Leveraging Standard Electronic Business Interfaces to

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