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Electronic Supply Chain Management Tools in International Business: Evidence from Austrian Food Clusters

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Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the electronic supply chain management tools in international business. The study investigates Austrian food clusters and discusses how business strategy can use e-business to support the development of new markets. The research comprised three case studies demonstrating examples of Austrian small and medium sized companies (SMEs) in the food and beverage industry already deploying e-business solutions in order to foster sales. In this context, risks and benefits of e-business tools as well as the potential advantages of a food cluster membership have been extracted. The findings of this research show agreement with the literature review in terms of the limited use of advanced e-business tools to sell food produce, risks and obstacles perceived by the companies in the area of food safety, legal requirements, available know-how and costs of implementation. However, the findings also demonstrate potential benefits of e-business tools SMEs could leverage in order to foster the creation of virtual alliances and to increase export sales to new and/or niche foreign markets. We provide recommendations which can be of use to SMEs in the food and beverage industry, the food clusters or other dedicated co-operations in Austria, the government and industry associations to direct their efforts towards a more advanced e-business strategy in this industry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Ilias P. Vlachos & Dimitra Skoumpopoulou

  2. Business Unit Controller at Mayr-Melnhof Packaging International, Wien, Austria

    Sandra Gutnik

Authors
  1. Ilias P. Vlachos
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  2. Dimitra Skoumpopoulou
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  3. Sandra Gutnik
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Correspondence to Dimitra Skoumpopoulou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom

    Ewelina Lacka

  2. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom

    Hing Kai Chan

  3. Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom

    Nick Yip

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P. Vlachos, I., Skoumpopoulou, D., Gutnik, S. (2014). Electronic Supply Chain Management Tools in International Business: Evidence from Austrian Food Clusters. In: Lacka, E., Chan, H., Yip, N. (eds) E-commerce Platform Acceptance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06121-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06121-4_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-06120-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06121-4

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