【Topic】Understanding Resilience and Evolution of IOIS in the Australian Pharmaceutical Distribution Industry

【Speaker】Kai Reimers

【Time】2009-9-29 9:15-10:00

【Venue】453 Weilun Building

【Language】English

【Organizer】Department of Management Science and Engineering

【Background Information】

Kai Reimers is a professor of information systems at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He earned a doctorate in economics from Wuppertal University and a venia legendi at Bremen University. He has published in Communications of the AIS, Electronic Commerce Research Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, among others. His main fields of research are inter-organizational systems, IT standardization, and IT management.

Abstract

We analyse an empirical case study of an inter-organizational information system (IOIS) in theAustralian pharmaceutical distribution industry, using a theoretical data coding approach, toprovide a concise grounded account of changes in the material, normative and ideationalstructures within the participating practices over a 25 year period as the IOIS evolved from aproprietary closed system to a quasi-open shared ordering platform. We find evidence that theresilience of the IOIS over this long time period is explained by a layered accumulation of newstructures at the level of individual practices, while the punctuated evolutionary changeaccompanied the appearance of a new practice, historically connected to the incumbent practices.

These findings are in substantial agreement with systems evolution mechanisms proposed by

Porra (1999). Understanding IOIS evolution will be important for the provision of key enabling

information infrastructures envisioned in existing and planned ICT-mediated healthcare

initiatives.