This thesis seeks to explore how management can work together to adopt an Inter-organisational Information System (IOIS) for Supply Chain Management (SCM) at different levels of collaboration sophistication. 20 common issues associated with collaboration and adoption of IOIS for SCM, were identified from the current literature. Two theoretical frameworks were developed. First, an IOIS for SCM Adoption Framework was constructed to understand the IOIS for SCM adoption process. Secondly, an Inter-organisational Collaboration Framework was constructed and used as a lens to examine and understand the process of inter-organisational collaboration. Five underlying theories, namely agency, needs and motivation, resource dependency, cultural and negotiated order, were drawn on to develop an understanding of collaboration in this latter framework. The study of collaboration for IOIS adoption is exploratory. Eight organisations were approached from three industries and sixteen interviews were carried out with managers who are involved in the supply chain activities. Data was primarily collected using an interview instrument based on literature, and documentary and archival evidence. Interviews were transcribed and cross-case analysis was conducted on the data. Three of the four levels of collaboration sophistication were supported. At the highest level of collaboration, namely cooperation sophistication, the organisations that were studied have growth motivations, same interests and common business objectives, and prepare to develop strategy and finance projects while reengineering their business processes and redesigning their supply chains collectively. Collaboration is not limited to one dimension but multi-dimensional. An organisation collaborates with its partners in one project but that at the same time, they may not want to collaborate on a different project due to differences in business objectives. When there is a disagreement between parties, negotiation is an important process to help resolve their differences. The process of collaboration was summarised into three perspectives: industry, intra-organisational and inter-organisational. These perspectives can assist practitioners who need to understand how to address the process of collaboration in the adoption of IOISs for SCM with their partners.

This thesis seeks to explore how management can work together to adopt an Inter-organisational Information System (IOIS) for Supply Chain Management (SCM) at different levels of collaboration sophistication. 20 common issues associated with collaboration and adoption of IOIS for SCM, were identified from the current literature. Two theoretical frameworks were developed. First, an IOIS for SCM Adoption Framework was constructed to understand the IOIS for SCM adoption process. Secondly, an Inter-organisational Collaboration Framework was constructed and used as a lens to examine and understand the process of inter-organisational collaboration. Five underlying theories, namely agency, needs and motivation, resource dependency, cultural and negotiated order, were drawn on to develop an understanding of collaboration in this latter framework. The study of collaboration for IOIS adoption is exploratory. Eight organisations were approached from three industries and sixteen interviews were carried out with managers who are involved in the supply chain activities. Data was primarily collected using an interview instrument based on literature, and documentary and archival evidence. Interviews were transcribed and cross-case analysis was conducted on the data. Three of the four levels of collaboration sophistication were supported. At the highest level of collaboration, namely cooperation sophistication, the organisations that were studied have growth motivations, same interests and common business objectives, and prepare to develop strategy and finance projects while reengineering their business processes and redesigning their supply chains collectively. Collaboration is not limited to one dimension but multi-dimensional. An organisation collaborates with its partners in one project but that at the same time, they may not want to collaborate on a different project due to differences in business objectives. When there is a disagreement between parties, negotiation is an important process to help resolve their differences. The process of collaboration was summarised into three perspectives: industry, intra-organisational and inter-organisational. These perspectives can assist practitioners who need to understand how to address the process of collaboration in the adoption of IOISs for SCM with their partners.

Two trends are currently driving the need for supply chain firms to form closely integrated relationships: collaboration and digitisation. One of the ways to achieve digitisation of supply chain operations is to implement Inter-Organisational Information Systems (IOIS) with selected supply chain partners for a much more efficient, streamlined and orchestrated supply chain operations. Whilst IOIS can be implemented to support various cross-functional business processes (ranging from operational information exchange to pursuing strategic initiatives such as sharing ideas, identifying new market opportunities, and pursing a continuous improvement approach), in the context of this thesis, the purpose of IOIS implementation is to facilitate the inter-firm procurement-related operations with downstream supply chain firms. The study undertaken in this research project was initiated in response to an industry requirement to investigate the implementation of IOIS against a backdrop of improved Supply Chain Management and integration practices by large contractor organisations. A case study research strategy was adopted to investigate the IOIS project related, IOIS (system) related issues encountered in ex-ante and ex-post implementation stages of the IOIS. The study concludes that it is the non-technical factors that are critical to the successful delivery of IOIS projects and provides a guideline on IOIS implementation by large contractor organisations. The findings of this research project have been published in a number of peer-reviewed papers.

Abstract A trivial information system consists of three components: a user, a container for the information and a tool to manage the information. The focus of this research is more complicated with several users and organisations, with several databases in those organisations and with an inter-organisational information system. In inter-organisational information systems information flows across boundaries and the boundaries as well as information itself must be carefully taken into account. This research takes seriously the users who represent different professions and who were more or less involved in the information system implementations. In a distributed project, also the container is under special attention. That is discussed in the dissertation, as well. The approach in the research is mainly interpretative and subjective. The empirical material comes from several cases but three of them acted as a background for the main case that was conducted in an academic environment. The case appeared to be versatile due to its many stakeholders and it offered several topics to be explored. The goal of the research was introduced in a meeting to the attendees: "The aim of the thesis is to describe how a joint information system of different universities was finally implemented or why it wasn't." This introduction predicted challenges that were to be overcome during the subsequent years. In addition to the versatile case, also the information system implementation offered fruitful viewpoints for the research. Inter-organisational information system projects are described in literature to some extent. This case contributes the research with the many organisations and users that were involved in the development project. Furthermore, the information system was planned to be built on ready-made specifications and it increased the challenges to succeed. This led to the lesson that a new model to be used in information system developments is needed because existing models do not support this kind of development process. The research supports the concept that action research and design science complement each other especially in development projects when the output is an information system that has been implemented in collaboration with several users and stakeholders. The results of this thesis emphasise the need to manage potential competition between participating organisations, lack of interaction between parties and security and user authentication. Proper project management is needed with active and confidential terms between all project members. In addition, flexible working routines are found workable.

Yes / Background: The efficacy of medicines depends on their accessibility and availability. Dedicated medicine shortage reporting systems (MSRS) have been set up in different countries, either mandatory or voluntary, following the recommendations of the World Health Organisation to ensure these. Objectives: To explore how the Medicine Shortages Reporting System (MSRS) can tackle medicine shortages through improved access and sustainability. Methods: Personnel directly involved in the reporting mechanisms for medicine shortages in eight (8) countries participated in semi-structured interviews. An interview protocol based on the Dynamic Capabilities View and Organisational Information Processing Theory (OIPT) was developed. It contained questions related to participant's views on the process involved in MSRS and how it was used to tackle shortages. Data were thematically analysed. Results: Three core elements were identified to influence MSRS's ability to tackle shortages and ensure sustainability; (1) the ability to identify what information requirements the reporting system needs, (2) identify information processing capabilities, and (3) the ability to match requirements and information processing capabilities through a dynamic capability decision-making process. The dynamic decision-making process involves reiteratively sensing shortages by understanding and validating information received. Conclusion: Building MSRS to tackle shortages for accessibility and sustainability is a systemic process that entails understanding the various elements and processes of MSRS. It includes defining medicine shortages, reconfiguring resources, defining accessibility and ensuring the system's sustainability. Our study provides insights into MSRS developed for mitigating medicine shortages and provides a framework for a sustainable MSRS. The findings extend the literature on medicine shortage management by identifying the various elements required to set up an MSRS. It also provides practical implications for countries that seek to establish MSRS to mitigate medicine shortages. Further studies could extend the number of participating countries to provide a clearer picture of the MSRS and how it can reduce medicine shortages. / This research is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Research Collaboration (NIHR Yorkshire and Humber PSRC). Grant number - NIHR204293.

Thesis (MScEng (Industrial Engineering))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This thesis reports on a research project conducted at Stellenbosch University, focusing on the field of information management, and contributing to the development of an approach for structuring information in such a manner that context becomes apparent, which on its part assists persons (and groups of persons) in selecting useful information from a larger whole, given a certain context. This document is composed of three general sections. The first section is a literature study focusing on the following topics: (1) Information overload: The amount of information in the world, as well as its rate of generation is discussed, together with the notion of information overload, its causes, symptoms and possible solutions. (2) Information utilisation in organisations: General concepts concerning the utilisation of information in organisations are discussed, together with the manners in which organisations fail in efficiently utilising information, but also some examples where organisations have succeeded. (3) Information modelling: Various well-known information modelling approaches currently employed to improve information utilisation are discussed and compared. It is however mentioned that none of these approaches are sufficiently general, flexible and simple enough to assist typical organisational knowledge workers in efficiently interacting with information. The second section of this thesis focuses on the conceptual framework information modelling approach currently being investigated at Stellenbosch University as a means for improving the information utilisation efficiency of organisational knowledge workers. The basic concepts of the approach are discussed, and it is compared with the more well-known information modelling approaches mentioned in the literature study. The research being conducted on the approach is further briefly discussed, which includes the purpose of this thesis (which is the development of a methodology for conceptual framework implementation in organisations), the research method followed, and the thesis hypothesis, which is: Information represented by a conceptual framework implemented through the use of the developed conceptual framework implementation methodology, offer a truthful view on information found in an organisation. The methodology developed is subsequently discussed in terms of its phases and activities, each of which is discussed in terms of its description, the rationale behind and prerequisites of its execution, details of the manner of its execution, and the eventual outputs thereof. The final section of this thesis provides information on the validation of the conceptual framework implementation methodology described in the previous section, which were done in two parts. A theoretical validation was done through a comparison of the developed methodology with existing methodologies for the implementation of other information modelling approaches. A practical validation was also done through two case studies by which conceptual frameworks were implemented at two separate organisations. The document is finally concluded through a summary of the contents of this thesis, the outcome of the hypothesis test, and some closing remarks.

Abstract This interpretative grounded theory study describes and analyses the actual lived experiences of project members who worked in a three year long inter-organisational information system (IOIS) project. The IOIS project was a Nordic project which spanned four user organisations (Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta), two suppliers (Eta and Zeta), two national organisations (Lambda and Kappa), a research organisation (Epsilon) and a Ministry who funded the project. The project was carried out between 2004 and 2006. The data was elicited by means of in-depth interviews (narrative stories), observations of project meetings, diaries, project memoranda and emails sent by project members to each other during these years. Other secondary data (the data from previous projects) was also analysed. Feelings and emotions as a research object are acknowledged to be a very demanding research area. The terms ‘feelings’ and ‘emotions’ are partly used interchangeably in this study, though these concepts are also partly distinguished in this study: feeling is what is felt, and emotion is what is shown; feeling is classified as a subjective experience whereas emotion involves emotional performance where social conventions have a significant role. The Glaserian grounded theory method was used as the technique for theory building. Three core categories were identified: Governance, Power and Emotions. There were also relationships between categories: Governance contributed to issues related to Power which in turn impacted on Emotions and vice versa. The categories not only defined the nature of the core theme but also formed a connection between themselves. The emergent category Emotions demonstrates that emotions influence structure and that emotions are intimately linked to social structures of power, and shows that ‘inequality’ is an essential part of that theme. This study shows that emotions have a remarkable role in the work of an IOIS, and that they have an affect on decisions. The study also finds that feelings and emotions are the basis of action (Power), and that emotions easily trump the intellect. At a higher level of abstraction, the scaling up process produced one core theme: Emotions of Control, and this study builds a substantive theory of Emotions of Control. / Tiivistelmä Tämä tulkitseva grounded teoria tutkimus kuvaa ja analysoi kolmivuotisen, organisaatioiden välisen tietojärjestelmäprojektin jäsenten kokemuksia tietojärjestelmäprojektista. Organisaatioiden välinen tietojärjestelmäprojekti oli Pohjoismainen hanke, joka koostui neljästä käyttäjäorganisaatiosta (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta), kahdesta toimittajasta (Eta, Zeta), kahdesta kansallisesta organisaatiosta (Lambda, Kappa), tutkimusorganisaatiosta (Epsilon) ja ministeriöstä, joka rahoitti projektin. Projekti toteutui vuosina 2004 – 2006. Aineisto saatiin syvähaastatteluiden (narratiiviset tarinat), projektitapaamisten havainnoimisen, päiväkirjojen, projektimuistioiden ja projektijäsenten toisille lähettämien sähköpostien avulla. Toissijaista aineistoa (aineistoa edellisistä projekteista) analysoitiin myös. Tunnetilat ja emootiot tutkimuskohteena on tunnistettu hyvin vaativaksi tutkimusalueeksi. Englanninkielisiä termejä ’feelings’ ja ’emotions’ on osittain käytetty keskenään vaihtokelpoisina käsitteinä ja osittain toisistaan erotettuina tässä tutkimuksessa. Termi ’feeling’ kuvaa enemmän, mitä tunnetaan, ja termi ’emotion’ puolestaan, mitä näytetään. Termi ’feeling’ on täten enemmän henkilökohtainen kokemus, kun termi ’emotion’ käsittää enemmän tunteiden näyttämistä. Sosiaalisilla sopimuksilla on merkittävä rooli tunteiden näyttämisessä. Glaserilainen grounded teoria menetelmää hyödynnettiin teorian muodostuksen menetelmänä. Tutkimuksessa identifioitiin kolme pääkategoriaa: hallinto, valta ja tunteet. Kategorioiden välillä ilmeni suhteita: hallinto vaikutti valtaan, valta vuorostaan vaikutti tunteisiin ja päinvastoin. Kategoriat eivät ainoastaan määrittäneet ydinteeman luonnetta, vaan muodostivat yhteyden keskenään. Tunnekategoria osoittaa, että tunteet vaikuttivat projektin rakenteeseen, ja että tunteet ovat läheisesti yhteydessä myös vallan sosiaalisiin rakenteisiin. Tutkimus osoittaa, että tunteilla on merkittävä rooli organisaatioiden välisen tietojärjestelmäprojektin työskentelyssä, ja että tunteet vaikuttavat päätöksenteossa. Tutkimus osoittaa myös, että tunteet ovat toiminnan perustana, ja että tunteet vievät helposti voiton järjeltä. Korkeamman tason käsitteellistäminen tuotti yhden pääteeman, kontrollin tunteet, ja tämä tutkimus rakentaa teemasta substantiivisen teorian.