Electronic commerce: Re-engineering the buyer-supplier interface

The aim of this article is to show how electronic commerce can fundamentally change the inter-organisational processes at the interface between the buyer and supplier. It will be shown how electronic commerce is not only enabling the redesign of internal organisational processes but is extended into both the buyer and supplier organisations. Three case studies are presented outlining how various electronic commerce technologies have been implemented in a number of buyer supplier environments. These case studies illustrate the benefits that organisations can achieve through the effective implementation of electronic commerce technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and the Internet. It is also shown how in many instances electronic commerce is radically changing the way in which organisations have traditionally traded.