Harnessing Interagency Collaboration in Inter-Organizational Systems Development: Lessons Learned from an E-government Project for Trade and Transport Facilitation

2. Toward A Cross-Border Internet-Based System For Supporting Trade And Transport Facilitation

International supply chain encompasses activities related to the ordering and physical transfer of goods, and the payment for these goods (UNECE, 2001). It involves a large number of stakeholders including customers, suppliers of goods from various industries, intermediaries whom are known as commercial, financial, transport or insurance service providers, and a number of government agencies from at least two trading economies (UNECE, 2001). Recognizing that information integration and sharing is a key element to improve international supply chain’s efficiency and effectiveness, many governments have adopted the distributed architectural concept of an Internet-based “Single Window” (APEC Sub-Committee on Customs Procedure, 2007; ASEAN, 2005; UNECE, 2004; WCO, 2005).