In my first blog entry, I introduced the concept of EDInomics, which is a newly invented term I created as the title for this blog.  In this entry, I would like to formally define the term: 

EDInomics - E •D •I •nom •ics [e-di-nom-iks] -       Noun

1.       A study of how Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and related Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce technologies can be used to improve business performance by reducing administrative costs and accelerating revenue growth.

2.       A study of the market dynamics of vendors, technologies and regulations in the business-to-business electronic commerce market

3.       A study of the passenger and commercial aircraft traffic patterns at Scotland’s Edinburgh Airport.

While this particular term, “EDInomics,” is new, the concept of studying the economics of a particular social, cultural, political or technology phenomenon is not.  In 2005, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner published a fascinating book called Freakonomics.  This was followed in 2006 by authors Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams who published a book called Wikinomics.  In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner unveiled a series of amazing theories about topics such as the potential relationships between legalizing abortion and the increase in crime in America and the selection of first names at birth and the associated impacts on long-term career success.  In Wikinomics, Tapscott illustrated how the Internet and web 2.0 technologies are enabling new levels of collaboration never before possible for projects ranging from sequencing the human genome to designing software programs.   In EDInomics, I hope to unveil insights on the impacts B2B technologies have on the integration of the global economy, financial performance of individual corporations and the experience of  everyday consumers.  You may be surprised to realize the unlikely impacts that technologies such as EDI have on your life.   Poor implementations of B2B e-commerce can be pinpointed as the root cause of many everyday phenomenon, including:

·         Why your plane is unnecessarily delayed on your next business trip

·         Why you were disappointed with your Christmas presents

·         Why your health care expenses are rising so much every year

I will only focus on the first two elements of EDInomics in the definition above.   We will leave number three for the British Airport Authorities.  After all, only Google and Yahoo! seems to be confused about the difference between the B2B technologies called “EDI” and the Scottish airport with the same three letter designation.

Steve Keifer

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