B2B E-Commerce Implementation: The Case of BHP STEEL

This paper discusses the issue of business-to-business E-commerce implementation and the factors which affect its implementation, considering the appropriateness of the various theories which underpin research into systems implementation (primarily diffusion of innovation and traditional change management theory). In this paper we describe the results of a case study of BHP Steel, Australia’s largest steel producer and one of the country’s largest companies, which is a leader in E-commerce implementation. The results of the case study suggest that over time the driving force for E-commerce changed significantly. From an initial push to improve current business processes by adopting a new way of doing business (EDI) to achieve savings and improve efficiency, the company came to be driven by a desire for greater supplier involvement and customer service in later implementations. The paper discusses the ways in which BHP Steel’s E-commerce innovations have changed over time and suggests that in addition to considering the characteristics of the innovation process, other more contextual aspects of implementation (such as the social system in which the innovation evolves, and the timing of the innovation’s introduction) be considered in an inter-organisational context.