The implementation of an E-reverse auction system in an italian health care organization1
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-06-01-02-2006-B003 |
| Pages | 46-69 |
| Author | Lelio Raffa,Gianluca Esposito |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 6, ISSUES 1 & 3, 46-69 2006
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN E-REVERSE AUCTION
SYSTEM IN AN ITALIAN HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATION1
Lelio Raffa and Gianluca Esposito*
ABSTRACT. E-Procurement (EP) can be defined as using the Internet in the
purchasing process (de Boer, Harink & Heijboer, 2002). This paper focuses on
the EP implementation process. Such process is defined as the way new
technologies are absorbed by organizations and become part of their routines
(Capaldo, Raffa & Zollo, 1994; Leonard-Barton, 1988; Leonard & Spring,
2002). This paper illustrates the preliminary results of an explorative study
focused on the implementation process of an e-procurement system in the
Italian-public-health-care system. Drawing on the ICT implementation process
literature, this research aims at contributing to the identification of a set of
conditions under which different EP forms appear appropriate in different
purchasing and organizational settings (Min & Galle, 1999; Emiliani, 2000).
INTRODUCTION
Today, organizations find themselves facing rapid series of market
shifts, new technological innovations, and changes in government
policies (Eisenhardt & Brown, 1999). The mirror image of such
phenomena is an increasingly turbulent environment that firms have to
deal with (Haeckel & Nolan, 1993; Bradley & Nolan, 1998). As a
consequence, successful organizations are those that have learned how to
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* Lelio Raffa is a Ph.D. Student, e-Business Management School, University of
Lecce, Italy. His research interests are mainly the implementation of technology
in private and public organizations, the information systems use in the
procurement process and the aircraft industry. Gianluca Esposito, Ph.D., is a
visiting professor of Organization, Department of Business and Managerial
Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Italy. His research interests are
focused on the implementation processes of Information and Communication
Technologies
Copyright © 2006 by PrAcademics Press
IMPLEMENTATION OF AN E-REVERSE AUCTION SYSTEM 47
be innovative and creative without resorting to the level of discipline that
is instrumental in effectively executing plans. In order to do so, it is
necessary to modify firms’ organizational designs, taking advantage of
information and communication technologies (ICT). ICT is a critical
enabler of the redefinition of each organization. It lays the ground for the
redistribution of power, functions, and control wherever they are most
effective, given the mission and objectives of the organization and the
culture it enjoys (Morton, 1991). This is true for private companies as
well as for state-run firms. As regard to the latter category, over the past
decade such firms have experienced a radical change in the environment
they operate in. On the one hand, major cuts in government-budgets have
reduced financial resources that state-run companies can rely on. On the
other, it has been considered increasingly important to provide citizens
with high-quality services. In order to deal with such challenges,
governments have tried to benefit from the exploitation of ICT solutions.
In doing so, they have started implementing e-government policies (Lenk
& Traunmuller, 2000; Sprecher, 2000; Devadoss, Pan & Huang, 2002).
This paper analyses a particular aspect of e-government. It focuses
on e-procurement (EP) in the Italian health care system. More
specifically, this is the first step of an explorative study aimed at
analysing the implementation process of EP systems in the public sector.
The starting points of this research are both a theoretical framework and
a descriptive scheme that refer to the implementation process of ICT
technologies. Both are utilized in order to analyse an e-reverse auction
system implemented by a public-health-care institution – the Rizzoli
Orthopaedic Institute – based in Bologna (Italy). The bottom line is to
verify if the key features of the ICT implementation process may help
identify which EP form appear appropriate to a specific purchasing and
organizational setting.
The paper will provide an overview of the EP literature. Besides EP
definitions, the overview illustrates EP tools and different approaches
adopted in order to analyse e-procurement. It will explore the changes in
the Italian public sector. These changes laid the foundation for e-
procurement systems to be adopted and implemented by public firms.
Then, the key characteristics of the implementation process of ICT will
be illustrated; methodological aspects are taken into account; and both
the results of the field analysis and the findings of this research will be
presented.
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