B2B
e-Marketplaces
By Marija Popović
Published by European Commission’s
Electronic Commerce Team
(Information Society Directorate General)
Over the past few years, B2B
e-marketplaces have captured the attention of
journalists, experts and businessmen. The
e-marketplaces model has been examined under a
whole range of different names, such as Net
Markets, e-Hubs, Fat/Thin Butterflies. That,
together with the fact that different authors
had generally rather diverse views about their
supposed structure and the functions they had
been founded to perform, brought a lot of
confusion between business practitioners.
The aim of this report is to
clear out as much as possible the confusion
caused by the wide use of diverse, still
unfamiliar, and sometimes even contradictory
terms, as well as to show the state of the
e-marketplace development and the benefits and
costs that a company may reasonably expect if it
forms or joins one or more of them. The report
is based on a variety of case studies
representing diverse e-marketplace business
models, their evolution and the way they are
influencing the traditional business
environment.
E-marketplaces are defined as
fora that leverage the Internet to facilitate
commerce among businesses. The definition is
rather broad, comprising two deployments.
One is the centralized model
that generally supports many-to-many processes.
The best example here might be an auction (or
reverse auction). The model is widely present
within industry segments where a huge number of
buyers and sellers has a common interest to
gather within one single meeting place, in order
to conduct business more efficiently.
The second model extends
behind what is called “Napsterisation of the
supply chain”. The model is based on the
peer-to-peer technology and therefore does not
require a centralized server. Each peer
(partner) operates independently and in an open
manner. The best example here is probably an
“enterprise collaboration” software. Files are
interchanged between partners on a push and pull
basis – when needed, and no middle service is
necessary to facilitate the flow of documents.
The report basically
describes the markets that those two
e-marketplaces models are targeting, the
different business models they rely on and their
sources of revenue, as well as the current
trends in the e-marketplaces development in
general.
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RoDI
ISOC
IWA
ARTT
RTS
WQC 2003
ISAQ 2005