A theoretical and empirical examination of the antecedents and outcomes of business-to-business information systems choices and use

Reports indicate that the volume of inter-firm electronic commerce will grow at more than 40% annually in 2005-2008. Companies have attributed important gains to their use of b2b information systems. At the same time however, studies report that use of b2b systems and related benefits differ significantly across individual firms. As technology becomes the critical enabler of inter-firm commerce, the key question for the practitioners is: how to make b2b technology choices that can avoid the failures of the past. Toward that end, we address three key research questions: (1) How to characterize the portfolio of b2b system choices firms make? (2) Do b2b system choices made by firms reflect their existing relationships? (3) Why are there differences across firms in terms of their b2b system utilization?;In the first paper, based on data collected from large US manufacturers, and using governance and use intensity as two dimensions, we develop a matrix identifying four distinct modes of b2b system participation. We also identify the contextual factors that can influence participation modes. Finally, we identify a set of outcomes that each of these modes can provide. In the second paper we explore the contexts under which firms should use IT to create new models of supplier relationships. Specifically, we explore if firm choices related to ownership and governance of b2b systems are influenced by the political economy of existing relationships. Our results show that the existing inter-firm relationships are positively related to how firms chose to own and govern their b2b systems. In the third paper we address the question: why are there differences across firms in terms of their b2b system utilization? In this paper we argue that firm specific competencies in spotting and building critical b2b information system capabilities are critical in determining the exploitation levels and returns from the systems. We empirically test our model with the help of data gathered from 159 manufacturing firms in the US. Our results indicate that firms that have higher internal IT capabilities are able to better exploit their b2b systems.