ABSTRACT
This chapter provides general considerations on the selected survey methodology. The overall research methodology has been divided into three main stages: an explorative stage, an explanatory stage, and a descriptive one. The aim of the first stage was to develop knowledge about new technologies, about motivations and tools of the Internet adoption in the procurement process and into customer-supplier relationship, and to refine the research hypotheses to be tested and validated in the second explanatory stage. Finally, a descriptive stage has been performed in order to describe the main features of collaboration services exploitable through the Internet. The objective of this stage is to understand what are the variables characterizing the role of the internet in customer-supplier relationships. Contributions made both in literature and in conferences or seminars reveal the lack of a common view concerning basic concepts underlying the use of the Internet in supply chain management.
