This book documents the research I conducted on the subject of Electronic Data Inter change during my time at the Institute of Business Informatics, University of Berne, Switzerland. In this effort I enjoyed a great deal of help from numerous others, in cluding professional colleagues, interview partners, and members of my family. Even though I cannot possibly mention them all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for their selfless support. Above all, I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Gerhard Knolmayer who contributed to the book both in its formative stages and throughout its development. He has been an unwavering source of encouragement during the many difficult stages of the investigation and I greatly benefitted from our discussions of the subject matter. Moreover, he was ex tremely generous with his time in carefully reviewing all the five chapters. The fmancial support for this book came from the Hasler Foundation in Berne. I wish to thank the Foundation, and especially its Managing Director, Dr. P.A. Jaeger, for funding the empirical part of the research project. Likewise, I am grateful to the Uni versity of Berne for providing me with the necessary computer and other resources. The Institute of Business Informatics should be commended particularly for its very stim ulating work environment.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 1.1. Research Problem.- 1.2. Prior Research on Electronic Data Interchange.- 1.3. Main Goals of Research.- 1.4. Organization of Research.- 2. Electronic Data Interchange.- 2.1. Introduction.- 2.2. Foundations of EDI.- 2.3. Requirements of EDI.- 2.4. Business Implications of EDI.- 2.5. Utilization of EDI in Practice.- 3. The Aspect of Diffusion.- 3.1. Network Externalities.- 3.2. Diffusion of Innovations.- 3.3. Implications for the Diffusion of EDI.- 3.4. EDI Diffusion Research Framework.- 4. Empirical Investigation on Electronic Data Interchange.- 4.1. Project Overview.- 4.2. Preliminary Field Study.- 4.3. Sample Survey.- 5. Summary and Conclusions.- 5.1. Research Summary.- 5.2. Research Conclusions.- 5.3. Research Implications.- 5.4. Suggestions for Future Research.- List of Acronyms and Abbreviations.