Self assessment as a means of measuring strategic and operational benefits from EDI: the development of a conceptual fra
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Self assessment as a means of measuring strategic and operational benefits from EDI: the development of a conceptual framework C Fearon and G Philip Management and Information Systems Division, Queen’s School of Management, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK This paper evaluates the benefit success associated with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) from nine leading companies in Northern Ireland through a process of self assessment. The procedure involves a comparison of pre-implementation benefit expectations with post-implementation perceptions of realised benefits. Three ‘benefit states’ are used to denote the degree of the gap between expectations and perceptions of realised benefits. If a shortfall or negative gap is experienced throughout a company as a whole, then this benefit state is described as a ‘deficiency’. If there is no gap and a company receives what it expected then this benefit state is termed ‘neutrality’. If the perceived realised benefit, on the other hand, exceeded the original benefit expectations, then this benefit state is regarded as ‘efficiency’. Assessment results from a benefit rating instrument and personal interviews indicate that ‘deficiency’ is the benefit state which is prevalent for most companies. A ‘benefit success matrix’ is used to illustrate the relationship between: benefit states, implementation success and the implementation approach. The application of benefit states to the benefit success matrix can be used as a retrospective self evaluation tool for companies to consider the mix of factors required for achieving successful EDI development.
Introduction Whilst there has been case study research illustrating the long term strategic benefits of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), many authors argue that these benefits have been traditionally very hard to measure, and the implications for their strategic use are rather unclear (Dearing, 1990; Holland et al, 1992). Furthermore, the introduction of EDI can be delayed because of the difficulties associated with justifying cost over achieving sometimes intangible benefits (Philip & Pedersen, 1997), and because of the opinion that it will be the facilitator or customer in the supply chain network that will receive most benefits (Scala & McGrath, 1993; Janssens & Cuyvers, 1993). For the prospective adopter, there is also an additional difficulty in finding a mechanism to assess the potential benefits of EDI before the actual implementation (Galliers et al, 1995). Benefits from EDI have been classified as strategic and operational (Reekers & Smithson, 1994). The former relate to the development of corporate strategies through the building of external relationships with customers and competitors, the latter refer to improvements made to the internal functioning of the organization apparent in everyday activities (Benjamin et al, 1990; Banerjee & Correspondence: Professor George Philip
Golhar, 1992; Reekers & Smithson, 1994). Johnsto
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