Managing Digital Bonds in the Buyer-Supplier Relationships

Among the multiple forms of bonding which can help companies to build and maintain buyer-supplier relationships, digital bonds, i.e. ties between an industrial buyers and suppliers formed when the IT systems of the parties are shared and integrated, are increasingly recognized as a strategic mean of customer retention. Despite several studies have unveiled which factors enable and constrain the companies’ adoption of IT systems, we still have limited knowledge of how different types of digital bonds can be strategically managed. In this chapter we first provide a digital bond matrix in which four different types of digital bonds are identified. Then the proposed matrix is empirically validated by analyzing four different case studies representative of each digital bond identified. Finally, the matrix is applied as a device to inform strategic actions and decisions that can/should be undertaken to improve firms’ digital bonds portfolio.

[1]  Mike P. Papazoglou,et al.  Agent-oriented technology in support of e-business , 2001, CACM.

[2]  Christopher P. Holland,et al.  The Benefits of IT-Based Supply Chains-Strategic or Operational? , 2000 .

[3]  C. M. Roberts,et al.  Radio frequency identification (RFID) , 2006, Comput. Secur..

[4]  Leyland Pitt,et al.  E-comprehension Evaluating B2B websites using readability formulae , 2002 .

[5]  John T. Mentzer,et al.  The impact of e‐commerce on supply chain relationships , 2002 .

[6]  Veronica Liljander,et al.  The nature of customer relationships in services , 1995 .

[7]  Charles Møller,et al.  ERP II: a conceptual framework for next-generation enterprise systems? , 2005, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[8]  Jagdish N. Sheth,et al.  Emerging Research Opportunities for Doctoral Students in B-to-B Marketing , 2007 .

[9]  J. Johanson,et al.  Interorganizational relations in industrial systems: a network approach compared with the transaction cost approach , 1987 .

[10]  M. Kärkkäinen,et al.  Roles of interfirm information systems in supply chain management , 2007 .

[11]  G. John,et al.  The Reliability and Validity of Key Informant Data from Dyadic Relationships in Marketing Channels , 1982 .

[12]  R. Wise,et al.  Beyond the exchange--the future of B2B. , 2000, Harvard business review.

[13]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[14]  Michael Gibbert,et al.  From complexity to transparency: managing the interplay between theory, method and empirical phenomena in IMM case studies , 2010 .

[15]  Efraim Turban,et al.  Software Agents for Environmental Scanning in Electronic Commerce , 2000, Inf. Syst. Frontiers.

[16]  Jari Salo,et al.  Longitudinal Analysis of Digital Bonding in Buyer–Seller Relationships , 2013 .

[17]  Jos van Hillegersberg,et al.  Enterprise resource planning: introduction , 2000, CACM.

[18]  Youqin Pan,et al.  Adoption model of mobile-enabled systems in supply chain , 2013, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[19]  M. Kleinaltenkamp,et al.  The bonding effects of relationship value and switching costs in industrial buyer–seller relationships: An investigation into role differences , 2012 .

[20]  Michael R. Vitale,et al.  Creating Competitive Advantage with Interorganizational Information Systems , 1988, MIS Q..

[21]  Jari Salo,et al.  IT—Enabled Supply Chain Management , 2006 .

[22]  Michael J. Shaw,et al.  Electronic Commerce: State of the Art , 2000, Handbook of Electronic Commerce.

[23]  F. Miranda,et al.  The antecedents of client loyalty in business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplaces , 2013 .

[24]  Jerry C. Wei,et al.  Impact of eBusiness technologies on operational performance: The role of production information integration in the supply chain , 2007 .

[25]  C. Perry.  Processes of a case study methodology for postgraduate research in marketing , 1998 .

[26]  William L. Fuerst,et al.  Information technology and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based analysis , 1995 .

[27]  Petra Schubert,et al.  B2B integration in global supply chains: An identification of technical integration scenarios , 2011, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[28]  Arun Rai,et al.  Leveraging IT Capabilities and Competitive Process Capabilities for the Management of Interorganizational Relationship Portfolios , 2010, Inf. Syst. Res..

[29]  Matthew K. O. Lee,et al.  Critical success factors of enterprise resource planning systems implementation success in China , 2003, 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2003. Proceedings of the.

[30]  T. Bonoma.  Case Research in Marketing: Opportunities, Problems, and a Process , 1985 .

[31]  L. Stern,et al.  Conducting Interorganizational Research Using Key Informants , 1993 .

[32]  Rebecca Angeles,et al.  Revisiting the role of Internet‐EDI in the current electronic commerce scene , 2000 .

[33]  Madeleine Järsjö,et al.  Purchasing Must Become Supply Management , 2013 .

[34]  Sunder Kekre,et al.  Business Value of Information Technology: A Study of Electronic Data Interchange , 1995, MIS Q..

[35]  Mark Leach,et al.  Theory Testing Using Case Studies in Business-to-Business Research , 1999 .

[36]  Thomas Ritz,et al.  Modeling of B2B mobile commerce processes , 2006 .

[37]  R. Calantone,et al.  Information system innovations and supply chain management: Channel relationships and firm performance , 2006 .

[38]  Michael Rosemann,et al.  What is ERP? , 2000, Inf. Syst. Frontiers.

[39]  Mervi Vuori,et al.  The role of information technology in strategic buyer–supplier relationships , 2014 .

[40]  Lars-Erik Gadde,et al.  Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case research , 2002 .

[41]  Richard E. Plank,et al.  Business Marketing Comes of Age: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature , 2000 .

[42]  Heli Helaakoski,et al.  An Agent Architecture for Steel Product Business Network , 2004, ICEIS.

[43]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Trust and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Adoption within an Alliance , 2005, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[44]  Paul A. Pavlou,et al.  Interfirm IT Capability Profiles and Communications for Cocreating Relational Value: Evidence from the Logistics Industry , 2012, MIS Q..

[45]  Monica Perry,et al.  Fortune 500 manufacturer web sites: Innovative marketing strategies or cyberbrochures? , 2002 .

[46]  Rajdeep Grewal,et al.  Governance Mechanisms in Business-to-Business Electronic Markets , 2010 .

[47]  Lydia B. Blalock,et al.  Extranets: impacts on business practices and relationships , 2000 .

[48]  Elliot Rabinovich,et al.  Drivers and outcomes of open-standard interorganizational information systems assimilation in high-technology supply chains , 2013 .

[49]  David T. Wilson,et al.  Business marketing : an interaction and network perspective , 1995 .

[50]  Robert Wendelin,et al.  Bond audit, a method for evaluating business relationships , 2011 .

[51]  Stan Aungst,et al.  A primer for navigating the shoals of applying wireless technology to marketing problems , 2005 .

[52]  Samir Tata,et al.  The view-based approach to dynamic inter-organizational workflow cooperation , 2006, Data Knowl. Eng..

[53]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[54]  A. Pettigrew.  Longitudinal Field Research on Change: Theory and Practice , 1990 .

[55]  Jari Salo,et al.  The role of mobile technology in a buyer‐supplier relationship: a case study from the steel industry , 2012 .

[56]  Maria L. Gini,et al.  Real-Time Tactical and Strategic Sales Management for Intelligent Agents Guided by Economic Regimes , 2008, Inf. Syst. Res..

[57]  Eric W. T. Ngai,et al.  Decision support and intelligent systems in the textile and apparel supply chain: An academic review of research articles , 2014, Expert Syst. Appl..

[58]  Ernan Haruvy,et al.  Interorganizational Relationships and Bidding Behavior in Industrial Online Reverse Auctions , 2008 .

[59]  R. Fiocca,et al.  Account portfolio analysis for strategy development , 1982 .

[60]  Jari Salo,et al.  Business relationship digitalization : a case study from the steel processing industry , 2006 .

[61]  Jari Salo,et al.  Social Media Marketing in the Scandinavian Industrial Markets , 2013, Int. J. E Bus. Res..

[62]  Andrew B. Whinston,et al.  An Empirical Investigation of Net-Enabled Business Value , 2004, MIS Q..

[63]  Sandy D. Jap.  Online reverse auctions: Issues, themes, and prospects for the future , 2002 .