Electronic Linking of Organizations and the Sponsor-Adopter Gap

Many of our discussions with practitioners and theorists brought out the problem of lagging diffusion of Interorganisational Systems (IOS). In spite of the Internet revolution and growing numbers of EDI users, acceptance of IOS has been rather slow, measured by the technology’s potentials. Where IOS systems have been implemented, they often have to struggle against the handicap of underutilization lacking profits, in other words. Technology itself obviously does not appear to be a limiting factor, although there still exist vast potentials of further development. However, many causes of the diffusion problem are suspected to reside in the complex network of economic, legal, and social constraints. While the legal side was addressed in our last issue, the present issue is dedicated to the socio-economic aspects. Our first author emphasizes the relationship between adopters and sponsors of such systems. The second contribution deals with diffusion theory. The power of large enterprises to drive EDI is shown in a comparative study conducted in the European automotive industry. Adequate public research programmes are likely to be another important promotor of EDI. We are introducing two new EDI research projects which are part of the European Commission's Trade Electronic Data Interchange Systems Programme (TEDIS). We hope the present number of EM-Electronic Markets will make interesting reading for you.