tohigh-velocitymarketenvironments.Therefore,in
thispaperwerefertoadaptivesupplychainpartner-
shipsasthoseinwhich rmsconstitutingtheextended
enterprise:(a)adjusttheirprocedures,processes,and
structurestosuiteachotherand(b)leverageeach
others’knowledgeresourcestocreatetheknowledge
requiredtoadapttothemarketenvironment.
Interenterpriseelectronicinterconnectionsthatare
architecturallysound(fromatechnicalaswellasbusi-
nessperspective)allowexploitationofnewopportu-
nitiesthroughdigitalenablementofextendedenter-
prises.Thequestfortransactionalef cienciesand
automatedbusinessprocessintegrationbetweenap-
plicationsandacrosssupplychainpartnershascre-
atedthenecessityfortheuseofSEBIs.Thecurrent
generationofmultilateral,quasi-open,andextensi-
bleSEBIs(seeWigandetal.2005foracasestudyin
thehomemortgageindustry)thatsupportstructured261interenterpriseprocessinterfacesmayalsobeawaytomakeextendedenterprisemoreadaptive.The rstgenerationofSEBIs,adoptedinthe1980swithelectronicdatainterchange(EDI),tooktheformofmessagestandardsthatallowedcomputer-to-computerexchangeofstructuredinformationaroundtransactions.However,EDI-typeSEBIshaddisadvan-tagesintermsofin exibilityandcost,andadop-tionofsuchstandardswaslimitedtoapplicationsrelatedtopurchasingprocesses.Consequently,EDI-typeSEBIshadfairlylimitedimpactintransform-ingenterprisesandinterenterpriserelationships.ThesecondgenerationofSEBIstriggeredin1998bytheRosettaNetConsortiumisstructurallydifferent,com-prisingbothbusinessprocessstandards,calledpartnerinterfaceprocesses(PIPs),aswellasdatadictionarystandardsforproductdescriptionsandspeci cations.Thisallowsmany-to-manyelectronicconnectivityrelationshipsandheraldsamuchricherandmore exibleformofbusinessprocessconnectivityacrossenterprises.Further,interorganizationalconnectivityisaidedintechnicalimplementationand exibilitybythedevelopmentofXML(extensiblemarkuplanguage)andassociatedtechnologies.1Theemergenceof ex-iblemarkupformatsandconnectivityinfrastructurehasprovidedanimpetustovariousenterprisestoparticipateinindustryconsortiatocollaborativelydevelopnewstandards(e.g.,Rosettanetstandards).Thesesecond-generationSEBIsgobeyondstandard-izinginformationexchangebyalsostandardizinginterenterpriseprocesslinkages(Gosainetal.2003).Thesestandardshavebroughtaboutthepotentialfornewopportunitiesandpathwaysforchangingthewaydigitallyenabledextendedenterprisescanworktogether,developnewcompetencies,andman-agetheirpartneringrelationships.WeproposethattheuseofSEBIshasasignif-icantimpactontheadaptivenessoftheextended1Pleaseseethee-companiontothispaperforadetailedcomparisonofXML-basedSEBIstoEDI-typeSEBIs.Thee-companionisavail-ableontheInformationSystemsResearchwebsite(/ecompanion.html).Thecomparisonalsohighlightsthede nitionofsecond-generationSEBIs.Theelectronicsupplement
alsopresentsabackgroundforRosettaNet.
supply chain management
Malhotra,Gosain,andElSawy:LeveragingSEBIstoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnerships262
enterprisebyshapinginformationexchangesandpro-
cessesbetweenenterprises.Standardslayoutthedoc-
umentschemasandtheconditionalchoreographyofdocumentexchangesneededtocompleteabusi-nessprocessextendedacrossmultipleenterprises.
Atthesametime,thesestandardsaffordenterprisesthe exibilityofcustomizingsomeprocess-related
parameterstoadapttotherequirementsoftheirpart-
ners.Further,deploymentanduseofsuchstandardsenableenterprisestosimultaneouslyexchangeinfor-
mationwithmultipleextendedenterprisepartners.Suchanexchangewouldotherwisehaverequired
extensiveeffortinone-to-onecustomizationofinfor-
mationexchangeparameters.WeviewtheSEBIsastemplatesthatinscribebroadpatternsofinformation
exchangeininterenterprisesystems,allowingfree-
domforenterprisestorespondtochange,yetprevent
exchangesfrombecomingentirelyidiosyncratictoarelationship.Thisstudyseekstoexaminethefollow-
ingresearchquestion:HowdoestheuseofSEBIsenable
adaptivesupplychainpartnerships?
Whilethepotentialgainsfromadaptiveinteror-ganizationallinkagesareapparent,thenurturingof
thesecapabilitiesisnoteasy.Asigni cantchallenge
isthatenterprisesmay,overtime,developstickypat-
ternswithentrenchedpartners,andthesemaybe
veryresistanttochange(VandenBoschetal.1999).
Also,itcanbearguedthatenterprisesfaceatrade-offbetweenreachandrichnessintermsoftheirexternal
partnerships(FjeldstadandHaanaes2001).Therefore,
enterprisescaneithermaintainshort-termtransac-
tionalcontractswithalargenumberofsuppliersor
long-termrelationalcontractswithafewsuppliers
(Madhok2002,p.544).Thisimpliestwotypesofbar-riers:notknowingenoughaboutapartnerandits
specializeddomainorprocesses(lackofbonding)or
beingtooboundwithapartnertobeabletomaintain
diversityinperspectives(lackofbridging).
Inaddressingthecentralresearchquestioninthis
study,wedrawonrecenttheoreticalworkrelatedtoboundariesthatimpactknowledgetransfer(Carlile
2002,2004)toconceptualizeSEBIsasaboundary-