Utilizing information systems in inter-organizational collaboration and information sharing
Leppikorpi, Tiia (2018)
2018
Tietojenkäsittelytieteiden tutkinto-ohjelma - Degree Programme in Computer Sciences
Luonnontieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Natural Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2018-05-09
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201805311897
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201805311897
Tiivistelmä
Information systems are becoming more commonly used in inter-organizational collaboration in attempt to improve the value chain performance. Information sharing is an important part of inter-organizational systems, but entering a more open relationship with business partners is still difficult for most large companies.
The purpose of this thesis is to identify the requirements to successfully enhancing inter-organizational collaboration with the help of an information system, in particular, to increase the performance of a buyer-supplier relationship. The second aim is to find out if there are any organizational barriers to a successful implementation of an inter-organization system. The requirements, challenges and benefits of the collaboration systems are handled from the combined system and collaboration point of view. Using an information system for strategic collaboration is a development for existing collaboration between the parties, therefore the themes must be discussed together.
The research is conducted as a case study research involving one case organization, which is a Finnish company operating globally. At the time of writing the thesis it was implementing a collaboration system with their raw material suppliers. The methods used for the research were a survey and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the system development in the company is heading towards increasing vendor integration and connectivity. One issue was that the new systems are developed on existing processes. The opportunity of streamlining the processes mutually on both sides of the collaboration is not fully utilized in the new system development. The research showed that the employees of the case company are committed to the supplier relationship and willing to collaborate, but the information sharing in the case company needs improvement to be able to support the inter-organizational collaboration.
The purpose of this thesis is to identify the requirements to successfully enhancing inter-organizational collaboration with the help of an information system, in particular, to increase the performance of a buyer-supplier relationship. The second aim is to find out if there are any organizational barriers to a successful implementation of an inter-organization system. The requirements, challenges and benefits of the collaboration systems are handled from the combined system and collaboration point of view. Using an information system for strategic collaboration is a development for existing collaboration between the parties, therefore the themes must be discussed together.
The research is conducted as a case study research involving one case organization, which is a Finnish company operating globally. At the time of writing the thesis it was implementing a collaboration system with their raw material suppliers. The methods used for the research were a survey and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the system development in the company is heading towards increasing vendor integration and connectivity. One issue was that the new systems are developed on existing processes. The opportunity of streamlining the processes mutually on both sides of the collaboration is not fully utilized in the new system development. The research showed that the employees of the case company are committed to the supplier relationship and willing to collaborate, but the information sharing in the case company needs improvement to be able to support the inter-organizational collaboration.