EDI in Germany and the U.K.: Strategic and operational use

Although the strategic aspects of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) have been emphasised in the literature, there has been a lack of supporting empirical evidence. This paper describes an empirical study of the adoption and use of EDI in organizations in Germany and the U.K. The findings suggest that although companies were motivated by both operational and strategic factors, in practice they have been more successful in realising operational benefits. The findings support an evolutionary view of EDI, where strategic gains are more likely to be found in the later stages of EDI usage. Most of the responding organizations seemed to be in an introductory stage, while some were in an interim stage, where some strategic benefits were being accumulated.