Management perspectives of electronic data interchange systems

摘要

Relationships between firms and their environment in the field of communication are various and manifold. There is one form of communication that is increasingly attracting particular attention. It is based on the electronic interchange of business documents between the computer systems of separate firms (electronic data interchange systems). The success of electronic data interchange systems mainly depends on the acceptance and the diffusion of standardized formats. Complicated bilateral agreements should be substituted by standards to allow for open system interconnection. But electronic data interchange systems do not only imply the introduction of new technology and substitution of paper by electronic means. This form of communication has various impacts on efficiency, organizational structure and corporate policy, which have to be thoroughly considered by a corporate management.