Kopanaki, Evi

evik@unipi.gr

The Impact of Inter-Organisational Information Systems on Organisational Flexibility

(2008)

The objective of this thesis is to explore the impact of inter-organisational information systems (IOS) on the flexibility of organisations. Since IOS involve interaction and cooperation between different organisations, the concept of flexibility is viewed not only as a characteristic of an individual firm, but also as a property of the interaction between firms.

This study proposes an interpretive approach to explain the multifaceted concept of flexibility. A synthesised research framework, based on 'web models' and 'soft systems thinking' theoretical perspectives, enables us to examine flexibility as being embedded in and influenced by the organisational/ inter-organisational context. In the proposed framework, flexibility is presented not only as the ability of the organisation/ business network to respond to environmental disturbances, but also as its capability to evolve and to change over time.

An exploratory case study undertaken in a grocery retail-supply chain in Greece forms the basis of our argument. Both our understanding and analysis of the empirical data are based on the proposed framework.

Supervisor: Steve Smithson, PhD

Evi Kopanaki is currently working in the Department of Informatics at the University of Piraeus, Greece

^