Key obstacles to EDI success: from the US small manufacturing companies’ perspective

This study first empirically investigated key EDI obstacles experienced by US small manufacturing firms and, then, examined the relationships between the identified obstacles and their realized EDI benefits. This research revealed the following important findings. First, four dimensions of obstacles were derived: lack of managerial leadership/organizational readiness, lack of integration of EDI with internal/external computer systems, potential technical concerns, and security/legal concerns. Second, the lack of integration of EDI with internal/external computer systems turned out to be the most significant barrier to achieving the overall EDI success and three key EDI benefits, such as reduced administrative/transaction costs, improved information accuracy, and enhanced competitiveness in the marketplace. Third, the “lack of managerial leadership/organizational readiness” and “technical concerns” dimensions were found to be the second and third most significant obstacles to the reduction of administrative/transaction costs, respectively. Finally, the security/legal concerns dimension is considered a significant barrier to the overall EDI success.