| dc.description.abstract | Recently, firms have increasingly relied on inter-organizational systems (IOS) to facilitate tighter integration with trading partners. This dissertation aims to understand the antecedents and consequences of IOS integration under the conditions of interdependence and power imbalance between dyadic firms. Three studies are conducted for this objective.
The first study analyzes the various impediments, such as adversarial behaviours and conflicts when two interdependent firms attempt to integrate with each other through IOS. This study applies the concept of compromise to develop two constructs critical for IOS integration, inter-firm process compromise and technology compromise. These two compromise constructs, treated as relational investments, are proposed to affect the attainment of higher IOS integration. We also assess the importance of interdependence between firms in shaping the negotiation environment. Based on 147 matched-pair data collected from the top 2000 Taiwanese manufacturing firms, the findings demonstrate the importance of technology compromise and inter-firm process compromise for implementing IOS integration. The results also suggest that these compromises are key mediators between interdependence and IOS integration. This study provides theoretical and practical implications that contribute to our understanding of the role of compromise in facilitating IOS integration and the interdependence structure in shaping compromise.
The second study analyzes the condition of power imbalance in which dominant firms often try to exert their power to influence their dependent firms to implement IOS integration. Misunderstanding about how power operates will impede firms for developing IOS integration. Based on the circuits of power framework and the concept of obligatory passage point (OPP), this study identifies three factors that should mediate the effect of power on the implementation of IOS integration, including competitive necessity, expected benefits, and firm readiness. We accordingly develop a theoretical model with nine hypotheses. Based on a sample of 135 manufacturing firms tested with PLS, seven out of the nine hypotheses receive empirical support. The findings show that the flows of exercised power and potential power into IOS integration indeed circulate through those mediators. The theoretical and practical implications of the results contribute to our understanding of how power operates in developing IOS integration.
Supply chain agility (SCA) is vital to the performance of firms and their supply chain partners in today’s turbulent and highly competitive environment. The third study attempts to better understand the roles of IOS integration, long-term orientation, supply chain flexibility, and analytical ability supported by IOS in enabling SCA based on the dynamic capabilities view, real options theory, and the relational view. With 147 matched-pair samples gathered from the top 2000 Taiwanese manufacturing firms, the results support the effects of IOS integration and long-term orientation on supply chain flexibility, including offering and partnering relationship flexibilities, which in turn facilitates SCA. We also demonstrate that the analytical ability supported by IOS indeed moderates the effect of SCF on SCA.
Overall, this dissertation contributes to the research fields of IOS implementation by showing the antecedents and consequences of IOS integration. We provide the guides for firms under interdependence and power imbalance to attain IOS integration, and to drive SCA. The theoretical and practical implications advance our understanding of IOS integration implementation.
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