UNDERSTANDING RESILIENCE AND EVOLUTION OF IOISIN THE AUSTRALIAN PHARMACEUTICAL DISTRIBUTIONINDUSTRY

We analyse an empirical case study of an inter-organizational information system (IOIS) in theAustralian pharmaceutical distribution industry, using a theoretical data coding approach, toprovide a concise grounded account of changes in the material, normative and ideationalstructures within the participating practices over a 25 year period as the IOIS evolved from aproprietary closed system to a quasi-open shared ordering platform. We find evidence that theresilience of the IOIS over this long time period is explained by a layered accumulation of newstructures at the level of individual practices, while the punctuated evolutionary changeaccompanied the appearance of a new practice, historically connected to the incumbent practices.These findings are in substantial agreement with systems evolution mechanisms proposed byPorra (1999). Understanding IOIS evolution will be important for the provision of key enablinginformation infrastructures envisioned in existing and planned ICT-mediated healthcareinitiatives.