The Diffusion of Electronic Data Interchange

verfasst von: Dr. Hagen K. C. Pfeiffer

Verlag: Physica-Verlag HD

Buchreihe : Contributions to Management Science

Enthalten in: Professional Book Archive

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Über dieses Buch

This book documents the research I conducted on the subject of Electronic Data Inter change during my time at the Institute of Business Informatics, University of Berne, Switzerland. In this effort I enjoyed a great deal of help from numerous others, in cluding professional colleagues, interview partners, and members of my family. Even though I cannot possibly mention them all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for their selfless support. Above all, I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Gerhard Knolmayer who contributed to the book both in its formative stages and throughout its development. He has been an unwavering source of encouragement during the many difficult stages of the investigation and I greatly benefitted from our discussions of the subject matter. Moreover, he was ex tremely generous with his time in carefully reviewing all the five chapters. The fmancial support for this book came from the Hasler Foundation in Berne. I wish to thank the Foundation, and especially its Managing Director, Dr. P.A. Jaeger, for funding the empirical part of the research project. Likewise, I am grateful to the Uni versity of Berne for providing me with the necessary computer and other resources. The Institute of Business Informatics should be commended particularly for its very stim ulating work environment.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction

Abstract

Electronic aids to support data processing tasks have been used in commercial organizations for almost four decades now¹), but it was not until the end of the 1970s that the utilization of computer based information systems (CBIS) became pervasive in response to technological advances that boosted the performance/price ratio of such systems — particularly with respect to hardware — by several degrees of magnitude²). The advent of low-cost, yet increasingly powerful mini- and micro-computers combined with the availability of relatively inexpensive off-the-shelf (“prepackaged”) software for common business applications, such as e.g. financial accounting, rendered the acquisition and operation of CBIS economical even for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Ubiquity of CBIS, paired with a sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure, provides unprecedented opportunities to enhance the coordination of transaction-related activities between cooperating organizations.

Hagen K. C. Pfeiffer

2. Electronic Data Interchange

Abstract

In chapter 1, the notion of positive network externalities was introduced to explain the importance of studying the diffusion of Electronic Data Interchange. Due to the fact that EDI has to be simultaneously regarded as a technological and an administrative innovation, it appears plausible to hypothesize that the diffusion of EDI is to some extent dependent on its technological and administrative characteristics. This assumption is vindicated by a paradigm of innovation diffusion theory which asserts a relationship between innovation and adopter attributes and adoption rates. It would obviously be an oversimplification to assume that all types of innovations diffuse identically, and therefore a consensus has been reached that characteristics of the innovation itself as well as characteristics of the adopting system will have repercussions for the adoption rate¹). As a consequence, this section of the text is devoted to explore and determine the relevant characteristics of EDI, first from a technical viewpoint and later from the perspective of the adopting organization.

Hagen K. C. Pfeiffer

3. The Aspect of Diffusion

Abstract

The diffusion data and estimates presented in section 2.5.2. above show that EDI has not yet reached a large penetration level. Since EDI is foremost bound to replace an obsolete transaction processing mode, any efficiency gains should be positively correlated with the degree of replacement achieved. In other words, individual users have an intrinsic motivation to expand usage of EDI once the basic decision has been made to implement EDI systems¹) The general desirability of more efficient operations notwithstanding, conducting EDI presupposes a willingness on the part of the organization’s trading partners to reciprocate. Hence the circulus vitiosus that EDI may not yet be in widespread use because it is not widely used, which follows from a peculiar feature of certain goods or services that has been labeled “network externalities”²). Network externalities express the fact that the total utility a consumer derives from the use of a good or service is not only dependent upon its functional characteristics and specific demand conditions, such as idiosyncratic environmental circumstances (e.g. time, location, purpose of usage), but also upon the number of other consumers using the same, a compatible, or a complementary good or service.

Hagen K. C. Pfeiffer

4. Empirical Investigation on Electronic Data Interchange

Abstract

One cannot help but feel a little bit discouraged when preparing a proposal for research in the midst of all the confusion and controversial debate about the current status and future viability of business informatics as a new (“young”) scientific discipline¹) This search of identity has been widely commented on in the MIS literature with equally widely divergent conclusions, pitting pro-positivists, calling for increased discipline and enrichment of the field by “substantive theories”²) and paradigms, against advocates of a “pluralistic”, multiple method, “free-for-all”³⁾ approach to research. Juxtaposing these well-known positions has so far failed to produce a consensus among researchers as to whether the field rightfully belongs to the engineering or the administrative disciplines of scientific endeavor⁴), let alone produced a solution to the vexing epistemological problems of the field.

Hagen K. C. Pfeiffer

5. Summary and Conclusions

Abstract

The empirical investigation conducted within the framework of this research project was driven by the objective to account for the apparent discrepancy between the substantial operational and strategic benefits frequently attributed to EDI and the comparatively low level of adoption among the potential user community. The existence of positive network externalities was postulated at the outset as a tentative explanation that was to be evaluated by means of a conceptual analysis as well as an empirical research study based on a large sample of EDI user organizations.

Hagen K. C. Pfeiffer

Backmatter

Titel: The Diffusion of Electronic Data Interchange
verfasst von: Dr. Hagen K. C. Pfeiffer
Verlag: Physica-Verlag HD
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-642-51559-0
Print ISBN: 978-3-7908-0631-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-51559-0

Springer Professional

Über dieses Buch

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction

2. Electronic Data Interchange

3. The Aspect of Diffusion

4. Empirical Investigation on Electronic Data Interchange

5. Summary and Conclusions

Backmatter