Application of B2B electronic-marketplaces in the integration of supply chain

Abstract

This paper explores the application of business-to-business (B2B) Electronic Marketplaces (EM) in supply chain (CS) integration. The paper starts with explaining the developments in supply chain management studies, and identifies the SC integration era as one of the main streams of supply chain management studies. The second part of the paper describes the evolution of SC integration and introduces B2B EMs as one of the tools for integration inter-organizational supply chains. In part three different types of EMs and their applicability to supply chain integration is disused. Finally part four describes the factors affecting the readiness of Sc for integration through B2B EM, explains the success factors of adopting B2B EM and proposes a transition model for adopting B2B EMs for inter-organizational SC integration