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Business -to -business (B2B ) electronic marketplaces (e -marketplaces ) are one of the most heralded developments in recent years . These marketplaces bring together businesses buying and selling goods and services in an online buying community . E -marketplaces promise to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement activities by replacing traditional manual processes with automated electronic procedures and by expanding the number of available trading partners . Despite the technology availability and the high potential benefits , very few e -marketplaces have succeeded . This three -year study identifies and investigates two major B2B e -marketplace stumbling blocks : attracting a sufficient number of members , and then influencing these members to use the e -marketplace .
This investigation uses a variety of qualitative techniques to solicit information from nearly fifty executives representing four B2B e -marketplaces with contrasting membership and use levels . Within each e -marketplace , the study solicited information from high and low use organizations , buying and selling organizations , and a nonparticipant organization . The interview data was analyzed using line -by -line analysis from grounded theory . The analysis involved assimilating the unique stories of each manager into drivers that affect e -marketplace membership or use . These drivers were then compared to membership levels and /or use levels .
The analysis resulted in three research models . Each research model is a data -driven representation of factors driving B2B e -marketplace membership , B2B e -marketplace use , and a particular organization's B2B e -marketplace use . Each model contains several unique drivers and offers a comprehensive picture of what is happening in e -marketplaces .
These findings enhance management's understanding of e -marketplaces , their role in business , their challenges , and ways of overcoming these challenges in order to reap the benefits of e -marketplace participation . This study brings one of the first grounded theory investigations of B2B e -marketplace membership and use to the limited academic research in this area . This research offers insights to a number of theories , including transaction cost economics , institutional theory , resource dependency theory , and public goods theory . |
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