Use of Interorganisational Systems: An Empirical Analysis

Electronic linkages between organisations enabled by interorganisational information systems (IOS) such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Internet- based applications or cargo community systems are becoming increasingly important. Recently, many studies have examined the impact of electronic integration in logistics chains. However, there is a need to examine which factors on the perceived level of an interorganisational partnership are important for the management of information systems. We extend further the information processing model based on Galbraith [1] and Bensaou and Venkatraman [2] in a logistics network context. Their theoretical concept gives some explanations about a fit between information processing requirements, as determined in partnership design, and the information processing capabilities realised in information systems. This was further explored conducting a survey amongst German network organisations of freight forwarders in groupage service or contract logistics as a starting point because of their common usage of different interorganisational information systems. Surprisingly, our study shows only a slight influence of interorganisational tasks on the management of information systems. Moreover, our findings suggest that employment of IOS across firms observed is limited by structural factors (i.e. asset specificity) and nature of interorganisational relationship (i.e. trust, power). These factors are positively associated with satisfaction about information systems usage and performance. --interorganisational information systems,information processing model,co-operation,logistics networks,freight forwarder networks

Current Advancements of and Future Developments for Fourth Party Logistics in a Digital Future

This paper aims to analyze the potential future of the 4PL concept based on expert opinions with special regard to the influence of digitalization coming with a disruptive trans-formation of supply chains. Service arrangements, provider capabilities and benefits resulting from a 4PL partnership are compared in current and future configurations. The research follows an explorative mixed methods approach with semi structured interviews followed by an expert panel. This builds a basis for an online survey questionnaire to inquire on important future aspects for the 4PL concept by a sample of respondents from multinational companies. Our results show a clear trend away from simply organizing transportation and logistics activities towards the provision of an IT platform as well as further value-added service activities such as planning, analytics and monitoring. Along with this, IT capabilities appear to be an important differentiator for 4PL providers in the future. Moreover, relationships between 4PL providers and their clients become closer and more strategic, which leads to a customer valuing not only direct cost reductions but rather improvements resulting from optimized operations through superior analysis and planning functions

Use of Interorganisational Systems: An Empirical Analysis

Electronic linkages between organisations enabled by interorganisational information systems (IOS) such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Internet- based applications or cargo community systems are becoming increasingly important. Recently, many studies have examined the impact of electronic integration in logistics chains. However, there is a need to examine which factors on the perceived level of an interorganisational partnership are important for the management of information systems. We extend further the information processing model based on Galbraith [1] and Bensaou and Venkatraman [2] in a logistics network context. Their theoretical concept gives some explanations about a fit between information processing requirements, as determined in partnership design, and the information processing capabilities realised in information systems. This was further explored conducting a survey amongst German network organisations of freight forwarders in groupage service or contract logistics as a starting point because of their common usage of different interorganisational information systems. Surprisingly, our study shows only a slight influence of interorganisational tasks on the management of information systems. Moreover, our findings suggest that employment of IOS across firms observed is limited by structural factors (i.e. asset specificity) and nature of interorganisational relationship (i.e. trust, power). These factors are positively associated with satisfaction about information systems usage and performance

Coulomb effects on electromagnetic pair production in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We calculate the asymptotic high-energy amplitude for electrons scattering at one ion, as well as at two colliding ions, by means of perturbation theory. We show that the interaction with one ion eikonalizes and that the interaction with two ions causally decouples. We are able to put previous results on perturbative grounds and propose further applications for the obtained rules for interactions on the light cone. We discuss the implications of the eikonal amplitude on the pair production probability in ultrarelativistic peripheral heavy-ion collisions. In this context the Weizsäcker-Williams method is shown to be exact in the ultrarelativistic limit, irrespective of the produced particles’ mass. A new equivalent single-photon distribution is derived, which correctly accounts for Coulomb distortions. The impact on single-photon induced processes is discussed

Development of Flexible Software Process Lines with Variability Operations:A Longitudinal Case Study

Context: Software processes evolve over time and several approaches were proposed to support the required flexibility. Yet, little is known whether these approaches sufficiently support the development of large software processes. A software process line helps to systematically develop and manage families of processes and, as part of this, variability operations provide means to modify and reuse pre-defined process assets. Objective: Our goal is to evaluate the feasibility of variability operations to support the development of flexible software process lines. Method: We conducted a longitudinal study in which we studied 5 variants of the V-Modell XT process line for 2 years. Results: Our results show the variability operation instrument feasible in practice. We analyzed 616 operation exemplars addressing various customization scenarios, and we found 87 different operation types contributed by 3 metamodel variants developed by different teams in different contexts. Conclusions: Although variability operations are only one instrument among others, our results suggest this instrument useful to implement variability in real-life software process lines

Electronic Commerce im Lebensmitteleinzelhandel: Auswertung einer Konsumentenbefragung im Großraum Dresden

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Privatisierung und Going Public von staatlichen Eisenbahnunternehmen: Versuch eines adaptiven Vergleichs zwischen Japan und Deutschland

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