Validity of a Model Based on Transaction Costs in Identifying the Benefits of IOS: The Electronic Data Interchange Case

Company competitiveness often depends on key relationships with other companies and information tech- nologies play a critical role in supporting these relationships. Nevertheless, tools to analyse the impact of technology on businesses are in short supply. This article presents the results of research performed in companies in the mass consumer industry aimed at verifying the validity of a proposed model based on transaction costs, to be used for impact evaluation of inter-organizational systems in companies. The model, which takes into account different kinds of benefits, is applied in an exploratory way to the identification of benefits from using electronic data interchange systems as an e-commerce tool to support business to business relationships. Verification of the proposed model confirms its usefulness for the identification of benefits, mainly for those occurring at the inter-organizative level. This research lies within the scope of the evaluation of results obtained with the introduction of an in- ter-organizational system (IOS) in the business process of companies. We propose a model that considers different types of benefits in terms of the transaction cost theory and, in an exploratory way, verifies the validity and limitations of this model in identifying the benefits obtained from using electronic data interchange (EDI) systems in companies in the consumer goods sector. Empirical verification of the usefulness of the proposed model in a standard technology in use for several years enables us to observe the wide ranging impact of this tech- nology on organizations and so ensure the validity of the test results and the proposed model. The use of EDI is considered in a value added networks setting. The model used to evaluate the impact of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) on companies draws on the conceptual proposal of the theory of transac- tion costs((1,2)) and so especially considers the impact on exchanges taking place within and outside companies. To verify the validity and limitations of the proposed model and its results, the following were considered: • Analysis of whether the cost and benefit components