| Sumario: | The informs that a new era in the B2B marketplace will be driven by network-level optimization offering many advantages over point-to-point relationships for vendors and customers. Firms have increasingly begun to realize their performance depends on the competitiveness of the supply chain configurations in which they participate. Vertical industry-oriented B2B marketplaces and hubs, like Elemica in the chemical industry, Covisint in the automotive parts industry, or Transora and CPG market in the consumer packaged goods industry, can be seen as such collaborative efforts. The improvement of efficiencies is the main source of value created by these B2B marketplaces. The coordination of business processes is highly dependent on the ability of firms to coordinate flows of goods and information. Interorganizational systems, like electronic data-interchange devices (EDI), have permitted firms to exchange information on a more timely and frequent basis. Investment in EDI systems requires close coordination to achieve a certain degree of electronic integration. Systems integration and seamless connectivity are obviously very important requirements before these NLO effects can kick in. B2B exchanges focusing on aggregation and matching have not delivered what they promised and many have gone out of business in the last 3.5 years.
|
|---|