Supply Chain Management Supported by E-Invoicing: Cluster Analysis Approach to E-Invoicing

Abstract

E-invoice refers to the usage of the internet system to provide different payment processes. The advantages of e-invoicing have been recognized by many organizations. Therefore, enterprises are trying to replace paper invoices with electronic documents. Automated business processes are the future of the modern economy, and implementation of e-invoicing into a supply chain management leads to broader automation projects (e.g., evaluated receipts, supply chain finance). In this paper, the authors explore differences between enterprises in European countries according to the usage of e-invoicing by the enterprises different by size (small, medium, and large). Data were collected from the Eurostat database regarding usage of e-invoicing by enterprises for the year 2018. Variables used in the analysis are (1) enterprises sending e-invoices suitable for automated processing, (2) enterprises sending e-invoices not suitable for automated processing, (3) enterprises sending paper invoices. First, collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Second, cluster analysis was conducted to compare small, medium, and large enterprises regarding their behavior related to e-supply chain management using e-invoices.