Application of Web Services in the Context of E-Procurement

This chapter highlights the importance of e-procurement and the barriers affecting its widespread adoption in the context of small and medium enterprises. The chapter takes a technical perspective and critically analyzes the importance of information systems in the procurement domain and the integration challenges faced by SMEs in today’s digitally networked economy. Next, the role of XML-based Web services in solving the integration challenges faced by SMEs is discussed. Subsequently, a procurement transformation framework enabled by Web services which provides a clear methodology of the way in which information systems should be introduced in the procurement domain is discussed. The chapter concludes by a discussion of the measures that must be undertaken by various stakeholders like the government and universities in increasing the awareness levels of SMEs to the latest e-business mechanisms.

ICT Adoption in Firms by Using Endogenous Metrics

This chapter analyzes the digital divide in Italy and the factors contributing to this situation at both the regional and provincial levels. To do this, we used the registration of Internet domains under the “.it” Country Code Top Level Domain as a proxy. In particular, we analyzed domain names registered by firms. The analysis produced interesting results: The distribution of domains registered by firms in Italian provinces is more concentrated than the distribution related to income and the number of firms, suggesting a diffusive effect. Furthermore, in order to analyze the factors that may contribute to the presence of a digital divide at the regional level, a regression analysis was performed using demographic, social, economic, and infrastructure indicators. The results show that Internet technology, far from being an “equalizer,” follows and possibly intensifies existing differences in economic opportunity in industrialized countries like Italy.

Managing E-Relationships in a Supply Network

This chapter investigates the dynamics of the formation and transformation of electronic supply relationships (e-supply relationships) in the Chinese cultural, technological, and industrial network context. It focuses on a newly formed large Chinese telecom company. The aim is to provide better insights into inter-organisational relationships (IORs) enabled by the application of newer types of Internet technology in different contexts, and to develop a new conceptual framework of e-supply relationships. In this research, the conceptualisation of the transformation process of e-supply relationships represents circuits of interactions between managerial actions and social structures, as well as the particular cultural and technological context within which the interactions take place.

Complementary Features of Reverse Auction Web Sites

The objective of this chapter is to study the features of reverse auction sites. Twenty-five features of 38 reverse auction sites have been studied. The features are divided into core and complementary features. These sites are broadly divided into B2B/B2G and B2C/C2C groups. We show the differences that exist in the site design of these two groups insofar as the inclusion of these features are concerned. We derive weights, signifying the importance which the site designs have assigned to various complementary features. These weights are used in two ways: to provide benchmarks to evaluate the design of the Web sites, and to find out the site evaluation index of any Web site for comparison with the benchmark. Using their complementary features, we derive weights for the features and develop site evaluation indexes for them.

A Service-Oriented Agent-Based Model for Electronic Procurement

Globalization has evoked rethinking in organizing the business processes of many enterprises in order to keep pace with the competition and dynamic nature of the market. There has been continuing research for suitable paradigms and technologies that can facilitate efficient and yet less expensive solutions, a feature that is so important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Towards this end, the chapter presents a service-oriented framework that is based on the notion of Internet-accessible services to represent applications and to integrate business processes. This model propounds a metadata- driven approach to dynamically publish, discover, and select services in heterogeneous settings while engaging in business transactions such as e-procurement across organizational boundaries. The concept of software agents is also employed as a means to automate the activities relating to a procurement cycle. The central theme of this chapter is to motivate the adoption of a service-oriented agent-based framework which can provide an effective and efficient solution to e-procurement.

Perspectives from IOIS, EDI, and Channel Management

Over the last couple of years, e-procurement has received tremendous attention from researchers and practitioners alike. However, research on e-procurement is still scarce and scattered. This chapter looks into prior research on inter-organizational information systems (IOIS), electronic data interchange (EDI), channel management, and procurement to develop a research framework and identify research issues in e-procurement. It is argued that supply market characteristics and product characteristics can explain the emergence of various e-procurement systems. Further, these e-procurement systems have different impacts on inter-organizational relationships and value generated from e-procurement. However, these impacts are moderated by adoption and implementation risks. Though this model provides us with a holistic view to e-procurement, it is not yet empirically validated, owing to low e-procurement penetration.

Barriers to E-Procurement Adoption

E-procurement practice is not well-established in emerging countries. There are barriers in terms of transportation, financial, telecommunication, and legal infrastructures. Also, a lack of a qualified workforce, cultural barriers, and security problems hinder the development of e-procurement activities. These are not such significant problems in the developed countries. In this study, we examined the Turkish practice. We gave country background information including macroeconomic data and Internet penetration data, and we gave a picture of the current situation of Turkey. We then discussed how these barriers can be overcome in Turkey. Finally, we gave predictions about how m-procurement may alter the situation and its potential for the Turkish market.

E-Procurement Success Factors

This chapter introduces e-procurement as a strategic tool for organizations’ competitive position in the new information economy. It argues that that eprocurement is significantly changing the ways businesses operate and thus new business models are needed. E-procurement success factors that have to be considered are: cost factors, time factors, process simplification factors and the volume of e-transactions factors. By gaining understanding of the most important e-procurement factors, organizations have to organize themselves in a way that ensures success. Furthermore, author hopes that with knowing such factors, organizations will be able to better prepare for e-procurement and thus operate successfully and thus be able to compete in the global market.

Analyzing E-Procurement Adoption Efforts

This case study looks into the evolution of various e-procurement systems at an Indian steel manufacturer, Tata Steel. This chapter argues that rather sticking to one system, organizations need to manage a portfolio of e-procurement systems to realize the full potential of the Internet. Further, these systems evolve over a period of time, thus necessitating dynamic instead of static analysis. Prior research has analyzed e-procurement and its predecessor, EDI-based IOIS, as a static game with adoption and subsidy being the key issues. However, with e-procurement increasingly being a competitive necessity, the issue is not “if to adopt e-procurement”, but “how to adopt e-procurement”. This chapter analyzes e-procurement adoption efforts in a dynamic game setting. First, the e-procurement adoption effort is analyzed in a “without subsidy” scenario and then in a “with subsidy” scenario. Results show that e-procurement adoption efforts are likely to be more if the buyer and suppliers are not myopic, and the rate of decay in strategic benefits from the dyadic relation is low. Further, the buyer can induce more effort from the supplier by offering him subsidies. The buyer will offer a subsidy only if he can take away more than half of the total e-procurement benefits. The level of subsidy depends on the effectiveness of the supplier’s e-procurement adoption effort. Results for the game theoretic model are corroborated with the case study.

Challenges in Implementation of E-Procurement in the Indian Government

In this chapter, the concept of e-government procurement (e-GP), as it is being implemented in India, is explained. Furthermore, a set of six challenges encountered during implementation of e-procurement is discussed in depth. The six challenges discussed in the chapter are: lack of skilled personnel; multi-departmental implementation; inadequate IT and networking infrastructure; challenges in implementation of state-wide system; the need to regulate e-procurement market; and replicating best practices in federal state setup. A practitioner’s perspective is adopted to write this chapter. While this chapter deals specifically with e-GP in India, certain aspects of it can be generalized to e-GP implementations elsewhere in the world. Such generalization is possible since government procurement is driven by the same set of principles such as efficiency and transparency.