Fostering Networked Business Operations

Long being seen as commercially unsuccessful after the dot-com era, interest in web-based B2B electronic intermediaries is again increasing in the light of globalization and cost-pressure on procurement departments of enterprises. Driven by increased profitability, these systems are getting more sophisticated. Based on a thorough literature-driven requirements analysis, this paper presents a state-of-the-art service-oriented reference architecture for B2B electronic intermediaries and provides scientifically grounded recommendations for developing such systems. The framework supports practitioners to create and further develop B2B electronic intermediary systems. It also serves as a basis for future design-oriented research endeavors in the field. The value of the presented artifacts is demonstrated by means of two use cases.