Managing E-Relationships in a Supply Network

Abstract

This chapter investigates the dynamics of the formation and transformation of electronic supply relationships (e-supply relationships) in the Chinese cultural, technological, and industrial network context. It focuses on a newly formed large Chinese telecom company. The aim is to provide better insights into inter-organisational relationships (IORs) enabled by the application of newer types of Internet technology in different contexts, and to develop a new conceptual framework of e-supply relationships. In this research, the conceptualisation of the transformation process of e-supply relationships represents circuits of interactions between managerial actions and social structures, as well as the particular cultural and technological context within which the interactions take place.