supply chain management

268Malhotra,Gosain,andElSawy:LeveragingSEBIstoEnableAdaptiveSupplyChainPartnershipsInformationSystemsResearch18(3),pp.260–279,©2007INFORMSFigure1ResearchModel

Characteristicsofadaptive

supply-chainpartnerships

preliminarystage,weconducted1-to1.5-hourin-

personandtelephoneinterviewswith35keyexe-

cutives(purchasingmanagers,customerrelationship

managers,supplychainmanagers,ITmanagers,and

distributionmanagers)in16enterprisesintheIT

industrydemand-sidesupplychain(sevenhard-

waremanufacturers/softwarepublishers,onelogis-

ticsprovider,fourwholesaledistributors,andfour

retailers).Theseinterviewshelpedusoperational-

izekeyconstructsandfurthergroundourtheoreti-

calarguments.Themaindatacollectionwasbased

onamultiple-sectionsurveyquestionnairethatwas

pretestedandre nedforclaritywithsupplychain

managersatamajorcomputermanufacturer(notpart

ofoursample)andexpertsataconsultingenterprise.

RepresentativesofeachenterpriseontheRosetta-

Netboard(executivechampions)helpedusiden-

tifytheirsupplychainpartners(restrictedtothree

supplychaintiers—manufacturers,distributors,and

retailers).Thisresultedinidentifying91partner-

ships(focalenterprisewithsupplychainpartner).The

RosettaNetchampionsateachenterpriseweremailed

surveysforeachoftheirpartnerships.Theywere

askedtodrilldownwithintheirenterpriseand ndthespeci cexecutive(“keyinformant”)responsibleforday-to-dayfunctioningofthepartnershipunderinvestigation.The“keyinformant”(onepersupplychainrelationship)assignedvarioussectionsofthesurveytobecompletedbymanagersmostlikelytoprovideaccurateresponsesforalineofquestioning.Forinstance,IT-relatedquestionswerecompletedbytheITmanager,marketingissuesrelatedquestionswere lledbythemanagersinthatarea,andsoon.Forquestionsthatwouldrequireaconvergentviewfrommultipleareasintheenterprise,thekeyinfor-mantwasaskedtoholdameetingto llinthosequestions.Finally,thesectionthatmeasuredMAandadaptiveknowledgecreationinsupplychainpartner-shipswascompleteddirectlybythekeyinformant.ThecompletedsurveyswerecollectedandreturnedtousbytheRosettaNetchampionateachenterprise.Wereceivedresponsesfrom13enterprisesthatcov-ered41of91pairsidenti edintheearlierphase.Eachkeyinformantinoursamplewasdistinctandwasresponsibleforresponsesforasinglerelationshiponly.Althoughwehaddesiredadyadicperspective(bothenterprisesengagedinapartnershiprespond-ingtothesurvey),thedif cultiesindatacollection