Conclusions and suggestions for further research
The emerging literature dealing with EDI benefits and barriers among logistics
constituencies has generally reported the perspectives of service providers,
such as transportation companies. The present paper adds to the existing
literature by comparing international freight forwarders (service providers)
and customers of international freight forwarders with respect to the benefits
of, and barriers to, EDI usage by forwarders.
The study results present an intriguing paradox: mean score comparisons of
the relevant data suggest differences between the IFFs and IFF customers with
respect to the benefits of, and barriers to, EDI. On the other hand, comparisons
of the within-group rankings suggest a high degree of similarity between the
two groups. One possible explanation for this high degree of similarity is the
present study investigated only ten possible EDI benefits and eight possible
EDI barriers. If a greater number of benefits and barriers had been included
(note in Table I that as many as 12 benefits, and 30 barriers, have been
investigated in previous EDI studies), the within-group ranking comparisons
might have revealed differences, rather than similarities, between IFFs and IFF
customers.
This dichotomy between mean score comparisons and within-group
rankings is similar to findings (Murphy et al., 1997) in the carrier selection
literature. At a minimum, such a dichotomy highlights the necessity of utilizing
multiple measures when evaluating the similarities and/or differences between
logistics providers and logistics customers. As pointed out earlier, multiple
measures should allow for a fuller understanding of the relevant data.
Without question, much remains to be learned about the benefits and
barriers to EDI. And, while comparative studies involving service providers
and service users are best done using matched pairs samples, the difficulty in
constructing such samples should not be underestimated, particularly in the
transportation and logistics arena. Other industries, such as the retail or
pharmaceutical industries, may be more hospitable to matched pair research.