The AMMnet case study : integrating internet technologies in the procurement process of a civil construction SME

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2001

Authors

Henriqueta Sampaio Nóvoa (Author) FEUP; João Falcão Cunha (Author) FEUP; António Amador (Author) Other

Journal

Title: International Journal of e-Business Strategy Management

Vol. 3 No. 1

Pages: 55-67

ISSN: 1467-0305

Publisher: Winthrop Publications Limited

Other information

Abstract (EN): Most of the civil construction SMEs do not make use of information technology intensively, restricting its application to diverse scattered programs in traditional management, architecture or engineering areas. Potential for improvements are therefore enormous, in a crucial economic sector. A. M. Mesquita & Filhos SA is a Portuguese civil construction SME that is embedding Internet technologies into its business processes through the AMMnet project. It started by implementing an Intranet, to familiarise employees with the possibilities of the technology, and moved up and out, towards communicating throughout the value chain, by means of an Extranet. This paper focuses on Extranet development, in particular in the automation of the procurement process, and discusses the diverse problems the company is facing with its implementation, in particular normalization and user adaptation. The procurement process affects most of the current ¿islands¿ of automation in the company, and therefore this seems to be an interesting case study. Although the integrated technological platform is now developed and in place, the big challenge for the AMMnet comes from using it to improve the way people do their job. This requires strong management commitment and leadership. Moreover, the emergence in Portugal of two general e﷓marketplaces, dedicated to the construction sector, and the lack of accepted Portuguese, European or international product and process standards in this area, makes AMMnet a temporary solution. This paper argues that, as it happens with other industries, it is still too early to know if general purpose Internet exchanges will be preferred over specific company solutions.

Language: Portuguese

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 13