Component Based System Framework for Dynamic B2B Interaction

Business-to-business (B2B) collaboration is becoming a pivotal way to bring today's enterprises to success in the dynamically changing, e-business environment. Though many business-to-business protocols are developed to support B2B interaction, none are generally accepted. A B2B system should support different B2B protocols dynamically to enable interaction between diverse enterprises. This paper proposes a framework for dynamic B2B interaction. A B2B transaction is divided into the interaction part and business implementation part to support flexible interaction. A component based system framework is proposed,to support the B2B transaction execution. To support. dynamic B2B services, dynamic component composition is required. Service and component notions are combined into a composable service component. The composition architecture is also presented

B2B or Not to Be: Does B2B E-Commerce Increase Labour Productivity?

We implement an endogeneous switching-regression model for labour productivity and firms' decision to use business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. Our approach allows B2B usage to affect any parameter of the labour productivity equation and to properly take account of strategic complementarities between the input factors and B2B usage. Empirical evidence from 1,394 German firms shows that firms using B2B e-commerce have a significantly higher output elasticity with respect to ICT-investment and produce significantly more efficiently than firms that do not use B2B. Firms' labour productivity is enhanced by using B2B. --Business-to-business e-commerce,labour productivity,endogenous switching regression model,survey data

B2B oriented on-line applications generator

B2B applications are presented. Quality characteristics of B2B applications are defined. B2B application structure is defined. The application for contracts is developed. The advantages are identified.B2B, quality, structure, efficiency

Business-to-business e-commerce: an innovative tool for food chain management

A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished goods, and the distribution of the final goods to customers. The management of food chains, particular of fresh produce chains, need to achieve two goals: (a) create efficient physical flows of products by minimising logistics cost, and reducing lead times (b) run an effective value chain by safeguarding mutual gains for all members of the chain, building trust between suppliers and buyers and at the same time maintaining quality for end consumers. Food chain management was always at a loss for tools to leveraging its efforts on achieving value for chain members and eventually the end-consumers. Although food industry, both in USA and Europe, has experimented with various alternative solutions to this multimillion chain management, yet more can be expected. Business-to-business e-commerce (B2B) appears to be an innovative tool that meets the high standards of the industry and the potential growth. This study examines the uses of B2B in food industry to give chain management solutions. It reviews the uses of B2B and, in particular, highlights the applications of B2B by small agribusiness in order to forge their ring in food chains. It builds upon communication in supply chain. It describes contracting as an example how B2B e-commerce can advance supply activities and reports the development of a B2B olive oil supply chain application. It concludes that B2B can be a strong leverage for food chain management to achieve its goals and produce value for the members of the chain and the end consumers

Using webcrawling of publicly available websites to assess E-commerce relationships

We investigate e-commerce success factors concerning their impact on the success of commerce transactions between businesses companies. In scientific literature, many e-commerce success factors are introduced. Most of them are focused on companies' website quality. They are evaluated concerning companies' success in the business-to- consumer (B2C) environment where consumers choose their preferred e-commerce websites based on these success factors e.g. website content quality, website interaction, and website customization. In contrast to previous work, this research focuses on the usage of existing e-commerce success factors for predicting successfulness of business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce. The introduced methodology is based on the identification of semantic textual patterns representing success factors from the websites of B2B companies. The successfulness of the identified success factors in B2B ecommerce is evaluated by regression modeling. As a result, it is shown that some B2C e-commerce success factors also enable the predicting of B2B e-commerce success while others do not. This contributes to the existing literature concerning ecommerce success factors. Further, these findings are valuable for B2B e-commerce websites creation

Bringing Relationship Marketing Theory into B2B Practice: The B2B-RP Scale and the B2B-RELPERF Scorecard

This study presents a new measurement scale to assess the performance of a relationship between two firms. The Business-to-Business Relationship Performance (B2B-RP) scale is presented as a high order concept. When tested in a sample of nearly 400 SMEs purchasing managers operating in a B2B e-marketplace, our findings reveal that greater relationship performance results in better 1) relationship policies and practices, 2) relationship commitment, 3) trust in the relationship, 4) mutual cooperation, as well as 5) satisfaction with the relationship. The multi-dimensional scale shows strong evidence of reliability as well as convergent, discriminant and nomological validity. Findings also reveal that B2B relationship performance is positively and significantly associated with loyalty. While building on this scale, the authors develop the B2B-RP Scorecard intended to be included in periodic reports. At the managerial level, both the scale and the scorecard are expected to help disclose relationship performance, and act as useful instruments for periodic planning, management, controlling, and improvement of B2B relationships.Relationship Performance; Relationship Marketing; B2B-RP Scale; B2B-RELPERF Scorecard; Electronic Markets

A comparison of social media marketing between B2B, B2C and mixed business models

This paper explores the implicit assumption in the growing body of literature that social media usage is fundamentally different in business-to-business (B2B) companies than in the extant business-to-consumer (B2C) literature. Sashi’s (2012) customer engagement cycle is utilized to compare B2B, B2C, Mixed B2B/B2C and B2B2C business model organizational practices in relation to social media usage, importance, and its perceived effectiveness as a communication channel. Utilizing 449 responses to an exploratory panel based survey instrument, we clearly identify differences in social media marketing usage and its perceived importance as a communications channel. In particular we identify distinct differences in the relationship between social media importance and the perceived effectiveness of social media marketing across business models. Our results indicate that B2B social media usage is distinct from B2C, Mixed and B2B2C business model approaches. Specifically B2B organizational members perceive social media to have a lower overall effectiveness as a channel and identify it as less important for relationship oriented usage than other business models

Overcoming barriers to experimentation in business-to-business living labs

Business-to-business (B2B) living lab projects have been mentioned in different areas of academic research, but the innovation management literature requires deeper analysis of their potential opportunities and challenges. Real-life experimentation is a key requirement for living labs as it enables deeper insights in the potential success of innovations. However, the literature has not provided insights on how living lab projects can implement real-life experimentation in B2B innovation projects and does not describe appropriate conditions for experimentation in these settings. In this study, we identified three main barriers preventing real-life experimentation in B2B living lab projects: the technological complexity, the need for integration, and the difficulty in identifying testers. The barriers are discussed in detailed and potential solutions are provided to help overcome these barriers and stimulate the adoption of real-life experimentation in B2B innovation projects

The use of social media in a B2B context

The advent of Web 2.0 has created new ways to communicate, collaborate and share content (Enders et al. 2008). Social media builds on the technological and ideological foundations of Web 2.0 (Kaplan and Haenlein 2010) and encompasses the “activities, practices, and behaviours among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media” (Safko and Brake 2009: 6). Social media, or otherwise ‘user-generated communication’, now represents a prevalent source of information; it has changed the tools and strategies companies use to communicate, highlighting that the information control now lies with the customer (Mangold & Faulds 2009). Despite the popularity of social media (SM) and in particular social networking sites (SNS), their importance in shaping commercial online interaction (Mislove et al. 2007) and their potential to support brands (Christodoulides 2009), research into SNS is very limited, and focuses largely on the consumer in a B2C domain. To date, there is paucity of systematic research on how SNS are used by companies, particularly B2B companies, and how they contribute to brand objectives. Anecdotal evidence (e.g. Shih 2009) suggests that SM is important for B2B companies. B2B companies can use SM and specifically SNS such as Facebook and LinkedIn to communicate with their customers and suppliers, build relationships and trust, as well as to identify prospective partners in terms of B2B selling (Shih, 2009). Recently, Michaelidou et al. (2011) examined the usage of SNS by B2B SMEs and identified a number of perceived benefits including attracting new customers, cultivating relationships, increasing awareness, communicating brands, receiving feedback and interacting with suppliers. Further, the adoption of SM by B2B sales forces has been found to improve sales processes and relationship sales performance (Rodriguez et al. 2012). This study builds on the limited literature on SM in a B2B context and aims to identify the extent of SNS usage, perceived benefits and barriers as well as common metrics used by B2B organisations