Facilitators and Inhibitors for Deploying Business-to-Business E-Commerce Applications: A Multi-Method, Cross-Cultural Study

Firms are increasingly using the Web to conduct inter-organizational business transactions. This type of effort, popularly known as ìbusiness-to-businessî (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce) has caught the attention of researchers and practitioners. Although there is a widespread adoption of B2B applications, there is very little empirical research that has attempted to investigate this phenomenon. There is no clear idea on how firms are managing the B2B initiatives and what problems they face in deploying B2B e-commerce systems. This paper describes an on-going research project that examines the facilitators and inhibitors for deploying B2B applications. The project employs both qualitative and quantitative approaches and is being conducted in the United States, Singapore, and Norway. The project is being conducted in two phases. In the first phase, an extensive literature review and iterative interviews with senior IT executives yielded a list of 46 facilitators/inhibitors. In the second phase, a survey instrument was developed based on the initial list. This survey form was pilot tested and sent to senior IT executives in the three countries. The preliminary analysis of data reveals nine categories of factors as affecting the deployment of B2B e-commerce applications in organizations. The current status of the project, preliminary findings from a partial data set, and the studyís potential contributions are discussed

Do We Need Intermediaries in E-Government? Intermediaries to Create a Demand-Driven Government

The advent of e-government and the use of the Internet to connect governments to citizens and businesses have resulted into direct contact among government agencies and their customers. The development towards more direct interaction can be used to predict the bypassing of intermediaries. In this paper three case studies are analyzed which counter this argument. A reintermediation strategy is followed in which intermediaries are used as new distribution channels to interact with customers. The case studies show that intermediaries can be employed to reduce cost and at the same time make government more demand-driven. Following only a disintermediation strategy, often motivated by transaction cost, is a too narrow approach and needs to be complimented by reintermediation strategy to advance towards a demand-driven government

Shopbots, Powershopping, Powersales: New Forms of Intermediation in E-Commerce - An Overview -

With the advent and proliferation of the Internet many aspects of business and market activities are changing. New forms of intermediation also called cybermediaries are becoming increasingly important as a coordinator of interaction between buyers and sellers in the electronic market environment. Especially the overwhelming abundance of information offered by the Internet promotes the development of new intermediarie like malls, shopbots, virtual resellers etc. This paper provides a detailed overview of different new forms of cybermediation and illustrates their influence on consumer choice, firm pricing and product differentiation strategies.comparison shopping, cybermediaries, e-commerce, shopbots

Intermediaries as Value Moderators in Electronic Marketplaces

The growth of E-commerce had suddenly changed the ground-rules for conducting business, linking the consumer directly to the producer. The digitization of content also meant faster and easier transmission of information from one point to another in a network, thus reducing the need for an intermediary. It was assumed that intermediaries would disappear resulting in frictionless commerce. This paper reexamines such claims of disintermediation and whether intermediaries generate friction in transactions. Theoretically, it argues the contrary, suggesting that intermediation is a necessary evil in e-commerce transactions. In order to justify such claims, the paper assumes that e-commerce exhibits network externality and reviews intermediation in the light Transaction Cost Economics and Agency Theory

Theoretical foundations in the pricing of intermediating services: the case of mobile phone payments

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management is available online at:Intermediating services are relatively new in research. This study explores how consumers may determine the value of intermediating services and the extent on willingness to pay. We investigate a mobile payment technology that intermediates payments facilitated by a telecommunication company and a bank. We show that a derived effect may persuade consumers to pay higher for the intermediating service when the items purchased has higher surplus to ustify the consumption of the service. Our study also shows that money has polarity, in that money that is ‘owned’ by the individual is viewed differently from money ‘not owned’

Sarkar, Butler & Steinfield (1995) “Intermediaries and Cybermediaries” Revisited: A Review and Identification of Future Research Directions for Intermediaries in Electronic Markets

Intermediation in markets is a phenomenon that has been studied by many researchers from a variety of different theoretical angles. With the introduction and diffusion of the Internet in everyday life, broad predictions were made that called for disintermediation enabled by direct Internet linkages between suppliers and buyers and lower transaction costs. The often-cited paper by Sarkar, Butler and Steinfield (1995) challenges this prediction. By comparing Internet effects on transaction costs with the cost situation ex ante, the paper explains that both direct sales or cybermediated sales are possible outcomes. In this paper we confront key assumptions of the Sarkar et al. paper with recent developments in the tourism market. We find that in the tourism market a multitude of direct and indirect distribution channels exist next to each other. Multi-level distribution channels often including several cybermediaries have been built, resulting in a complex market topology. We also see a large variety of intermediary roles, resulting from highly specialized and highly integrated cybermediary business models. Furthermore the model of Sarkar et al. fails to deliver an explanation for the on-going dynamics in the tourism market in terms of shifts towards more or less intermediaries and the emergence of new intermediary-like business models. By taking these trends into account we are able to identify relevant future research directions in order to extend our understanding of the phenomenon of electronic intermediaries in markets

DIGITALISATION AND NEW TRENDS IN TRAVEL DISTRIBUTION

This paper seek to understand the role of new technologies on transformation processes of special areas of business of travel intermediaries even emerging new entities that collaborate with both poles of tourism demand. Special attention is payed to results of modification of distribution channels to be competitive in online travel market. Softwer as channel manager is more than a tool, it is emerging as core intelligence that manage time, impacting on benefits from converegence. New technologies allowed new digital platforms (Booking, Airbnb, Expedia) making travel easier. The preferences of the postmodern tourist extend beyond the streamlined and impersonal experiences, services and products. Driven by the ambition of deviating from the beaten track, new generations of travellers are converging on digital platforms to retrieve recommendations and information from fellow travellers and local residents,i.e. sources other than traditional travel intermediaries. The COVID crisis has triggered a number of changes in the world of rental accommodation. Some of these changes are flexible cancellations, new market prices, and shorter booking window. High expections make preassure on attnders in channel of distribution. There is an even greater emphasis on cleanliness, privacy and security. At the end of the research, the results speak in favor of exceptional impact of new technology on business development as well as the role that human potential has in acquiring digital skills through education and training and providing their own tools or products that facilitate business. This paper consider sociological, economic and cultural dimension that impact on behavior of users of digital platforms are formulated to support previously incompatible ideas, like (1) models of economic systems, relationships); cultural and moral perspectives on human coexistence (negotiation, lifestyle, stewardship, prosocial behaviour/altruism, collaborative symbiosis and; ideas of efficiency and enhanced value creation

Online Content Syndication - A Critical Analysis from the Perspective of Transaction Cost Theory

Substantial economies of scale in the production of information goods give reasons for considering the outsourcing of the production. The trade in information goods – resulting from the outsourcing of the production – is a typical transaction which can be analysed using transaction cost theory. Taking into account the particular characteristics of information goods and the process of delivering them through digital networks, three out of five sources of transaction costs can be identified which are most relevant for the outsourcing decision. In designing the transaction process, these sources (bounded rationality, opportunism and uncertainty) can be influenced by the transaction partners in order to reduce market-based transaction costs. Employing an intermediary can further reduce transaction costs resulting from bounded rationality and uncertainty but can (overall) also give rise to opportunism. We find that opportunism is the most relevant source of transaction costs if an intermediary is employed on the market for information goods