Footwear is regarded as a relatively unimportant area in the NHS; it does not get
much attention or budgets to invest. Most of the suppliers are small firms, do not have
the resources and have low margins due to driven-down service fees. There are many
suppliers, making the organisation of joint initiatives difficult. Most suppliers adopted
a wait and see approach: they wanted to trade with the NHS and not pro-actively go
ahead and adopt an incompatible e-technology. On the other hand, trusts’ motivation to
invest was low through the uncertain demand (client specificity), and the threat of
direct selling of suppliers to end-customers. Hence, they too adopted a wait and see
approach, waiting for suppliers to be ready.