Sammendrag
While there is a strong interest to move towards a fully digitalized and integrated Business to
Business (B2B) process, many companies oversee the importance of different aspects that
should work together for a successful implemented B2B process. These aspects include
alignment of the cross-organizational business process, organizational responsibility
assessments, and technological readiness evaluation to reach at a sound digital B2B strategy.
Without such a strategy, the business case for digitalizing B2B is not necessarily positive due
to for example mismatch between strategy, process and technology, unclear responsibilities,
and missing links in the technological infrastructure. Consequently, the investment on
digitalization of a B2B process may not result in expected outcomes with over-budget
implementations. This paper presents a framework for facilitating digital B2B integration,
outlining and elaborating the aspects that should be considered in the digitalization of a supply
chain process and information exchange. A case study from the maritime sector is discussed
to map an ongoing project for the digitalization of a supply chain sourcing process, in the
light of identified aspects. The case study explores the relationship between two suppliers and
one manufacturer. They currently rely on an e-mail driven communication for the sourcing
of products and have an ongoing incentive to further digitalize their relationship trough
integrating an EDI system to their sourcing process. The paper contributes to theory and
practice by proposing a holistic framework for digitalization of the supply chain sourcing
process and providing insights and learnings from a real-life manufacturing company in this
context
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