The flow of information and the types of inter-organizational relationships

摘要

This study has developed a framework that can identify types of inter-organizational relationships. In this study, various kinds of information exchanged between trading partners were grouped into two broad types of information: Transaction information and management information. This study examined the effects of inter-organizational information systems (IOSs) and traditional communication media (TCM) on the amount of information exchanged. The results of stepwise regression analyses show that the usage of IOSs is the first significant factor that influences the exchange of transaction information as well as management information. In examining the impact of the information exchanged on the dimensions of production performance, the results of this study suggest that different kinds of information seem to influence different dimensions of production performance. According to both the usage level of IOSs or TCM and the types of information exchanged, four forms of inter-organizational relationships and their particular characteristics are represented. The four types are: traditional links for coordination, strategic alliances, electronic links for coordination, and virtual organizations.