Leveraging Standard Electronic Business Interfaces to Enable Adaptive Supply Chain Partnerships
Authors: Malhotra, Arvind; Gosain, Sanjay; El Sawy, Omar A.
Journal: Information Systems Research (2007)
<jats:p>Adaptive supply chain partnerships are a key factor in driving the ability of extended enterprise partners to achieve long-term goals in an environment characterized by disruptive environmental shifts. Adaptive extended enterprise arrangements allow participating enterprises to leverage their combined assets for collective exploration and exploitation. In the context of extended enterprises, where significant investments have been directed toward instituting common interfaces, this study examines the question: How does the use of standard electronic business interfaces (SEBIs) enable supply chain partnerships to become more adaptive?</jats:p><jats:p>This study conceptualizes the use of SEBIs as a boundary-spanning mechanism that helps overcome boundaries that impede knowledge transfer between enterprises in supply chains. SEBIs enables partners to gain insight into their broader environments, enriching each partner's perspective (enhanced bridging). SEBIs also help strengthen the cooperative ties between partners, motivating each partner to adapt for collective gain (enhanced bonding).</jats:p><jats:p>Our research model is empirically tested using data collected from 41 de…