Abstract
In this study we report on the experience of six firms that adopted electronic data interchange (EDI). The firms are from three industrial (manufacturing, health care, and retailing) in two countries (US and Germany) and they include large and medium sized firms. Their EDI implementations span nearly 20 years. We examine their motivation and expectations from adopting EDI and the resulting implementation experiences and realized impacts of adoption. The motivation for EDI adoption was different for each of the six firms. Adoption motivations included cost savings, faster delivery, and improving logistics. Two of the firms were pushed to adopt EDI by customers, while for the others motivation was internal to the firm. Among the six firms, the realized impacts also varied. Impacts included cost savings, higher sales, reduced inventories, faster inbound logistics, and closer relationships with customers.