| dc.description.abstract | Purpose - The paper aims at investigating how inter-organizational relationship in
construction industry changes under the influence of IT; whether the companies
involved will improve and prolong the relationship to develop further into
partnership by using IT or IT is just a tool to facilitate the exchanges between them
on operational level and keeps the relationship as arm-length.
Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative study of 03 largest contractors in
Norway together with their subcontractors and material suppliers. Semi-structured
interviews were adopted to conduct the research
Findings – Different types of digital tools have different effects on the buyersupplier
relationship. The companies are focusing on using BIM as a normal tool
to facilitate the collaboration at the project level, thus BIM may help the parties
involved develop local partnership but the partnership cannot be extended across
the project border. Integrated web portal is an important tool for material suppliers
and customers manage their relationship. The integrated system may promote the
relationship to central partnership.
Research limitations/implications – The paper mainly focus on the dyadic
buyer-supplier relationship between construction companies (main contractors)
and their one subcontractor/ supplier.
Keywords – Information technology, inter-organizational relationship, business
relationships, Industrial marketing, ARA model, partnering, construction industry
Paper type – Master thesis paper | nb_NO |
