مکمل های فن آوری کسب و کار : اثرات حضور و زمان بندی استراتژیک ERP بر کارایی فن آوری تجارت الکترونیک B2B

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations have the potential of significantly complementing the use of business-to-business e-commerce technologies. We consider the sources of this complement by drawing on transaction cost economics, and the theory of swift even flow. Analysis of 115 firms shows that perceived transactional efficiencies are greater for B2B e-commerce technologies in the presence of ERP, and are in fact magnified when ERP implementation specifically precedes B2B e-commerce initiatives. These findings imply a distinct system adoption strategy for firms pursuing e-commerce opportunities.

Over the last decade, significant advances in information technology have provided the means for organizations to respond much more quickly to the actual state of market demand. The operational structure that organizations use in responding to market demand can effectively be broken into three components: inbound, internal and outbound logistics. From the perspective of internal logistics, developments in Materials Requirements Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have been prominent. Inbound logistics have been aided by the prospective use of inter-organizational technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange and more recently by emerging Business-to-Business (B2B) electronic commerce technologies. Certain outbound logistical activities have likewise been supported by B2B electronic commerce technologies, allowing firms to introduce themselves to previously unassociated buyers. Although each of these technologies may be used independently of any of the others, it is possible that having more than one solution would provide more value to an organization than the value provided by each separately. This concept has been recently identified as one of the four major value drivers enhancing the value-creation potential of e-business, known as complementarities [1]. This study investigates the existence of complementarities between two specific technologies, ERP and B2B e-commerce. In some cases, the functionality of B2B e-commerce technologies is built into ERP system packages marketed by firms. Examples of such reported capabilities can be found in evolving versions of systems developed by well-established ERP vendors including SAP, Oracle and Peoplesoft, which collectively represent more than half of the ERP vendor market by revenue. This portion of the market is also predominantly built upon the business of large multi-national corporations. However, the remaining ERP market, characterized more and more by small to medium sized enterprise (SME) adopters facing a highly fragmented pool of developers, poses a decided contrast. A review of survey findings provided by the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) shows that only 65% of these lesser-known packages are even partially equipped to handle purchase updates via the Internet or EDI, while only 43% are even partially equipped with e-Payment capabilities [2]. These numbers suggest that firms interested in such functionality need to rely on additional application vendors or in-house development efforts; an extremely costly proposition for most SMEs. One of the primary goals of ERP implementations is to assure a seamless profile of internal enterprise processes [3]. Conversely, one of the primary goals of B2B e-commerce technology implementations is to make inter-organizational communication more efficient and cost effective. Since the effort of responding to market demand often involves both internal processes as well as communication between organizations in a supply chain, opportunities exist for coordinating and/or integrating these processes to achieve even greater benefits than are afforded by each technology independently. With these ideas in mind, the present study draws on the theory of swift even flow, transaction cost economics and the concept of complementaries to consider how both the mere presence of ERP systems and the relative timing of system implementations can impact the efficiencies of B2B electronic commerce technologies. To assess hypothesized effects we analyze survey responses from firms representing both manufacturing and service operations. We show that the potential presence of ERP systems positively impacts future development-based transaction cost economies associated with B2B e-commerce technologies, while additional planning to ensure that ERP implementation precedes B2B e-commerce is backed by incentives associated with communication-based transaction cost savings.

This research has attempted to link the e'ciencies of inter-organizational B2B e-commerce technologies to the bene0ts accrued through intra-organizational ERP system adoption and implementation timing. Although many practi- tioners and academics might intuitively speculate that some form of complementariness would exist between ERP and B2B e-commerce technologies, no formal framework for these linkages has been examined empirically until nowBacked by our consideration of existing theory, our study has provided empirical evidence supporting both the exis- tence and speci0c nature of the bene0ts that have been ob- served. Speci0cally, our 0ndings suggest that both the mere presence of ERP systems and the strategic sequencing of ERP implementations prior to B2B initiatives can signi0- cantly increase transactional bene0ts made possible by B2B e-commerce technologies. Furthermore, bene0ts do not oc- cur across all transactional dimensions considered for both manufacturing and service 0rms suggesting that more or less attention should be applied to speci0c areas when cost jus- ti0cation and ROI assessments are made. The 0rst of the areas in which transactional bene0ts is observed in our analysis is with regards to system devel- opment cost reductions provided by B2B e-commerce tech- nologies. When an ERP system is simultaneously present, these bene0ts increase for both manufacturing and service 0rms. Subsequently, 0rms that also possess ERP capabili- ties face greater cost reduction incentives when considering the future modi0cation of B2B e-commerce technologies or development of additional systems. A second manifestation of ERP-driven transactional ben- e0ts comes with regards to communication cost savings of B2B e-commerce technologies. When ERP is in place, par- ticularly when implemented prior to B2B e-commerce initia- tives, these bene0ts seem to increase. Improvements in capi- tal e'ciency was shown to be associated with ERP presence and pre-B2B e-commerce technology implementation was as well, though only for manufacturing 0rms. This distinc- tion between manufacturing and service 0rms might be jus- ti0ed if ERP bene0ts to this sub-dimension reside predom- inantly in the product cycle function, where service 0rms may be only indirectly involved. However, the distinctions observed between manufacturer and service 0rms may also stem from the greatest limitation of the present study; speci0cally the relatively limited sam- ple size over which a fraction of our analysis was performed. Unfortunately, as with most studies of emerging technolo- gies, this limitation was predominantly due to the simple lack of 0rms capable of providing input regarding the use of these new technologies, particularly in tandem. The trade- o7 of course is between waiting for additional experiences to come to light and risking the loss of importance with re- gards to the impact that early 0ndings can provide. Future work to lend greater veri0cation to the operationally based hypotheses is already in progress and further encouraged for other researchers to pursue. An additional line of future research involves the con- sideration of other forms of system complementarities. For example, the presence of B2B e-commerce initiatives im- plying a greater ability to cover shortages, and hence greater availability at lower cost, may in turn imply a greater abil- ity to react to consumer service needs only recognized by B2C systems. Similarly an e-commerce “B2B before B2C” argument might follow from the idea that experience with B2B e-commerce systems imply a greater understanding ofincoming resource availability which in turn leads to better understanding of exactly what customer services can be im- proved and how. Subsequently, this awareness can lead to a speci0c design or selection of a B2C initiative aimed at a more appropriate customer relationship management strat- egy. Though these are nothing more than speculations at this point, they certainly provide interesting avenues to pursue in the future for researchers. Lastly, it is not di'cult to imagine that some of the “ERP before B2B” e-commerce bene0ts observed in the study would fade with time. Given enough experience with both systems, 0rms would likely overcome initial performance barriers and enjoy other unobserved bene0ts. Some may arise from alternate e'ciency measures originally posed by authors such as information e'ciency and strategic ef- 0ciency [ 13 , 27 , 28 ]. The consideration of such ideas might require more complex organizational models, longitudinal data and a greater sample size than is currently available, but remains an intriguing possibility for future work.