Service value exchange in B2B electronic marketplaces

Purpose – This paper aims to explore what aspects of organisational value can be realised through taking a service exchange perspective of e-marketplaces as opposed to a product transaction perspective Marketing is increasingly concerned with the notion of service value in business-to-business markets. Electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) have been used in B2B exchanges for many years and continually evolve as the understanding of e-marketplace participation and the technologies develop. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is taken using three large e-marketplace organisations and interviews with senior managers from each company. Findings – The paper argues that e-marketplaces should not be thought of solely as a product transaction mechanism but rather as a digital marketing and communication network where service, rather than products, forms the basis of a value creating exchange. Practical implications – Organisations can co-create value within an e-marketplace network but must market services value across organisational boundaries. Originality/value – The paper extends the literature in the area of e-marketplace trading and recognises the importance of the digital communication network in enabling service exchange between the e-marketplace, buyers and suppliers.

Explaining industrial importers' commitment from an emerging market perspective: theoretical and managerial insights

Purpose – This study seeks to provide insights concerning the predictors of industrial importers' commitment to their foreign suppliers in a relationship paradigm involving an emerging market. Design/methodology/approach – Integrating a review of the relevant importer-exporter and distributor-supplier relationship literature, a model of importer commitment was developed. Based on survey data obtained from industrial importers for an emerging market, CFA and SEM were employed to test the proposed theoretical model. Findings – The findings significantly support the theoretical framework and most of the hypothesized path relationships in the model. Predictors such as importers' knowledge significantly and positively influenced commitment through the intermediation of trust, supplier opportunism had a significant and negative effect on importer commitment, again through the intermediation of trust, and transaction-specific investment had a direct effect on industrial importers' commitment. Supplier's opportunistic inclinations did not have a significant direct effect on the commitment of the importers. Research limitations/implications – This research only considers the views of industrial importers that limits generalization. The sample size, constrained by the total number of industrial importers in the country examined, was also somewhat of a limiting factor concerning SEM modeling. Practical implications – This study suggests the factors that export managers need to consider in maintaining long-term relationship with their foreign buyers, while contributing to building the relationship through knowledge sharing and curbing opportunistic inclinations. Originality/value – This paper examines the antecedents of trust and commitment in industrial importer and foreign supplier relationships in the context of an emerging market. Based on the earlier literature on B2B exchanges, the role of importers' knowledge in driving commitment through the intermediation of trust offers new insights. This is particularly important because the importers are experiencing unprecedented growth opportunities. Considering their need to make decisions quickly and gain advantages from suppliers, will they remain committed to a particular supplier? Or will their commitment be strengthened by gaining knowledge of the supplier? The tested model offers unique insights.

EDI and the Promise of Portals for Internet Business Use

The Internet promised a lot for enterprises from 1995. The Internet’s ubiquity offered inter-company connectivity (previously provided to corporations by Electronic Data Interchange) for businesses of every size. The business-to-business (B2B) trading exchange concept emerged, 10,000 B2B exchanges were anticipated. Early Internet investment then struck an unexpected hurdle: the Internet didn’t inherently support many of the key requirements for business transactions (such as reliability, confidentiality, integrity, authentication of parties). These requirements added to the cost and complexity of Internet investment. The dot-com stock market crash affected all Internet-related initiatives. But while the B2B exchanges disappeared, other initiatives more aligned to user needs and the Internet’s architecture continued to grow. These included the enterprise portal, which supports the traditional single-business-centred customer relationship model, in contrast to the business disruptive B2B exchange model.

Information Transparency Hypothesis

This chapter explores the private and social desirability of information transparency of a business-to-business (B2B) electronic market that provides an online platform for information transmission. The abundance of transaction data available on the Internet tends to make information more transparent in B2B electronic markets. In such a transparent environment, it becomes easier for firms to obtain information that may allow them to infer their rivals’ costs than in a traditional, opaque market. How then does this benefit firms participating in the B2B exchanges? To what extent does information transparency affect consumers and the social welfare in a broader sense? Focusing on the informational effects, this study explores firms’ incentives to join a B2B exchange by developing a game-theoretic model under asymmetric information. We then examine its effect on expected profits, consumer surplus, and social welfare. Our results challenge the “information transparency hypothesis” (that is, open sharing of information in electronic markets is beneficial to all participating firms). In contrast to the popular belief, we show that information transparency could be a double-edged sword. Although its overall effect on social welfare is positive, its private desirability is deeply divided between producers and consumers, and even among producers themselves.

Portals and the Challenge of Simplifying Internet Business Use

The Internet promised a lot for enterprises from 1995. The Internet’s ubiquity offered inter-company connectivity (previously provided to corporations by Electronic Data Interchange) for businesses of every size. The business-to-business (B2B) trading exchange concept emerged, 10,000 B2B exchanges were anticipated. Early Internet investment then struck an unexpected hurdle: the Internet didn’t inherently support many of the key requirements for business transactions (such as reliability, confidentiality, integrity, authentication of parties). These requirements added to the cost and complexity of Internet investment. The dot.com stock market crash affected all Internet-related initiatives. But while the B2B exchanges disappeared, other initiatives more aligned to user needs and the Internet’s architecture continued to grow. These included the enterprise portal, which supports the traditional single-business-centred customer relationship model, in contrast to the business disruptive B2B exchange model.