The Effects of EDI on Industrial Buyer‐Seller Relationships: A Network Perspective

Based on two British case studies involving 25 companies, of which six industrial wholesalers are central actors, this research concluded that, overall, EDI strengthens industrial buyer‐seller relationships. Actors who use EDI in their role as purchasers do in fact experience the advantages normally associated with the use of EDI. But from the suppliers' point of view, the perceived strengthening is unrelated to how and how much EDI is used. Many suppliers have implemented EDI largely to retain their customers, but frequently gain no direct financial benefits from the use of EDI. Thus, the benefits of EDI are not equally distributed. Purchasers of the industrial products studied have not yet made EDI a condition for doing business. At the same time, most suppliers tend to overestimate the amount of additional business they are getting by implementing EDI. The article concludes with a discussion of the managerial implications of these findings – and four strategies for EDI implementation are proposed.