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The paper provides an overview of internet usage in the automobile supply industry according to supplier type and different internet applications and in comparison to all business lines. A special focus lies on the usage of electronic platforms in the supply industry. The automotive industry can be considered a pacemaker in e-business with company-...
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... Concerning e-business technology adoption, the automotive industry appears to be a good research field for different reasons: Firstly, since in the beginning of the internet age automotive companies were 'pace-makers' (Mühge et al., 2004). The industry has always been a forerunner regarding the development and use of innovative technology (Freyssenet et al., 1998), and also in the internet-based business, automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and their suppliers took the lead. ...
... It is noteworthy that developing and assembling cars now required much more cooperation (at least between OEMs and systems suppliers), which triggered the usage of IOS (Mühge et al., 2004). With the spread of internet technology, some OEMs as well as big suppliers created their own e-business sourcing platforms, like SupplyOn or Covisint, which certainly affected the adoption dynamics in the sector (I return to this issue in Section 4). ...
... Compared to those figures, e-business-systems were rarely used in production/logistics (23%) and R&D (12%). The usage rates vary significantly between the different supplier types, with system suppliers using e-business technology more often than component and parts suppliers (Mühge et al., 2004). 5 Only 7.4% of the suppliers were "offline", which means that they did not use any internet based technology. ...
This article analyzes the adoption of B2B-e-business technology in German automotive supplier companies during the internet hype period, i.e. in the very early stage of technology diffusion. While from the outset e-business was assumed to be used by companies in order to increase efficiency and reduce costs, some previous IOS research and theoretical considerations suggest that both efficiency and environmental expectations can be important reasons for companies to implement e-business. On this backdrop, the paper analyzes the reasons for e-business technology adoption, focusing on the explanatory value of institutional factors like mimesis, coercion, and normative pressures. Theoretically based hypotheses are developed and tested using regression models with a quantitative data set of more than 1900 companies.The article tries to make an innovative contribution to the field of IOS research, first, by drawing on theories of organizational structuring — new institutionalism, social psychology, and transaction cost economics; second, variation of adoption rationales in different types of companies and different business functions inside a company is taken into account.It appears that the adoption of e-business is explained by external pressures from other customers, bandwagon effects and herding behavior during the e-business hype, and expectations and interests of professionals inside a company. In the ‘core’ areas of a firm, efficiency rationales play an important role, too. The data reveals that the reasons of e-business usage differ significantly by department and company type.
... The proportion of market and hierarchy elements was contingent on a range of market, strategy and economic variables. Similarly, Mühge (2004) concluded that as the transaction complexity and asset specificity increase, the coordination effect of ICT enforces hybrid structures and the attractiveness of markets decreases. ...
Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) sind der Antrieb des modernen Innovationsprozesses. Für besseres Verständnis dieser Dynamik, analysiert diese Dissertation die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Innovation und Wettbewerb. Die Arbeit umfasst zwei Teile: Erstens wird die Frage behandelt, wie die Märkte organisiert werden können, um das optimale Marktergebnis zu erreichen. Zweitens werden die Rückwirkungen der innovativen Tätigkeit auf Wettbewerb und auf Organisation der wirtschaftlichen Tätigkeit analysiert. Betrachtet man den Einfluss von Wettbewerb auf Innovation, zeigt eine empirische Analyse, dass IKT-getriebene Innovationen in konzentrierten Industrien vorherrschen. Im Gegensatz dazu gedeihen Innovationen, die auf anderen Technologien basieren, in eher vollkommenen Märkten. Der Vergleich suggeriert, dass die IKT-getriebene Innovationen andere Charakteristika aufweisen als Innovationen, die auf anderen Technologien basieren. Betrachtet man die Rückwirkung von Innovation auf Wettbewerb, sind zwei Ergebnisse wert genannt zu werden. Erstens, obwohl profitabel von der Perspektive einzelner Unternehmen aus, sinkt der Industrieprofit, wenn eine produktvielfalt-steigernde Technologie durch alle Firmen übernommen wird. Des Weiteren sind die Entscheidungen der Unternehmen in Bezug auf die Technologieadoption nicht immer optimal aus Sicht der sozialen Wohlstandsmaximierung. Zweitens in Bezug auf Organisation der wirtschaftlichen Tätigkeit wird gezeigt, dass IKT sowohl zu mehr Wettbewerb als auch zu der Entstehung von hybriden Organisationsformen führen kann, was von den jeweiligen Charakteristika der Unternehmen abhängt. Obwohl diese Dissertation nur ein kleines Stück der Komplexität analysiert, wirft sie ein neues Licht auf die Zusammenhänge von Marktesstruktur und Innovation und ihre gegenseitigen Rückwirkungen. Interessanterweise sind die Ergebnisse weit entfernt von gewohnten Sichtweisen und in vielen Fällen entgegen der intuitiven Ausgangserwartung.
... Apart from filling up the gap in the literature, this study also aims to assess whether suppliers' EI strategy and firm size moderate the relationships between perceived EI barriers and suppliers' involvement in EI. Davila et al., [5] Hoppen et al., [6], and Muhge et al., [11] asserted that suppliers may view EI barriers differently from one another because of existing differences among them such as in terms of company size and EI adoption strategy. There seems to be a general understanding in previous studies, regarding the importance of EI strategy and firms' size contributing to the way EI barriers are perceived. ...
... This has placed considerable pressure on the large supplier community's margins and operational responsibilities due to increased inventory burden. Consequently, the large suppliers have to modify their existing business processes (internal operation) to meet the EI requirements by exerting pressure on their SME suppliers to participate in the e-procurement as well [11]. ...
Most automakers find that integrating with their suppliers in an e-procurement environment able to help them streamlining information across diverse suppliers base. However, many barriers to the integration of e- procurement could hold back suppliers' from realizing the integration with automakers (buyers). This study deals with e-procurement integration (EI) barriers within the Malaysian automobile industry, focusing on parts and components suppliers as the target respondents. A number of barriers, grouped as buyers, cultural, financial, IT and security barriers have been identified to influence suppliers' decision to participate in EI network. However, only buyers' barriers was identified as the major impediments to EI within the industry. This study also illustrates the effects of suppliers' EI strategy and firm size on suppliers' decisions in EI involvement. Overall, the suppliers who take on a passive approach to EI and large firm suppliers view buyers' barrier as significant.
... The proportion of market and hierarchy elements was contingent on a range of market, strategy and economic variables. Similarly balanced results presented Mühge (2004) who concluded that as the transaction complexity and asset specificity increase, the coordination effect of ICT enforces hybrid structures and the attractiveness of markets de- creases. ...
This paper examines how electronic procurement influences the organization of economic transactions. It seeks evidence for ICT-induced changes in how companies organize their activities and whether ICT lead to more competitive and transparent markets. Testing the relationship between the effect of electronic procurement on procurement cost and sourcing strategy, I provide new evidence that electronic procurement leads to more market transactions. This leads to the conclusion that electronic procurement increases market transparency, lowers search and supplier switching costs and improves the management of supply chain and contradicts the predictions that ICT will lead to a dominance of network-like organizational form and an increasing reliance on hybrid forms of organizing economic transactions. Two implications emerge from these results. The first one is relevant for companies engaging in ICT projects. ICT combined with changes in business strategy leads to a reduction of market transaction costs and, as a result, opens up new possibilities in terms of how business activities can be organized and/or how to structure competition in upstream markets. This effect of new technologies is of clear benefit to companies successfully implementing and using new technologies. The second implication is of great importance for companies whose customers implement ICT to intensify competition among suppliers. Changing environment forces them to adapt to new market conditions and look for new ways of maintaining profitability.
In the beginning of the internet age, companies were confronted with sometimes contradictory expectations regarding the use of e-business technologies. Using the concept of decoupling from new institutionalistic organization theory, the article examines under what conditions companies chose a decoupling strategy. In this way, the study aims to expand the empirical knowledge about decoupling processes and contribute to the new institutionalist theory debate on forms and conditions of strategic responses to institutional requirements. On the basis of data collected in 2002, influences on decoupling are analyzed by means of multivariate methods. The findings show that the choice of a decoupling strategy is influenced by external and internal factors as well as by the characteristics of the institutionalized model itself. They support the thesis that institutional constraints are actively processed by actors based on existing structures.
This research studies automobile industry suppliers in Thailand, who have implemented VMI using web-based order-processing technology. It examines their motivations and barriers for implementing the technology, and identifies the enabling factors with greatest impact on the outcomes of such implementation. Data was obtained from 70 tier-1 suppliers of the two biggest automobile assemblers in Thailand. Exploratory factor analysis was used to construct motivation, enabling factors, difficulties/barriers and outcomes of web-based order-processing technology implementation. Multiple linear regression was then used to examine the relationships between enabling factors and operational outcomes. The results show that improving customer responsiveness and the need to retain competitive advantage rather than cost-based orientation were the primary drivers of implementation of web-based order processing. This case provides insights to enable successful implementation by organisations that are planning to deploy the technology, particularly in the early stages of technological diffusion in emerging economies.
This paper examines how electronic procurement influences firms’ sourcing strategy. The relationship between the technology choice in a vertical structure is illustrated with respect to its impact on the coordination cost and the competition between suppliers. Hypotheses are tested using data from the e-Business W@tch survey. Assessing the relationship between the effect of electronic procurement on procurement cost and sourcing strategy, the author provides new evidence that electronic procurement leads to more market transactions. This effect depends, however, on industry-, firm- and product-specific features.
Increasing competitiveness of the automotive industry has resulted in fundamental changes to the industry. Significant consolidation has aimed at improving organisational positioning to take advantage of economies of scale and greater upstream supply chain coordination. Significant success has been achieved with upstream activities but less success has been achieved with downstream activities. The application of communications technology to downstream activities has not been as significant as that of other sectors (e.g., electronics and food industries). This study aims to understand the challenges faced with regards to communication between OEMs, automobile dealers and consumers. It is based on three case studies focusing on different aspects of operation – lead management, car finance and reverse logistics. The study found that internet technologies play a significant part in improving efficiency and information visibility in downstream operations. It also suggested that the operational 'weak link' in the supply chain can be addressed through technological investment and relationship development between OEMs and automobile dealers.
Following up on recent debates about sectoral systems of innovation and production, the paper introduces a heuristic framework for analyzing and explaining distinct patterns of technology-based sectoral change. The concept is based on two interrelated influencing factors. The first is the sectoral-specific transformative capacity of new technologies themselves, that is, their substantial or incremental impact on socioeconomic and institutional change in a given sectoral system. The second is the sectoral adaptability of socioeconomic structures, institutions, and actors confronted with the opportunities presented by new technologies. The first factor the sectoral transformative capacity of new technologies enables us to identify the technology-driven pressure to change and adjust the structural and institutional architectures of the sectoral system. The second, complementary factor sectoral adaptability helps us to discern the distinct social patterns of anticipating and absorbing this technology-based pressure. The specific interplay between the two influencing factors creates distinguishable modes of sectoral transformation, ranging from anticipative and smooth adjustments to reactive and crisis-ridden patterns of change. Even processes of radical sectoral change continue over longer periods of mismatch, characterized by a cumulation of numerous and mostly gradual organizational, structural, and institutional transformations.
