EDI in strategic supply chain: impact on customer service

Many inter-organizational systems are increasingly using electronic data in terchange (EDI) to support the strategic supply chain by way of delivering and processing business documents. In a vendor-customer relationship, EDI c an provide many benefits to both organizations; one such benefit is improve d customer service. This study examines the impact of EDI on customer servi ce, when the vendor and customer utilize EDI in their distribution operatio ns. The primary hypothesis is that EDI improves customer service. A number of secondary hypotheses dealing with specific components of customer servic e were also tested. Data was obtained by administering survey instruments t o purchasing managers of firms in the automobile and pharmaceutical industr ies. The results provide strong support for most of the hypotheses. Specifically EDI contributes to the following customer service components: order cycle time, product availability, distribution flexibility, distribution informat ion, and distribution malfunction. An impact on post-sale product support w as not discernible from the data, In addition. some industry influences wer e also observed on the impact of EDI. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All ri ghts reserved.