Title: Strategic alliances in e-government procurement

Authors: Nanda Kumar, Qian Peng

Addresses: Zicklin School of Business, Computer Information Systems Department, Baruch College, City University of New York, 55 Lexington Avenue, Box B11-220, New York, NY 10010, USA. ' Merrill Lynch & Co., Four, World Financial Center, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10080, USA

Abstract: Electronic procurement is a critical component of the government|s supply chain initiatives. It provides an innovative solution in dealing with the inefficient public procurement that has received a lot of criticism and negative perception. Though e-procurement by government results in benefits such as increased efficiency, it faces great challenges in terms of managing the relationships with online vendors and application service providers. Strategic alliances models in private businesses can help illuminate possible solutions in managing these relationships in the e-government context. This paper investigates the types of strategic alliances that can be formed between government agencies and suppliers as well as the motivations behind the formation of such strategic alliances. This work also draws on previous literature in management and e-business to propose a set of critical success factors necessary for the success of these strategic alliances in the context of e-government procurement. This paper also outlines a mini case study set in the United States and suggests further directions for empirically validating the central arguments developed in the paper.

Keywords: e-government; procurement; strategic alliances; e-business; government agencies; government suppliers; e-procurement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2006.009786

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2006 Vol.4 No.2, pp.136 - 145

Published online: 11 May 2006 *

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