Paper info

A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of The Impact Of Information Technology On Managing Relationships

Pete Naude , Peter Turnbull , Robert Salle and Sheena Leek

The paper was published at the 19th IMP-conference in Lugano, Switzerland in 2003.

Since the interaction approach (Hakansson 1982) was developed in the early 1980's, as a framework for the study of business to business relationships there has been a rapid evolution in the use of IT worldwide which has been predicted to dramatically change how business is conducted (Key Note 2000). In this paper we report on a study designed to examine the impact IT is having on business relationships in two different countries, the United Kingdom and France. The results show that the penetration of IT is greater in France than the UK despite greater investment in the UK (www.eto.org.uk 2002). However, generally, British suppliers are more frequent users and believe IT to be more useful than do their French counterparts. Both French and British buyers are beginning to feel the effects of IT impacting their relationships as they feel there is a reduction in the need for visits.