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This paper examines the implications of electronic business‐to‐business intermediaries for the buyer‐supplier interface. Innovations in electronic commerce have a key role to play in managing inter‐organisational networks of supply chain members. The evidence presented in this paper illustrates that the Internet represents a powerful technology for commerce and communication at the buyer‐supplier interface. An overview is provided of the evolution of electronic commerce at the buyer‐supplier interface and the typical business models that have been developed. A theoretical framework is proposed, based on the inter‐organisational relationships paradigm. A number of case studies are presented which examine the role of electronic intermediaries at the buyer‐supplier interface. It is shown how the inter‐organisational relationships paradigm is an effective means of evaluating the buyer‐supplier interface in an electronic B2B environment. The application of the framework is discussed in relation to the three case studies and the implications for practitioners are highlighted.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that incorporates both firm- and process-level factors for understanding location distance choice in the business process outsourcing (BPO) decision.


Design/methodology/approach
The research involved undertaking in-depth case study analysis of a number of BPO decisions in six German companies, and employing transaction cost economics (TCE) and the resource-based view (RBV) as a theoretical basis.


Findings
The findings have shown that existing literature in the operations management (OM) literature does not provide a complete understanding of the complexities of location distance choice in the BPO decision. This decision requires an understanding of a range of factors at both the firm- and process-level. The findings here enhance the understanding of how these factors interact to influence the potential distance options.


Practical implications
The findings have shown how organisations can influence the factors that affect the location distance choice including modularising business processes, developing outsourcing capabilities, and supplementing internal skills in areas such as cultural management and performance monitoring.


Originality/value
This is one of the first studies in the OM field to analyse how organisations make the decision in relation to local, nearshore, and offshore location distance options. The paper has highlighted the importance of OM concepts such as performance management and continuous improvement to this phenomenon, and the paper has offered a number of important areas for further research.

The phenomenon of the Internet has forced businesses and organisations to examine their existing business practices and adopt new methods of working, both for existing and potential customers. This paper presents an analysis of a pilot study of 24 SMEs, which seeks to elicit the various determinants of employing ICTs and the level of sophistication of use. The paper analyses the approach used to facilitate the introduction and implementation of new technologies, with a view to achieving integration with business processes. The discussion, based on the initial findings, examines the circumstances for ICT success and strategic effects resulting from implementation and use of such technologies. A conceptual model provides a framework for determining the level of sophistication of SMEs in their exploitation of ICTs. The findings highlight that characteristics of the firm and industry sector are contributory factors to the extent of adoption and exploitation of ICTs by SMEs, to support business processes.

Abstract
This paper examines the impact of Internet technologies on value creation in the airline industry and focuses on the Internet strategies of two European low‐cost and two traditional operators.
Four notable value drivers in the aviation context are identified, namely efficiency, complementarities, lock‐in and novelty.
The Internet represents a powerful technology for commerce and communication between airlines and consumers and the paper highlights the implications for corporate strategists as customer expectations increase over time and the boundaries of the airline industry become increasingly blurred.
SummaryThis paper examines how Internet technologies are impacting upon airline companies at the customer interface. The analysis focuses on a number of airline companies that have been exploiting Internet technologies. It is shown how airline operators are using the Internet to provide innovative exchange mechanisms and transaction structures with customers. The adoption of the Internet is increasing the expectations of customers as to what and how these organizations offer products and services. In fact, the Internet has become central to the strategic development of the airline companies analysed. The scope and boundaries of the airline industry have become less clear as a result of the adoption of Internet technologies at the customer interface. The offering of a range of products and services is creating industry convergence that has significant implications for the formulation of corporate strategy. Exploitation of the Internet at the customer interface has become a key catalyst in the transformation of the airline industry. Further exploitation of the Internet will lead to higher levels of sophistication that in turn will increase the expectations of the customer on what and how these organizations offer products and services. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The objective of this paper is to show how Internet technologies have the potential to facilitate the achievement of transparency within public sector organisations. This change will also have a major impact on the way in which public sector organisations interact with their environment and in particular with users of their products and services. The connectivity that automatically results from Internet technologies can exert a very powerful influence in encouraging a free flow of ideas around the organisation, permitting individuals and organisational units to converge and inter‐connect. It is shown how the "open" systems nature of Internet technologies can facilitate greater co‐operation and communication across organisation units both internally and externally. There are significant benefits to be accrued from employing Internet technologies at the interfaces between the public sector organisation and other agencies and suppliers. At the citizen interface, it is shown how a number of public sector organisations have adopted Internet technologies, which in turn has allowed them to be more responsive to the needs of citizens. In the future, the expectations of the individual will continue to rise with increasing demands for online accessibility to organisations. Although there are considerable barriers to the full implementation of Internet technologies, the connectivity of the Internet presents public sector organisations with an immense opportunity to enhance the way in which they fulfil the needs of users of their products and services. Public sector organisations that do not embrace the technology will continue to have major problems achieving efficiencies and delivering the value demanded by citizens, particularly in the light of shrinking public sector budgets.

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.

Several formal methodologies are proposed for evaluating prospective suppliers. Three popular methods for supplier performance evaluation appear in the literature: categorical, weighted point and cost ratio. However, these techniques have a number of disadvantages associated with them and an alternative approach is suggested which applies dimensional analysis to selecting prospective suppliers. An international purchasing office (IPO), located in Hong Kong, has been applying the dimensional analysis approach to evaluating suppliers based in Hong Kong and China. Using the IPO as a case study, the article discusses the benefits of this approach over the traditional assessment methods and how it can be used to measure not only supplier performance, but also the contribution to the purchasing relationship from the buyer organisation.

Attempts to show that environmental issues are becoming increasingly important as an attribute of the quality of goods and services. However, although firms appreciate the importance of good environmental practices there is a lack of awareness of how this can best be achieved, particularly in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Suggests that one way to enhance understanding among SMEs is to consider environmental responsibility as part of the quality attributes which customers may expect from suppliers. Presents a quality profiling approach which is based on customers' perceptions, which should assist an SME to: establish the importance of environmental factors with respect to other attributes in the purchasing decision; and evaluate the organization's performance on key product/service attributes relative to its main rivals. Discusses the role of governments and other bodies in relation to encouraging a proactive environmental approach among SMEs.

Background: Mental health professionals are at greater risk than the general population of being stalked, particularly by patients.Aims: To assess the prevalence of stalking behaviour by patients towards psychiatrists and ascertain patient characteristics.Method: Semi-structured questionnaire to all psychiatrists ( n = 324) working in a large mental health organization.Results: The response rate was 61% ( n = 198). Forty-one doctors (21%) reported having been stalked by patients, the majority being consultants ( n = 31; 76%). No sub-speciality was over-represented. Most stalkers ( n = 24; 59%) were male with a diagnosis of personality disorder (39%) or major mental illness (34%). Duration of stalking ranged from several weeks to 16 years, and most commonly occurred at work. On average, victims experienced two types of inappropriate contact. Physical threats were made against 14 psychiatrists (34%).Conclusions: Stalking by patients towards psychiatrists is common and represents an important occupational risk. Formal training programmes and policy development within healthcare organizations may help manage risk.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the influence of political goals and behaviour on the outsourcing decision process and outcomes.Design/methodology/approach– The research used an exploratory longitudinal case-based approach. Eight outsourcing projects in three telecommunications companies were analysed from the initial decision to the outcome of the case.Findings– The authors show how political goals and behaviours influence the outsourcing decision process and inductively develop four political goals: personal reputation, attainment, elimination and control. The authors also identify three dynamic outsourcing paths: the personal reputation path, which leads to successful outcomes; the short-term attain and eliminate path leading to unsuccessful outcomes; and the destabilised path, which leads to mixed outcomes. All of these can be tested in other empirical settings.Research limitations/implications– The implications for outsourcing literature are that political intentions influence the decision process and outcomes. For theorists, the authors provide an understanding of how political and rational goals and behaviour interact to impact outsourcing outcomes: with political and rational goals and behaviour complementary in some instances. The limitations are that with a small sample the findings are generalisable to theoretical propositions rather than to a population.Practical implications– The implications for managers are the ability to identify and manage political goals that influence outsourcing decision process and outcomes.Originality/value– For the first time, the authors uncover the political goals that impact the outsourcing decision process and outcomes. The authors add to the outsourcing literature, transaction cost theory and resource-based theory by defining and understanding the political goals that complement these theories.

Mental health professionals often move across services in the National Health Service (NHS) as a result of organizational change. However, little is known about the impact this has on people who are in receipt of psychiatric services (service users). We conducted an exploratory qualitative study into the experiences of service users under a community mental health team following a service restructure. Nine service users took part in face-to-face interviews, which were subsequently analysed following the principles of Grounded Theory. We found that service users were affected by their consultant leaving in a variety of ways, ranging from grief reactions to improved self-efficacy. We concluded that service users can be significantly affected by their consultant leaving, and this should be taken into account when planning restructures of mental health services.