The role of e-marketplaces in relationship-based supply chains: A survey

Abstract

Despite the early excitement surrounding business-to-business (B2B) e-marketplaces during the Internet boom, many exchanges have since closed, citing their inability to generate sufficient revenue from thin transaction volumes. Discussions with industry participants revealed that many firms were carefully watching developments, but were reluctant to commit serious trading volumes to online channels. For the near future at least, many firms intend to continue to conduct the majority of their strategic transactions through traditional relationship-based contracting. Surviving e-marketplaces are trying hard to come up with compelling value propositions for participants. In this survey we explore the difficulties faced by e-marketplaces and discuss potential sources of value that will encourage their adoption by preserving and complementing long-term B2B relationships. We focus on the role of e-marketplaces in B2B transactions, where long-term relationships between buyers and sellers are important, as is the case in many supply chains. Our objective is to present an industry perspective that will help a business-oriented reader to develop an understanding of the opportunities and issues associated with e-marketplaces. In addition, we use realworld examples to motivate future research and applications in this area. Along with the Internet boom came high expectations for the role of e-marketplaces and their potential to enhance supply chain efficiency. 1 From 1998 to 2000, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce was heralded as the next major innovation in business, and analysts projected that trillions of dollars would flow through B2B exchanges by 2004. Legions of exchanges sprang up virtually overnight, supported by a new industry of e-business software vendors providing tools for everything from dynamic pricing to collaborative commerce. This brief but meteoric rise came to a sudden halt by the end of 2000. In the two-month period following the peak, many e-marketplaces failed or merged. Firms reevaluated their e-business strategies and reduced their investments in B2B activities. Investors lost confidence in B2B-related stocks. Within a year, Ariba and Commerce One, two key B2B e-commerce

E-markets and supply chain collaboration: a literature-based review of contributions with specific reference to the semiconductor industries

“…The development and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), such as electronic data interchange (EDI), Internet or the intranet networks have enabled enterprises in the (SSC) to perform operations, such as new product development, collaborative inventory control and order assignment decisions in an integrated way [39,85]. For the development of SSC management, member organizations coordinate their inter-organization activities.…”

The influence of B2B e-commerce on SMEs' performance and efficiency: a review of the literature

“…B2B system adoption could affect the performance and efficiency of the enterprise through the usage of developed technologies that facilitate management of the enterprise using electronic tools. There are many studies such as Grey, et al (2005), and Gefen (2004) that report little or no benefit of B2B adoption.…”

Offering Appropriate Information Technologies at Different Stages in the Customer Service Life Cycle for Improved Service Delivery

“…The only transaction that involves the customer is the final transaction in the chain. In lean supply chains, businesses actively strive to establish long-term relationships with a small number of suppliers [28,29]. This makes it worthwhile and economically feasible for both business suppliers and business customers to invest the required money, time, and effort needed to automate their supply chain relationships [30].…”