Understanding the Non-adoption of EDI in the Modern Moroccan Food Retailing Industry

Abstract

Since its introduction in the early 1990s, the food retailing industry in Morocco has adopted management methods and practices that have proven successful in other contexts and has experienced rapid growth. Even though large retailers are conscious of the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) concerning electronic data interchange (EDI) for a dynamic and efficient flow of products, digital orders are still either nonexistent or remain, at best, in the embryonic stage. The object of this article, which is exploratory at this stage, is to understand why large food retailers, 20 years after their appearance, haven’t managed to digitalize data exchange with the major industries in Morocco. To assess this situation, this research looks at an ensemble of factors that hinder the adoption and development of logistic information systems in the specific context of Morocco. The methodology, which is qualitative, is based on semi-directive interviews carried out with a panel of industrial and distributing entities. The results show that the absence of EDI logistics information systems can be explained by three main reasons: the limited importance of large retail in Morocco, the hesitation of major industrialists to communicate information about their activities, and the specificity of communication in the Moroccan sociocultural context.