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Malhotra,Gosain,andElSawy:LeveragingSEBIstoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnershipsInformationSystemsResearch18(3),pp.260–279,©2007INFORMSandmoreprivilegedinformationexchange,standardspeci cationsshouldallowforsomedegreeoffree-domwhileenforcingtemplates.Thus,generativetem-platescouldconsistofstructuralspeci cationsofinformationexchangeandprocesssequences,butleavethespeci cdataelementsandactivitiestobeselectedfromanadmissiblesetofcontingentpossibil-ities.Forinstance,thehigh-levelspeci cationsmightlayoutpartlyspeci eddocumentstobeexchangedtocompleteapurchaseprocesswithasupplier.Thedetailedschemainformationforadocumentforapar-ticularrelationshipcouldbepartofasupplier-speci cdocumenttypede nition,whichwouldenablethedocumentstobecompletelyspeci ed.Thisextensibleandquasi-openspeci cationofSEBIsisacriticalele-menttobridgingandbondingwithoutbindinginthedigitallyenabledextendedenterprisecontext.
5.4.LimitationsandUnansweredQuestionsFinally,wehavetoacknowledgesomelimitationsofourstudy.Whilefocusingonpartnershipsasaunitofanalysis,wedidnotdirectlyaccountfornetworkeffects,suchastheeffectofotherpartnershipsonthefocalpartnership.Inanetwork,partnershipsaremoldedandin uencedbasedonotherpartnerships.Veryoftenpoliticalanglesareatplayinsuchnet-works,whichfurtherimpactsvariouspartnerships.Itwouldhavebeenidealforustoeithercontrolfornetworkeffectsortofullytakethemintoaccountandnotonapartialbasis.Unfortunately,thewaythedatawerecollectedandanalyzedpreventedusfromdoingso.Thisresearchhastobeextendedtostudytheimpactofthenetworkonthewholewithinwhichdiversesupplychainsexist.Suchstudiescanusenet-workanalysismethodologiestoanswerthefollowingquestions:Areenterprisesthatexchangeinformationwithseveraldiverseplayersinasupplychainbetterabletoexchangeandassimilatericherinformation?Doesanenterprise’sdiversi edportfolioofpartner-shipsimpactthenatureofinformationheexchangeswithhispartners?Howarerelationshipportfoliosandnetworkbene tsimpactedbytheuseofSEBIs?Byobtainingdataonallpossiblepartnerships,the ndingsfromdyadicanalysiscanbeextendedtothenetworkasawhole.Futureresearchcanalsovali-dateour ndingsinotherindustrieswithlargersam-plesizes.Itispossiblethatsomeoftherelationships275thatwerefoundtobenotstatisticallysigni cantwerethatwaybecauseofthelimitedsamplesizeusedinthisstudy.Itisalsoimportanttoclarifytheimplica-tionsofthemannerinwhichweconceptualizeandmeasuretheuseofSEBIs.WeonlytreatSEBIsasanemergentphenomenaandmeasurevarianceintheextenttowhichenterprisedyadsconformordeviatefromthespeci cationsfortheirotherpartnerships.Thisdoesnotshedlightontheprocessbywhichsuchastatewasaccomplished.Wealsohavenotdistin-guishedbetweenanexplicitadoptionofformalstan-dardsoraninformalstructuringthatoccursovertimegivingrisetoaSEBI.Futureresearchcanuseaprocessmethodologytobetterunderstandtheimplicationsofboththesepathways.Finally,weacknowledgethatthereareseveralothersigni cantfactorsthatcanimpactCIEbetweenpartners.Futureresearchshouldfocusonexplor-ingthepolitical(powerasymmetriesinpartnerships),social(human-to-humaninteractions),andtechnolog-ical(howlongSEBIshavebeenusedbypartners)impactonCIE.6.WhileConclusiontherehasbeenconsiderableresearchonunder-standingthedriversofdynamicvaluecreationattheenterpriselevel(e.g.,Teeceetal.1997,EisenhardtandMartin2000,KingandTucci2002),therehasnotbeenasmuchexaminationofthecapabilitiesandprocessesneededtodrivevaluecreationininter-enterprisearrangements(DuystersandHeimeriks2002),andevenlesssointhecaseofthedigitallyenabledextendedenterprise.Thisstudyhasattemptedtoshiftthefocustowardpartnershipsthatadigitallyenabledextendedenterpriseisembeddedinandhowtheycanbeenabledtoregeneratecompetitiveadvantageunderconditionsofrapidchange.Intheirstudyofproductinnovation,BrownandEisenhardtfoundthatenterpriseswithsuccessfulproductportfolioswerethosethatblendedlimitedstructurewithexten-sivecommunication.Theyfoundrhythmictransitionsfromoneprojecttoanothercapturedbythefollow-inganalogy:“Successfulmanagersarelike‘Tarzan’5—theyswingonthecurrentvine,lookingforthenext,andmakingtheswitchbetweenthetwo”(1997,p.7).5Tarzanisa ctionalliterarycharacterwhosuccessfullycopedwith
theperilsandconstraintsofthecomplexjungleenvironment.
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Malhotra,Gosain,andElSawy:LeveragingSEBIstoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnerships276
Ourstudyadvancessimilarideasfordigitally
enabledextendedenterprisesinjointlytransitioning
throughchangesinbusinessconditions.Weshow
thatSEBIscanprovidethestructureatenterprise
boundariestoallowpartner-relatedknowledgetobe
representedandtransformed.Enterprisesmaythen
proceedfromthisexternalspeci cationanddesign
theirinternalprocesses.Thisensuresthatthatchange
proceeds“outside-in,”triggeredbychangesatthe
interfacesofenterprisesinthevaluenetwork,result-
inginconditionswhereenterprisesareonlypar-
tiallyembeddedintheirvaluenetworks.Wehave
shownthattheuseoftheseprocessandinformation
exchangeinterfacespositivelyimpactsMA(acoordi-
nationgoal)aswellasAKC(alearninggoal).The
useofsecond-generationSEBIscanindeedbelever-