Stefan Schellhammer

Developing IOIS as Collective Action: A Cross-Country Comparison in the Health Care Sector

The role of standards in inter-organizational infor-mation systems has been widely acknowledged. In particular in the health sector there is a growing gap between the need for standard-based national and international information infrastructures and the ability of the business partners for collective initiatives. This paper provides a theory-led comparative analysis of the development of electronic ordering systems for pharmaceutical supply chains in Ireland and Australia. The analysis focuses on the underlying set of standards consisting of product numbering standards as well as communication protocols. While in Australia proprietary e-ordering standards persevere, an industry-wide standardization effort succeeded in Ireland. The paper reconstructs contingencies and stra-tegic choices of key actors who were involved in the development of e-ordering solutions.

Medication Infrastructure Development in Germany

The electronic health card has become a synonym for the digital transformation of the German healthcare system. It envisions nothing less than a nationwide infrastructure for a growing number of applications that would replace existing communication processes by secure, digital pathways. Yet, despite governmental backing and funding, first applications have yet to materialize.

Emergence of information infrastructures: a tale of two islands

The healthcare sector is regarded as a potential benefactor of information infrastructures (II), because of its information intensity. Public and private initiatives push towards integrating heterogeneous information and communication systems. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the emergence of II by tracing the evolution of a set of standards. The pharmaceutical distribution industry in the Republic of Ireland and in Australia provides the empirical background for this paper. The successful standardisation in one case and the continuation of proprietary wholesaler systems combined with different mechanisms to provide interoperability in the other serve as starting points for our analysis. By applying standardisation theory we seek to explain the outcomes in each of the cases and propose several extensions to the theory. At the empirical level, our data show that both solutions are viable options and gateways can become functionally equivalent to standards; thereby shaping emerging II in this sector.

Collaboration in the Digital Age: Diverse, Relevant and Challenging

Collaboration, the organisation of joint efforts among actors to achieve a shared goal, has always been an integral part of human life, given that we are social beings. Modern life however has increased both the necessity for and complexity of collaboration, bringing about complex production and political systems that require highly coordinated efforts for their functioning. The digital age, driven by the advent of network computing, the Internet, and mobile devices has added an entirely new layer of both opportunity and challenges. The ability to communicate, exchange information, and collaborate across space and time has given us new forms of working, new types of (virtual) organisation, and the reconfiguration of markets. This in turn has spurred innovation across different sectors of the economy, enabling never before possible collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries. Yet, all of this comes at a cost. Collaboration online without face-to-face contact is not frictionless; it requires new skills and hidden ‘collaboration work’, above and beyond the ‘actual work’. New, multi-stakeholder, network forms of organising come with new coordination costs, sources of conflict, and the need to renegotiate the fair distribution of value. In this book we take a look at a diverse range of issues of collaboration in the digital age, unpacking both opportunities and challenges. In this introductory chapter, we present results of a study into the global news discourse around ‘collaboration’, before we introduce each chapter of the book in more detail.