Nested Configurations of Interorganizational Information Systems: Observations in the German Furniture Industry

Abstract

Interorganizational information systems (IOIS) support inter-company processes in the German furniture industry for more than 25 years. Still, there are deficiencies in process integration and differences in IOIS infrastructures. New market participants struggle to adopt the right IOIS for their purposes. Current adoption models lack to understand and manage IOIS adoption on an industry level. Lyytinen and Damsgaard's configurational analysis for IOIS adoption considers enterprise networks as configurations of interorganizational integration that correspond to a stable pattern of cooperation forms. The configuration analysis is applied in the German furniture industry to identify and explain factors that influence an IOIS adoption decision and constitute stable IOIS configurations. Data collection in two industry segments shows four configuration types in 17 configurations characterized by 39 influencing factors. New market participants must consider the adoption of several IOIS at once in so-called nested configurations to gain access to all relevant exchange relations.