Electronic marketplace-to-marketplace alliances: emerging trends and strategic rationales

The electronic marketplace domain has recently witnessed the joining together of a number of previously independent marketplaces and the formation of collaborative alliances between others. This study seeks to determine the nature or type of cooperative arrangements or alliances that are currently being forged between electronic marketplaces, and the strategic rationale that is leading to this observed alliance formation. The findings of the study are based upon an examination of statements made to the press by marketplaces undertaking strategic alliances. This published data was supplemented with face-to-face interviews with managers at three relevant electronic marketplaces. Three distinct types of alliance are observed; the merger between previously separate marketplaces, the acquisition of one marketplace by another and the formation of an interoperability agreement between two marketplaces. Three rationales for alliance formation were observed: an increase in the number of buyers or suppliers in a given market sector that can access the marketplace (an increase in scale of operations), an increase in the breadth or depth of services that are offered to users of the marketplace (an increase in the scope of operations) and providing the ability to exchange information across multiple tiers of a supply chain. A broader discussion of the findings is given and suggestions for further research are made

The Relationship between Buyer and a B2B e-Marketplace: Cooperation Determinants in an Electronic Market Context

In this article, the authors argue that cooperation may be achieved by adding technology dimensions to the core product. Given the growing importance of real time information exchange and interactivity, a better understanding of the use of technology to the establishment and development of the buyer-supplier cooperative relationships is essential for knowledge advancement. Using a sample of nearly 400 SMEs purchasing managers, this paper reveals that in an electronic market context, cooperation is positively affected by termination costs, supplier policies and practices, communication and information exchange, and negatively affected by product prices and opportunistic behavior. Moreover, both relationship commitment and trust play a major role in mediating the relationships between these five determinants and cooperation.relationship marketing, trust, cooperation, electronic markets, e-commerce

New Entrants versus Incumbents in the Emerging On-Line Financial Services Complex

The emergence of electronic commerce complexes raises important questions regarding competence building and leveraging, both for practitioners and strategy scholars. Competences of brick-and-mortar incumbents (large and mature players) are being challenged by new entrants' click-and-mortar or click-and-click business models. The implications of this challenge for the financial services industry - as for many other industries - are only starting to become clear. In this paper we contribute to these initial understandings by developing a conceptual framework that considers which strategies incumbents and new entrants might adopt to improve their competitiveness. We identify four relevant organizational types in the emerging on-line financial services complex. For each of these types we outline how ties to sponsoring organizations can be used as a buffer against environmental turbulence and as a bridge towards changing stakeholder perspectives.legitimacy;e-commerce;co-evolution;competence building and leveraging;on-line financial services complex

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

New Prospects for Organizational Democracy? How the Joint Pursuit of Social and Financial Goals Challenges Traditional Organizational Designs

Some interesting exceptions notwithstanding, the traditional logic of economic efficiency has long favored hierarchical forms of organization and disfavored democracy in business. What does the balance of arguments look like, however, when values besides efficient revenue production are brought into the picture? The question is not hypothetical: In recent years, an ever increasing number of corporations have developed and adopted socially responsible behaviors, thereby hybridizing aspects of corporate businesses and social organizations. We argue that the joint pursuit of financial and social objectives warrants significant rethinking of organizational democracy’s merits compared both to hierarchy and to non-democratic alternatives to hierarchy. In making this argument, we draw on an extensive literature review to document the relative lack of substantive discussion of organizational democracy since 1960. And we draw lessons from political theory, suggesting that the success of political democracy in integrating diverse values offers some grounds for asserting parallel virtues in the business case

INTERORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS OF E-INTERMEDIARIES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

In this theory-building research, we seek to understand how the emerging systems of e-intermediation influnce the evolution of novel inter-organizational networks. We chose Yoox, a leading e-intermediary in the fashion industry, as an exemplary case. We found that the core technological capabilities of the e-intermediator, rather than deterministically triggering a single coordination strategy (as mainstream literature predicts), have been exploited to develop a range of interaction approaches, including market, hierarchy, and cooperative network relationships. At this phase of our research in progress, we can extract provisionary propositions from our field study. The most representative propositions we elaborated are the following: (i) when Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) empower e-intermediation B2B interactions, they can effectively support market, hierarchy, or cooperative network interactions; that is, ICTs facilitate inter-organizational dynamism; (ii) e-intermediation does not encourage, per se, preferential or typical inter-organizational coordination forms. Partnering organizations develop market and/or hierarchy and/or cooperative network interactions depending on their perceptions of irreplaceability, as well as on other factors such as managerial strategies, concerns, and previous relational experiences; (iii) in e-intermediation business networks, the e-intermediary´s technological leadership is more likely to produce a long-term competitive advantage if it is leveraged to feed and enrich the e-intermediary´s relational leadership dynamically over time