| Research Abstract |
This study is an examination of an effective business-to-business (BtoB) strategy based on Electronic Data Interchange for wholesalers. The focus is on two BtoB phenomena: adoption and diffusion. Analysis of 209 U.S. samples gathered in 1999 and 609 samples gathered in Japan in 2001 indicates the following:
(1) BtoB adoption: 7 factors of competitive pressures on the supplier side and on the customer side were extracted from the M.E. Porter's five forces model. Apart from these factors, both suppliers and customers can force wholesalers to adopt BtoB systems. This pressure derived from BtoB adoption can be a different type. We analyzed the interrelationships among all factors and found that, in both countries, the pressure of BtoB adoption was independent of the other 7 pressures, though the strength of some pressures differed from one country to the other.
(2) BtoB diffusion: Covariance structure analysis was conducted, and we found that BtoB strategy between the U.S. and Japan was different." U.S. wholesalers tend to expand BtoB to the customer side, whereas Japanese wholesalers try to deepen the relationships to the supplier side. Japanese supplier-focused strategy is suitable, because establishing trustworthy supply chain in place of "Keiretsu" is especially important to sustain competitive advantage in Japan.
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