supply chain management
Information Systems Research
Vol.18,No.3,September2007,pp.260–279issn1047-7047 eissn1526-5536 07 1803 0260inf®doi10.1287/isre.1070.0132©2007INFORMSLeveragingStandardElectronicBusinessInterfacestoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnerships
Kenan-FlaglerBusinessSchool,UniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill,ChapelHill,NorthCarolina27499,arvind_malhotra@kenan- agler.unc.edu
CapitalGroupCompanies,Inc.,135S.StateCollegeBoulevard,Brea,California92821,gosain@
MarshallSchoolofBusiness,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia,LosAngeles,California90089,elsawy@c.eduArvindMalhotraSanjayGosainOmarA.ElSawy
Adaptivesupplychainpartnershipsareakeyfactorindrivingtheabilityofextendedenterprisepartnerstoachievelong-termgoalsinanenvironmentcharacterizedbydisruptiveenvironmentalshifts.Adaptiveextendedenterprisearrangementsallowparticipatingenterprisestoleveragetheircombinedassetsforcollectiveexplorationandexploitation.Inthecontextofextendedenterprises,wheresigni cantinvestmentshavebeendirectedtowardinstitutingcommoninterfaces,thisstudyexaminesthequestion:Howdoestheuseofstandardelectronicbusinessinterfaces SEBIs enablesupplychainpartnershipstobecomemoreadaptive?ThisstudyconceptualizestheuseofSEBIsasaboundary-spanningmechanismthathelpsovercomebound-ariesthatimpedeknowledgetransferbetweenenterprisesinsupplychains.SEBIsenablespartnerstogaininsightintotheirbroaderenvironments,enrichingeachpartner’sperspective(enhancedbridging).SEBIsalsohelpstrengthenthecooperativetiesbetweenpartners,motivatingeachpartnertoadaptforcollectivegain(enhancedbonding).Ourresearchmodelisempiricallytestedusingdatacollectedfrom41demand-sidesupplychainpartnerships(betweenoriginalequipmentmanufacturers(OEMs),distributors,andretailers)intheinformationtechnology(IT)industry.Theresultsshowthatcollaborativeinformationexchange(CIE)betweensupplychainpartnersmediatestherelationshipbetweenuseofSEBIsandmutualadaptation(MA)andadaptiveknowledgecreationbetweensupplychainpartners.Interestingly,theuseofSEBIsisfoundtobedirectlyassociatedwithMAbutonlyindirectlyassociatedwithadaptiveknowledgecreation.ThestudypointsoutthatthestrategicimpactsofSEBIsgowellbeyondtheexchangeoftransactioninforma-tionandprocessintegration.Italsoshowsthatmultilateral,quasi-open,andinformationexchange–andprocesslinkage–orientedSEBIscanresultinbothbondingandbridgingacrosssupplychainpartnerswithoutbindingthemin exiblytospeci cpartners.Basedonthemodelandresults,thestudyofferspracticalimplicationsforhowSEBIsshouldbedeveloped,adopted,andused.
Keywords:standardelectronicbusinessinterfaces;boundaryobjects;supplychainpartnering;adaptivepartnerships;adaptation;digitallyenabledextendedenterprise;bridging;bondingHistory:ArunRai,SeniorEditor.ThispaperwasreceivedonAugust15,2005,andwaswiththeauthors10monthsfor3revisions.
1.Today’shypercompetitiveenvironment,characterizedbychangingcustomerpreferences,shiftingindus-tryboundaries,andemergingglobalcompetition,requiresenterprisestobuildcapabilitiesforconstantinnovationandtorespondtocompetitivepressuresfromunforeseennewsources(D’Aveni1994,BrownandEisenhardt1997).Thishasbeenaccompaniedby
260Introductionanunbundlingofeconomicactivitydrivenbyfallingtransactioncosts,asinformationandcommunicationtechnologiesfacilitateconnectivityacrossenterprises(HagelandSinger1999).Unbundlingrequiresenter-prisestorelyonspecializedpartnersforcomple-mentaryactivities.Suchpartnerships,constitutingtheextendedenterprise,areasourceofrelationalrentsandcompetitiveadvantage(Dyer1996,1997;Dyerand
supply chain management
Malhotra,Gosain,andElSawy:LeveragingSEBIstoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnershipsInformationSystemsResearch18(3),pp.260–279,©2007INFORMSSingh1998).Thevaluecreationpotentialofextended
enterpriserelationshipscanbeleveragedtopursue
newopportunitiesandtobetteradapttomarket
changes(Young-YbarraandWiersema1999;Kopczak
andJohnson2003;Malhotraetal.2001,2005;ElSawy
etal.1999).
Insupplychains,interorganizationalrelationships
arecontinuallyrestructuredtopursuehigher-order
goals(beyondachievingtransactionalef ciencies),
suchasfastermarketentry,newmarketdevelopment,
andinterorganizationallearning,thatarethebasis
forlong-termviability(EisenhardtandSchoonhoven
1996,Gosainetal.2004).Akeyfactordrivingthe
abilityoftheextendedenterprisetoachievelong-
termgoalsinanenvironmentcharacterizedbydis-
ruptiveenvironmentalshiftsisadaptability(Rindova
andKotha2001).
Tosomeextent,anenterprisemayrelyonitsabil-
itytorecon gureinternalcompetencies.However,the
needforchangeinaneraofinterdependenceamong
enterprisesrequiresjointadaptationbyboththeenter-
priseanditspartners.Consider,forexample,theneed
foramanufacturertorefreshproductofferingsin
volatileenvironments.Thisrequiresintermeshednew
productintroductionprocessesthatspantheman-
ufacturer,wholesaledistributors,andretailers.Sup-
plychainpartnershipsalsoprovideopportunitiesfor
enterprisestolearnfromtheirpartnerstobetteradapt