθέτηση των ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών. Επίσης, προέκυψε η ανάγκη για διερεύνηση του πώς η χρήση των διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών σχετίζεται με το βαθμό συνεργασίας μεταξύ αγοραστή-προμηθευτή. Έτσι εξετάστηκαν δύο ερευνητικές ερωτήσεις: (RQ1) Ποιοι οργανωσιακοί παράγοντες επηρεάζουν τη χρήση διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών; (RQ2) Ποια η σχέση ανάμεσα στη χρήση διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών και τη συνεργασία αγοραστών-προμηθευτών; Έτσι, πρώτον, πραγματοποιήθηκε έρευνα δύο εστιασμένων ομάδων (focus groups), η οποία υπογράμμισε τη σπουδαιότητα της εμπιστοσύνης και της οργανωσιακής κουλτούρας ως παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν την πρόθεση για χρήση και την αντιλαμβανόμενη επίπτωση των υπηρεσιών. Αυτοί οι παράγοντες εξετάστηκαν περεταίρω μέσω μίας μελέτης πεδίου που απευθύνθηκε σε επιχειρήσεις που χρησιμοποιούν διεπιχειρησιακές ηλεκτρονικές υπηρεσίες. Η ανάλυση παρείχε πολύτιμα αποτελέσματα σε σχέση με την κουλτούρα που χαρακτηρίζει τις επιχειρήσεις που χρησιμοποιούν διεπιχειρησιακές ηλεκτρονικές υπηρεσίες, ορίζοντας την Κουλτούρα Ηλεκτρονικής Συνεργασίας. Δεύτερον, για να εξεταστεί η σχέση ανάμεσα στη χρήση διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών και τη συνεργασία αγοραστών προμηθευτών μία μελέτη πεδίου σχεδιάστηκε και εκτελέστηκε. Η υπηρεσία «Πρόγραμμα Συνεχούς Αναπλήρωσης» (CRP) επιλέχθηκε ως αντιπροσωπευτική υπηρεσία. Τα αποτελέσματα δείχνουν ότι οι διεπιχειρησιακές συνεργασίες που χρησιμοποιούν τη στρατηγική CRP έχουν στατιστικά σημαντικές διαφορές από αυτούς που δεν τη χρησιμοποιούν. Η εν λόγω διδακτορική διατριβή: • Συσχετίζει τη χρήση των διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών με τη συνεργασία αγοραστή-προμηθευτή και τη συνεργατική εφοδιαστική αλυσίδα. • Εξετάζει πώς η εμπιστοσύνη και η χρήση διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών σχετίζεται με την ικανοποίηση από τη συνεργασία αγοραστή-προμηθευτή. • Προτείνει μία νέα κλίμακα για τη μέτρηση του βαθμού συνεργασίας αγοραστή-προμηθευτή. • Εξετάζει την κουλτούρα και εμπιστοσύνη ως οργανωσιακούς παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν τη χρήση διεπιχειρησιακών ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών. • Συμπληρώνει τη συζήτηση στη βιβλιογραφία σε σχέση με τις εξωτερικές-θεσμικές πιέσεις (institutional pressures)

Adoption Of Electronic Supply Chain Collaboration Services: The Effect Of Collaboration Climate And The Role Of Perceptions Of E-Marketplace Participation Impact

Based on the supply chain collaboration literature and electronic collaboration literature, this paper introduces the term ‘electronic supply chain collaboration’. It further introduces and studies the role that an organization’s collaboration climate plays in the perception of the impact of e-marketplace participation and adoption of electronic supply chain collaboration in parallel to external pressures. While the role of external pressures has been extensively studied in the pertinent literature, the role of company collaborative climate-culture has been rather ignored in this context, despite the fact that focus groups with experts within the framework of the presented research identified culture as a key determinant. A field survey is conducted with 81 respondents among users of electronic supply chain collaboration services through e-marketplaces in order to identify the effect of collaborative climate and the role of the perception of the impact of e-marketplace participation, using Institutional pressures as a “control variable” for the validity of this work. The first results indicate that the collaborative climate construct explains an organization’s intention to adopt electronic collaboration linkages that require human intervention and collaboration. It is suggested that e-collaboration climate, based on culture theory, should be included in the research as a formative construct composed by internal collaboration, technology orientation, innovativeness and other cultural concepts. Further research is required in order to better understand these findings