EDI in the Danish Business Environment

From the mid-1990s, when the issue of EDI adoption caught attention due to awareness campaigns launched by governmental units and professional business associations, and due to the launch of the EDI Action Plan, the national statistical bureau has made yearly surveys of the usage of EDI. Over time data from the surveys suggest that the usage of EDI has decreased. However, this downtrend is not supported by contemporary research conducted in academia.

Although there appears to be a decrease in the number of users during the period 1995 to 2001, Andersen and colleagues (2000) found continuous growth in the number of EDI messages sent via third-party vendor companies. There was a substantial growth in the number of EDI messages exchanged, ranging from an annual growth of 34% to 46%. The same study also revealed that the growth in bytes transmitted during the same period increased by the same rates, indicating that larger messages are exchanged. Finally, the study found an increase in assigned EAN numbers. This suggests a growth in EDI users if it is assumed that there is a positive correlation between the number of assigned EAN location numbers and the number of companies that are able to send and receive EDI messages. Thus, the study by Andersen indicates that the EDI traffic has increased from 1995 to 2001. However, with the exception of the health sector (Johansen, Andersen, & Krogh-Meibom, 2002), the financial sector (Bj rn-Andersen & Andersen, 2003) and the logistics/freight and agricultural sectors (Andersen, Juul, Korzen-Bohr, & Pedersen, 2003b), there has not been a general spread of EDI to the business community at large.

Studies of digital data exchange within the steel and machinery industry (Henriksen, 2002), the textile & clothing industry (Hjarup, 2001), the industry in general (H rl ck, 1996; Petersen, Petersen, & Kespersen, 2002), the retail sector (Juul & Andersen, 2001, 2002), and the public sector (Andersen & Juul, 2002) support the picture that digital exchange of orders and invoices has been the exception rather than the norm during the mid-1990s and up to the present time. But nothing seems to support the tendency presented by the Danish National Statistical Bureau that there has been a decrease in EDI usage among Danish businesses.

Table 2: Companies Using EDI 1996–2001

Year	Percent of Companies Using EDI	Company Size Covered in the Survey (number of employees)	Sample Size (response rate in percent)	Reference
1996	33	5+	387 (20)	Ministry of Information Technology and Research (1997)
1998	28	10+	1.815 (61)	Ministry of Information Technology and Research (1999)
1999	36	10+	1.092 (29)	Ministry of Information Technology and Research (2000)
2000	15	5+	3.357 (67)	Statistics Denmark (2001)
2001	18	5+	3.327 (66)	Statistics Denmark (2002)