Dimension Researches in Adoptions’ Models of IOIS

ABSTRACT In this article we summarize researches on adoption' scenarios of Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOIS), and comes up with suggestions from other views, and discusses influence of these elements. INTRODUCTION In recent years the share of inter-organizational business and transactions enabled by sophisticated inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) have steadily increased, and the trend is likely to continue. Although the development of internet technology in China is not long, internet technology has greatly changed the life of Chinese and operating models of enterprises. Which models of IOIS will Chinese enterprises adopt? Can Chinese enterprises span the general development process of information systems and directly enter the era of IOIS? These questions have inspired the experts all over the world with interest. BACKGROUND OF IOIS Johnston and Vitale's (1998) define IOIS as: ... an automated information system shared by two or more companies. An IOIS is built around information technology, that is, around computer and communication technology, that facilitates creation, storage, transformation and transmission of information. An IOIS differs from an internal distributed information system by allowing information to be sent across organizational boundaries. (p 154) In our study, we also use this definition and stress that IOIS should be automated and across organizational boundaries. The typical characteristic of IOIS is that it crosses organizational boundaries, which is very different from the information systems within the confines of an organization. The use of IOIS is tightly integrated with the form and nature of inter-organizational relationships. Michael E. Porters have summarized such elements that have relationship with the focal enterprises as suppliers, consumers, competitors, administrations etc. Kai Reimers have defined an ISVS (Industry Segment Value System) as research unit (Reimers, Johnson & Klein, 2004). ISVS is an industry segment with three main parts and two kinds of relationships. Three main parts are focal industry segment and firms in their upstream and downstream stages. Focal industry segment may be producers or dealers of focal units and their rivals. Two kinds of relationships are horizontal and vertical relationships, which respectively correspond to the relationships between rivals and between their suppliers and buyers. Whatever by which research unit IOIS' users must solve the following problems, such as with which information formats to communicate with business partners, who maintenance IOIS and who pay for it. That is, they must solve IOIS' technical and economic problem. CLASSIFICATION FROM THE POINT OF ECONOMIC NATURE OF IOIS Chatterjee and Ravichandran have developed their studies from the economic nature of IOIS and put forth four dimensions to characterize an Inter-Organizational Information System (IOIS), namely, control, relational support, integration and technology dimensions (Chatterjee & Ravichandran, 2004). These four dimensions have covered almost all the popular structures of existing IOIS. It is meaningful for us to study the possible matching relationship between structures of IOIS and industry structures CLASSIFICATION FROM THE POINT OF TECHNICAL NATURE OF IOIS Joseph B.O'Donnell and Bonnie C. Glassberg have explored the technical nature of IOIS and given a structural comparison of systems types (O'Donnell & Glassberg, 2005). DISCUSSION ON TWO CLASSIFICATIONS Driven by economic benefits the adoptions' models of IOIS in an industry are influenced by the characteristics of industrial structure, because economic benefit is strong related with characteristics of industry structure. So here we use an Industry Segment Value System (ISVS) as substitutes of an Industry structure to observe and analyze processes of adoptions of IOIS and predict its tendencies in the future. …