More than 1000 B2B e-marketplaces, consisting of third-party exchanges, industrysponsored marketplaces and private trading networks, have been formed in three successive waves. Their value propositions centre around two key dimensions: demand and/or supply aggregation to overcome market fragmentation (through search cost efficiency, price transparency and product-cost savings, market liquidity, network externalities and customer lock-in), and inter-firm collaboration for greater supply chain performance (through streamlined workflows and process-cost savings, customer lock-on, and business process integration). These two value dimensions produce a four-quadrant matrix that conceptually maps out three pathways to market leadership: liquidity early, process integration first, or liquidity and process integration simultaneously. Each of these pathways logically appeals to one of the three e-marketplace models, but is not without serious execution hurdles. The quest for leadership among e-marketplaces along these pathways, particularly their value propositions and execution hurdles, provides valuable insights into the demise of many early market entrants and the challenges facing the rest.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Thuong T. Le (2002) studied this question.