Portfolios of Exchange Relationships: An Empirical Investigation of an Online Marketplace for IT Services

Small firms face distinct problems and opportunities when procuring IT resources. Whereas previous work focused at the level of firm or buyer-supplier dyad, we address portfolios of buyer-supplier relationships at an online marketplace for IT services. Using the portfolio approach, we develop a buyers taxonomy and analyze properties of resulting clusters.Our investigation reveals four clusters of buyers with distinct mixes of long-term and short-term supplier relationships. Although reverse auctions are found to be associated with short-term relationships and negotiations support long-term relationships, buyers in different clusters use the two mechanisms in combination to a different extent.Performance;Buyer-supplier relationships;IT services;Online markets;Outsourcing;Reverse auctions

Important Auction Characteristics in e-Marketplace Decisions: An Exploratory Look at Auction Selection and Product Valuation

The emerging success of online auction marketplaces has challenged researchers to identify the characteristics that affect success of these auctions. It is far from clear how certain auction characteristics affect bidding decisions in the context of individual ethical foundations. We conducted an exploratory study that examined which auction characteristics were most important when making decisions for selecting an auction and when deciding on how much to bid. Results indicate that online auction buyers do treat the importance of auction characteristics differently at each decision. Interesting findings with regards to seller feedback and various other auction characteristics warrant further study

The Collective Action as Potential Driver of Bottom-up Reconfiguration from Captive to Relational Value Chain : the Case Study of the Northern District in Sierra Leone

In recent decades, the increasing growth rate of the African cashew business has involved a large number of corporate actors such as global retailers, processors and exporters in cashew supply networks. The increasing role of agro-food supply chains enables African countries to enhance their position in global markets and to sustain local development and growth, by encouraging a higher market-orientation in the governance of global value chains. In this paper, an exploratory analysis based on a questionnaire involving 319 smallholder farmers in the North of Sierra Leone is conducted in order to explore the role of collective action in driving the potential bottom-up reconfiguration of cashew value chain. A change from captive to relational governance is expected to positively support the local industry upgrading, to reduce transaction costs and information asymmetries, and to increase the local development and growth by enhancing employment creation and poverty alleviation

Trust and Experience in Online Auctions

This paper aims to shed light on the complexities and difficulties in predicting the effects of trust and the experience of online auction participants on bid levels in online auctions. To provide some insights into learning by bidders, a field study was conducted first to examine auction and bidder characteristics from eBay auctions of rare coins. We proposed that such learning is partly because of institutional-based trust. Data were then gathered from 453 participants in an online experiment and survey, and a structural equation model was used to analyze the results. This paper reveals that experience has a nonmonotonic effect on the levels of online auction bids. Contrary to previous research on traditional auctions, as online auction bidders gain more experience, their level of institutional-based trust increases and leads to higher bid levels. Data also show that both a bidder’s selling and bidding experiences increase bid levels, with the selling experience having a somewhat stronger effect. This paper offers an in-depth study that examines the effects of experience and learning and bid levels in online auctions. We postulate this learning is because of institutional-based trust. Although personal trust in sellers has received a significant amount of research attention, this paper addresses an important gap in the literature by focusing on institutional-based trust

Exploring Information Disclosure In Online Auctions

This research examines how a seller’s reputation score and auction pre-configuration affects people’s participation in communication within online auction communities. A leading horizontal intermediary auction platform is used to conduct this research. Its seller “feedback” mechanism and “ask seller a question” forum are chosen as representatives of post- and intra-transactional information disclosure. A self-developed classification approach is used to classify the buyer-initiated questions. The results of multinomial logistic regression indicate that product quality, shipment and payment issues are aspects that concern buyers the most in the early stages of an auction. Subsequently, their attention is likely to shift to seller credibility and price negotiations as listing durations get longer. In terms of the influ- ence of seller feedback ratings, our findings suggest that lower-rated traders are more likely to be asked questions about product description and seller credibility. Buyer concern about seller uncertainty is only alleviated if the seller has a good reputation. Even medium-rated sellers are suspected of being opportunistic. Moreover, buyers are more willing to discuss transaction-related issues and raise negotiation-associated questions with sellers who have already achieved high reputation scores. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications are elaborated

Exploring the Role of Social Community Within an E-Marketplace

Marketplaces have provided a meeting place for communities to socialise, exchange information and transact business for many centuries. It is perhaps a natural progression that the inclusion of social network facilities should be an intrinsic part of e-marketplace development. This exploratory study examines the concept of designing social features into an e-marketplace by considering the needs of online community members. Using TradeMe, a New Zealand horizontal intermediary e-marketplace, as an illustrative case study it was found that the use of an online community to encourage information flow, reciprocity and trust has resulted in a vibrant, successful business model. Further research is required to investigate the viability of the community model beyond the case illustrated

A model to enhance the perceived trustworthiness of Eastern Cape essential oil producers selling through electronic marketplaces

Eastern Cape Province farmers in the natural essential oils industry are yet to fully realise the use of electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms, such as electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) for business purposes. This is due to the issues that include lack of awareness, poor product quality, untrusted payment gateways and unsuccessful delivery that are associated with e-marketplaces. As a result, farmers do not trust e-marketplaces and therefore hesitate to engage in e-marketplaces for business purposes. This is further complicated by natural essential oils buyers‟ tendency of preferring face-to-face interaction with a supplier rather than online interaction as they need quality assurance. As such, this research proposes a model to enhance the perceived trustworthiness of natural essential oil producers in the Eastern Cape Province selling through e-marketplaces. The model constitutes the factors that could be considered in assisting essential oil producers to create a perception of trustworthiness to buyers in e-marketplaces. These factors were evaluated amongst five organisations involved in the production, retail or processing of essential oils using a multiple-case study methodology. The study‟s use of multiple-case study was applied within the interpretivist paradigm and five cases were considered. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used for data collection. Data analysis was done using within-case analysis followed by cross-case analysis to establish factors of trust. The essential oil producers based in the Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces were cases that had been successfully using e-marketplaces for a notable period of time. Accordingly, factors that contributed to the successful use of e-marketplaces informed the proposed model of this research. The model proposes that perceived trustworthiness of enterprises in e-marketplaces can be achieved through following the uncertainty reduction stages (Entry, Personal and Exit) and applying uncertainty reduction strategies (passive, active and interactive)

Unfortunately The Introduction Of Our New Product Will Be Delayed: An Exploratory Examination Of Factors That Influence A Firm To Announce Changes In Its New Product Plans

New product preannouncement research investigates formal and deliberate communications by a firm regarding its future new product introductions (e.g., types of new products, new product attributes, plans for distribution, planned launch date). However, previous studies have primarily focused on communication related to the firm’s intent to introduce a new product and largely ignored communications regarding changes in their status, such as launch delays as well as cancellation of the new product introduction. The goal of this study is to address this shortfall by examining antecedents factors  influencing a preannouncing firm (i.e., one that preannounces its new products) to also announce changes in to its new product introduction plans (NPCs); specifically, delays in the introduction of a new product or its cancellation. This topic is particularly relevant given the importance that recent studies have placed on the investigation of false new product preannouncements or bluffs, especially in the software industry where they are termed vaporware.  Furthermore, in the wake of the many recent high-profile corporate scandals (e.g., Enron and Tyco), a growing emphasis on corporate disclosure, particularly regarding performance shortfalls (e.g., new product delays and cancellations), also highlights the need for further research on corporate communication regarding changes to new product introduction plans.  Additionally, unlike most extant preannouncement research that attempts to examine differences between preannouncers and non-preannouncers, our study only examines firms that preannounce their new product introductions and then, goes further, by examining post-preannouncement behavior. In developing our framework, we propose five antecedents that motivate a preannouncing firm’s propensity, when the situation arises, to issue announcements regarding delays in a new product introduction or its cancellation. Additionally, we highlight the use of NPCs as strategic marketing communication tools that can continually inform and influence a wide range of target audiences (e.g., buyers, employees, supply chain participants, investors, and business media). The hypotheses are tested via factor score regression with a sample of 221 U.S. – based manufacturers. Our findings indicate that it is not the firm’s desire to communicate in a general sense through information sharing nor its concerns regarding competitors that motivates preannouncing firms to issue NPCs. Instead, the preannouncing firm’s desire to build its reputation, the innovativeness of its industry, and the degree to which buyers must make substantial pre-purchase investments are the main drivers of communication regarding changes to its new product introduction plans. As a set, these findings are particularly interesting as they indicate that the preannouncing firm’s desire to reduce uncertainty, often in its own favor, underlies its decision to issue NPCs

eWOM & Referrals in Social Network Services

If a few decades ago the development of the Internet was instrumental in the interconnection between markets, nowadays the services provided by Web 2.0, such as social network sites (SNS) are the cutting edge. A proof of this trend is the exponential growth of social network users. The main objective of this work is to explore the mechanisms that promote the transmission and reception (WOM and referrals) of online opinions, in the context of the SNS, by buyers of travel services. The research includes some research lines: technology acceptance model (TAM), Social Identification Theory and Word-of-Mouth communication in virtual environment (eWOM). Based on these theories an explicative model has been proposed applying SEM analysis to a sample of SNS users’ of tourist service buyers. The results support the majority of the hypotheses and some relevant practical and theoretical implications have been pointed out for tourist managers