E-business enabled operational linkages: The role of RosettaNet in integrating the telecommunications supply chain

A major challenge facing contemporary industrial organization lies in effective supply chain integration. Toward this end, developments in e-business technologies and standards have made the creation of operational linkages--the linking of systems, procedures, and routines of buying and selling organizations--increasingly affordable. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of a particular e-business standard, the RosettaNet, in integrating the telecommunications supply chain with an in-depth dyad-level case study. We find that the RosettaNet standard alone is insufficient for creating interorganizational system-to-system integrations that benefit both transacting parties. We present two propositions for further research on e-business enabled operational linkages.