The impact of organisational factors at different levels of IOS development on supply chain partnerships

Advanced Inter-Organisational Information Systems (IOSs) are used to improve the effectiveness of the supply chain and compete in today's dynamic global market. However, this linkage increases the significance of organisational factors, which makes an impact on the business–partner relationships. The aim of this research, therefore, is to evaluate the impact of organisational factors at different levels of IOS development on partnership integration within the Supply Chain Management (SCM). An innovative model will show the critical organisational factors at three stages of IOS development. To understand the implementation and use of the IOS within the SCM and business relationships, earlier studies by researchers such as Clemons and Row and Hahn, Kim and Kim have focused on a particular type of IOS, and its impact on the organisation. Other studies, such as those by Boddy, Macbeth and Wagner, evaluated the organisational variables and their impact on the IOS implementation. This theoretical paper is unique in that it evaluates the impact of the organisational variables for different levels of the IOS development. It analyses three case studies of the companies at various stages of IOS development. As IOS development and partnership integration are becoming more critical components in the supply chains, managers must be quite aware of these factors in effectively managing the operations.