The impact of electronic data interchange on interorganizational relationships: integrating theoretical perspectives

Examines the ways in which electronic data interchange (EDI) is used to coordinate and control interorganizational activities and resource transactions between car manufacturers and suppliers. The objective is to develop a research framework with a solid theoretical base that is capable of capturing the richness of changing interorganizational relationships. To this end, this paper discusses the integration of three theoretical perspectives: transaction cost analysis, resource dependence theory and the network perspective. The main concepts of the framework are described in terms of the environmental context, the coordination strategy, efficiency, structure and dependence. The effectiveness of the framework is demonstrated by the development of ten illustrative propositions that could be tested in practice