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Summary:

In the spring of 1996 we shall deliver our post-graduate thesis which will deal with the use of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) within commodity trade (grocery shops and wholesalers) here i Norway.

EDI is:

• "The interchange of standard formatted messages between the computer application systems of trading partners and/or administrations with minimal manual intervention".

EDI (EDIFACT - The UN standard for EDI) can be use within:

• Commerce
• Transport
• Public administration

Use of Electronic Data Interchange can result in big savings for the firms which use this technology. The exchange of documents will be rationalizated, you only have to type data in one time and the exchange will go faster and paper will be saved.

We have studied:

• The use of EDI within commodity trade in Norway.
• Why did the chains, shops and wholesalers begin to use EDI? Why do not all use EDI?
• What affect the use? Do firm size, age, possibilities for gains, competition situation etc. affect the use?
• To what do the firms use EDI? + and - with EDI?

In week 6/1996 we sent about 80 questionaires to chains (Aka, Rimi, ICA, Livi etc.) and wholesalers (Norges Gruppen, Hakon Gruppen, NKL og Reitan). From the chains we have received about 40 % answers, and from the wholesalers we have received about 75 %. We can see from the answers that some of the chains and wholesalers have little knowledge about EDI.

Bigger firms use EDI more than small firms, and about 67 % of our firms use EDI now in 1996.