A Supplier Portal in the Automotive Industry

The use of Internet technologies and particularly portal technologies facilitate the creation of networks of relationships within the supply chain that provide organizations with access to key strategic resources that could not have been otherwise obtained (Venkatraman, 2000). As a result, portals appear to play a significant role in the business-to-business (B2B) arena. Even before the advent of the Internet, the use of information technology (IT) has been claimed to lead to a tighter coupling between buyer and supplier organizations (Malone, Yates, & Benjamin, 1987), allowing business partners to integrate their various business processes and enabling the formation of vast networks of intraand inter-organisational relationships (Venkatraman, 1991). Nevertheless, such claimed integration effects require interoperability between IT systems, which can not be achieved in the absence of common IT standards or at least common IT infrastructure. This article focuses on the development and implementation of a standardised Internet technology project—a supplier portal—in the automotive industry. The aim of the study is to unveil the factors that have led the decision to adopt the standardised technology, and have shaped the development and implementation process. The case explores the standardisation process in its social context and identifies and discusses the factors that shape the development and implementation of the standards.