Inter-organizational relationships and the flow of information through value chains

I developed a framework that can identify types of inter-organizational relationships. Various kinds of information exchanged between trading partners were grouped into two broad types: transactional and managerial. I then examined the effects of inter-organizational information systems (IOS) and traditional communication media (TCM) on the amount of information exchanged. Stepwise regression analyses showed that the use of value chains was the most significant factor influencing the exchange of both types of information. In examining the impact of the information exchanged to improve production performance, it appeared that different kinds of information influenced different aspects. Depending on the usage level of the media and the types of information exchanged, four categories of inter-organizational relationships and their particular characteristics were defined: traditional links for coordination, strategic alliances, electronic links for coordination, and virtual organizations. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.