COMPETING THROUGH EDI AT BRUN-PASSOT - ACHIEVEMENTS IN FRANCE AND AMBITIONS FOR THE SINGLE EUROPEAN MARKET

To differentiate its customer service, Brun Passot, a small French company specializing in the distribution of office supplies, developed a set of telepurchasing applications. In 1982, it launched Bureautel, a videotex-based service that allows customers to electronically place their orders. In 1986, at the request of its large customers, it developed a PC-based service, then in 1989 an advanced electronic data interchange (EDI) application linking customers to its supply information system. These services allow data on product availability, price lists, orders, acknowledgement receipts, delivery notices, invoices, and related bank payments to be electronically transmitted. Using ISDN, they also make it possible to look up the photos of the 12,000 products that Brun Passot markets. This article illustrates how a small-sized company has used IT to improve the quality of its customer service, shorten lead time and reduce management costs, as well as create new business opportunities in France. It also raises some issues related to the adoption and diffusion of EDI and presents Brun Passot's ambitions to use this technology as an essential enabler to expand its geographical coverage. The 1993 fall of mobility barriers within the European Community, leading to the formation of the single European market, presented for Brun Passot a unique business opportunity to further leverage its IT infrastructure and gain new markets.