Leveraging Standard Electronic Business Interfaces to(10)

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)