ofoursample)andexpertsataconsultingenterprise.
RepresentativesofeachenterpriseontheRosetta-
Netboard(executivechampions)helpedusiden-
tifytheirsupplychainpartners(restrictedtothree
supplychaintiers—manufacturers,distributors,and
retailers).Thisresultedinidentifying91partner-
ships(focalenterprisewithsupplychainpartner).The
RosettaNetchampionsateachenterpriseweremailed
surveysforeachoftheirpartnerships.Theywere
askedtodrilldownwithintheirenterpriseand ndthespeci cexecutive(“keyinformant”)responsibleforday-to-dayfunctioningofthepartnershipunderinvestigation.The“keyinformant”(onepersupplychainrelationship)assignedvarioussectionsofthesurveytobecompletedbymanagersmostlikelytoprovideaccurateresponsesforalineofquestioning.Forinstance,IT-relatedquestionswerecompletedbytheITmanager,marketingissuesrelatedquestionswere lledbythemanagersinthatarea,andsoon.Forquestionsthatwouldrequireaconvergentviewfrommultipleareasintheenterprise,thekeyinfor-mantwasaskedtoholdameetingto llinthosequestions.Finally,thesectionthatmeasuredMAandadaptiveknowledgecreationinsupplychainpartner-shipswascompleteddirectlybythekeyinformant.ThecompletedsurveyswerecollectedandreturnedtousbytheRosettaNetchampionateachenterprise.Wereceivedresponsesfrom13enterprisesthatcov-ered41of91pairsidenti edintheearlierphase.Eachkeyinformantinoursamplewasdistinctandwasresponsibleforresponsesforasinglerelationshiponly.Althoughwehaddesiredadyadicperspective(bothenterprisesengagedinapartnershiprespond-ingtothesurvey),thedif cultiesindatacollection
supply chain management
Malhotra,Gosain,andElSawy:LeveragingSEBIstoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnershipsInformationSystemsResearch18(3),pp.260–279,©2007INFORMS269ledustofocusonobtainingatleastaone-sidedper-
spectiveofeachrelationship.
Aconcernwiththisapproachwasthatone-sidedresponsesforsupplychainpartnershipscouldleadtosomebiases.Afewchecksandbalancesprevented
thisfrombeingaseverelimitation.Wepickedthespe-ci cpartnershipsthataparticularenterprisewould
reporton,ratherthanleavingittotherespondents
tochoose.Thisensuredthatpartnershipsinvolvingallmajorplayers(largecompanies)intheITindus-
trywerecoveredthroughtheresponseofoneoftheirpartners.
Oursecondconcernwasthataparticulartierofthe
supplychain(manufacturer,distributor,orretailer)mightwieldgreaterpowerormarket-makingin u-
ence.Ourinitialinterviewssuggestedthat,intermsof
day-to-daytransactions,distributorsintheITsupply
chainhadsigni cantin uence(becausetherewereonly vemajorplayersatthistierwhiletherewere
severalhundredmajorplayersinthemanufacturer
andretailertiers).Hence,weensuredthatwereceivedaperspectiveoneachofthedistributorsinoursam-ple( veintotal)fromeitheramanufactureroraretailer.Additionally,wealsomadesurethateachofthedistributorsprovidedaperspectiveonarelation-shipwitheitheramanufactureroraretailer.Thiswasdonetogetcompletecoverageofthedistributortierinthesupplychain.Afterthedatacollection,weconductedaprelim-inaryanalysistoseeifthedataonpartnershipsthatinvolveddistributorswassystematicallydiffer-entfromthatforothertiers(manufacturer-distributorandretailer-distributorcomparedwithmanufacturer-retailer).Nosuchbiaseswereevidentfromthisanaly-sis(i.e.,therewerenosigni cantdifferencesinmeansofthetwotypesofrelationshipdyads).3.2.ScaleDevelopmentTheitemsusedtooperationalizeeachofthecon-structsinthisstudyareprovidedinAppendixA.ThesourcesofitemsforeachofthescalesareshowninTable1.
Table1ConstructDe nitionsandScaleDevelopment
De nitionOriginofitemscales
ZaheerandVenkatraman(1994);Mastenetal.(1991)
Cooper(1979);Dougherty(1990) Fieldinterviews
FieldinterviewswithITindustrysupplychainexecutives
Miller(1996)
HeideandMiner(1992);HeideandJohn(1992) Interviewsandsurveypretest
ConceptualizationbasedonRosettaNetinitiativesResearchconstructCharacteristicsofadaptivesupplychainpartnershipsMATheextenttowhichsupplychainpartnersadjusttheirprocessandproceduralandstructuralparameterstosuiteachother’sneedsandrequirementsAdaptiveknowledgecreationAnenterprise’sabilitytoleveragetheknowledgeresourcesofitspartnertocreatetheknowledgerequiredtoadapttomarketenvironmentCIEBreadthofinformationexchangeQualityofinformationexchangePrivilegedcommunicationTheexchangeofinformationcoveringdiverseareasrelatedtointerlinkedbusinessactivitiesbetweenanenterpriseanditssupplychainpartnerThetimeliness,accuracy,relevance,andvalueofinformationexchangedbetweenanenterpriseanditssupplychainpartnerTheexchangeofcon dentialandexclusiveinformationbetweenanenterpriseanditssupplychainpartnersthatprovidestheenterpriseauniqueperspectiveFacilitatingmechanismSEBIsTheuseofcommonspeci cationsorformats(similartothoseusedwithotherpartners)fortheexchangeofinformationandlinkingofprocessesattheinterfacebetweenanenterpriseanditssupplychainpartner
Expectationsthatsupplychainpartnershaveaboutworkingtogethertoachieveandmutualandindividualgoalsjointly
ThedurationofthepartnershipbetweentwoenterprisesinthesupplychainControlvariablesCooperativenormsRelationshiptime Noordweiretal.(1990);HeideandMiner(1992) Singleitemtimemeasure(inmonths)