Leveraging Standard Electronic Business Interfaces to(3)

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-

spanningmechanismthatmotivatesandenables

collaborativeinformationsharingacrossenterprise

boundaries.Further,weviewCIEasanimportant

mediatingmechanismfortherealizationofadaptivesupplychainpartnerships.SupplychainsareshiftingInformationSystemsResearch18(3),pp.260–279,©2007INFORMStheirfocusfromtheef cientmovementofphysicalproductstowardinformationexchangetobetteradapttotheirmarketenvironments(Patnayakunietal.2006,Raietal.2006,Straubetal.2004).CIEhasbeenshowntobeakeyfactorinthecreationofsharedknowledgeinsupplychains(Malhotraetal.2005),whichinturnisessentialforadaptingtoenvironmentalchanges(Kraatz1998).ThepaperdevelopsaperspectiveofSEBIsasboundaryobjectsthat(a)canhelppart-nersbuildadaptablepartnershipsbyleveragingandstrengtheningtheirties(bonding)and(b)canenrichthepartners’perspectivesbyenablingthemtogainaccessandinsightintotheirbroaderenvironmentswhileadaptingtopartneringrequirements(bridging).2.TheorySEBIsasDevelopment:BoundaryObjectsUsingAlthoughAdaptiveinpastresearchPartnershipshaslargelytendedtoadoptanenterprise-levelviewtoexplorehoworganizationsadaptinresponsetotechnologicalinnovationandenvironmentaltransformations(Koberg1987,BoekerandGoodstein1991,KraatzandZajac1996),therehasbeenanincreasinginterestinunderstandinghowadaptationoccursininterorganizationalrelationships(Kraatz1998,Heppard1998).Interorganizationalrela-tionshipscanbesupportedtoenhancetheabilityofenterprisestoadapttotheirchangingenvironment(RingandVandeVen1994)andimproveperfor-mance(Heppard1998).Inthisstudy,wefocusontheadaptivesupplychainrelationshipasatypeofdynamiccapabilitythatallowsenterprisestoleveragetheirpartnershipstoadapttothechangingbusinessenvironment.Recentworksuggeststheneedforboundaryobjectstosustaintheintensecollaborationandknowledgesharingdemandedacrossenterpriseboundaries,par-ticularlyinnovelenvironments(Carlile2004).Inter-enterpriselinkagesrequirethegroundconstructionofsharedcommitments(commonboundary-spanningorcommonknowledge),guages,mechanismsandtheuseofvariousthesestories,repositories,andmodels).(e.g.,routines,Developinglan-agreementcommitments

cols,orboundaryaroundobjects.standardandmechanisms

(Kellogprocedures,requires

etal.2006,sharedforging

p.proto-24)