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The purpose of this study is to provide for the research community as well as for the practitioners measures that enable the evaluation, categorization and comparison of vendor managed inventory (VMI) systems.

In this paper, a framework is developed for characterizing the design of VMI systems based on a review of prior research and an empirical investigation of industry‐to‐industry VMI relationships in Sweden.

The proposed framework incorporates the main characteristics of VMI systems and serves as a tool for profiling VMI system designs and for facilitating the comparison and analysis of different VMI system configurations.

The Swedish industrial context in which the framework was tested should be taken into consideration when generalizing upon the findings.

VMI systems come in various shapes and setups, as a result of which the challenges related to their operation and management may differ significantly. This study addresses the issue by providing practitioners with a tool that helps them in the design and management of VMI systems.

While categorizations and measures for the VMI systems exist in prior research, this study contributes by synthesizing the existing measures and testing them in empirical setting. The study contributes particularly to the research on VMI systems but also more broadly to the supply chain management research.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how and for what purposes companies use interfirm information systems (IS) in supply chain management (SCM). Further, the drivers for the different uses of interfirm IS are investigated.

Two a priori constructs – the roles of interfirm IS in SCM and the drivers for interfirm IS use in SCM – are derived from the prior research. The case study approach is applied to analyze empirical data collected from 16 Finnish companies in order to assess the validity of the constructs.

The findings suggest that the proposed three categories – transaction processing, supply chain planning and collaboration, and order tracking and delivery coordination – represent well the different types of interfirm IS uses in SCM. Further, the findings suggest that the drivers behind these different categories of interfirm IS use differ.

The different purposes for which interfirm IS can be used in the management of supply chains are demonstrated. Further, the reasons for adopting interfirm IS for the different purposes are shown to vary and not to be as self‐evident as anticipated in the prior research.

The study addresses the lack of empirical research on how companies actually use IS in managing supply chain activities. It also contributes to the extant knowledge on the factors that drive companies to use IS in specific ways in their SCM efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion on enterprise resource planning (ERP) system adoption by investigating the relationship of enterprise size to the objectives and constraints of ERP adoption.

In the paper, survey data, based on the responses of 44 companies, are analyzed, by dividing the companies into small, medium‐sized, and large enterprises; and comparing these groups, using statistical methods.

The paper finds significant differences exist between small, medium‐sized and large enterprises regarding the objectives and constraints of ERP system adoption. While small enterprises experience more knowledge constraints, large enterprises are challenged by the changes imposed by ERP adoption. Further, large and medium‐sized enterprises are more outward‐oriented in ERP adoption than small enterprises. Business development, as opposed to mere efficiency improvement, while being the most prevalent objective for ERP adoption in all the company groups, is considered especially important by medium‐sized enterprises. Finally, the findings suggest that, instead of considering small and medium‐sized enterprises as one homogeneous group of smaller enterprises, differences between these two groups of companies should be acknowledged in information system adoption.

The paper shows that the Finnish context and the sample size should be taken into consideration when generalizing the findings.

The paper points out the differences in objectives and constraints between companies of different sizes that should be acknowledged in ERP adoption.

Instead of resorting to the customary approach of considering small and medium‐sized enterprises as a homogeneous group of smaller enterprises, this study acknowledges the differences between these two groups of companies.

The paper aims to examine the role of extranet portals – one‐to‐many web‐portals extending a company towards its suppliers or customers – in relation to system‐to‐system (S2S) links in facilitating information exchange between suppliers and buyers.

A case study approach is used to analyze empirical data collected from 16 Finnish companies concerning the use of inter‐organizational information systems in information exchange with supply chain partners.

For the use of extranet portals in relation to S2S links in information exchange between supplier and buyer, two concepts – partner‐extending role and information‐expanding role – emerged from the case studies.

The Finnish context and the research methodology chosen have to be taken into consideration when generalizing on the findings. As for future research, the findings indicate that, when studying the use of technological solutions for information exchange in supply chains, the interplay between the different types of solutions used should be acknowledged instead of studying the solutions separately.

S2S links and extranet portals can be used as complementary solutions in facilitating supply chain co‐operation and the related information exchange. Hence, practitioners should not only acknowledge the fundamental differences between these two types of information systems but also leverage these differences to achieve more synergy in the use of inter‐organizational information systems. Further, a conceptual tool is provided for assessing the use of extranet portals in relation to S2S links with supply chain partners.

The study contributes to the limited prior research on extranet portals and develops concepts that can be utilized both in future research and in practice.