Emerging Business Models in B2B Research: Virtual Organization and e-Intermediaries

Abstract

This chapter takes a closer look at the electronic intermediaries and their role in the value chain. Because the electronic intermediary is considered a Virtual Organization (VO), the chapter first tracks the evolution of the VO and then investigates its new role as an electronic mediator or broker. The shift towards the market poses a substantial threat to the survival of these intermediaries, leading some authors to argue that traditional intermediaries are a species in extinction, no longer indispensable thanks to the market’s ability to do a more efficient job (Fielt, E. J. (2006). Designing for acceptance: Exchange design for electronic intermediaries. Ph.D.-Thesis, Enschede, The Netherlands: Telematica Institute; Giaglis et al. Information Systems Journal 12(3):231–246, 2002). This highly controversial hypothesis has unleashed intense debate in the literature. In fact, these theories tend to frame the role of the electronic brokers purely in terms of the costs of the intermediation, neglecting to factor in the value or the potential economies these create (Heijden van der and Ribbers (1996). The changing value of travel agents in tourism networks: towards a network design perspective. In W. Shertler, B. Schmid, & A. M. Tjoa (Eds.), Information and Communications Technologies in Tourism (pp. 151–159). Wien: Springer). As a result, the disintermediation theory has been a target of criticism, backed by empirical observations showing that far from disappearing the brokers have been recast as lead players. This is true especially in those markets where the value created is the result of the focal company’s ability to manage increasingly complex value chains in outsourcing mode.

The chapter concludes by arguing that, in practice, the traditional intermediaries will not all disappear. Rather, the virtualization-centric business sectors will simply transform their organizational structure to give life to new types of brokers, defined as electronic mediators, infomediators or cybermediators. Hence, the appearance of competely new markets for the electronic or cybermediators (Sarkar et al. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 1:35–47, 1995; Dai and Kauffman International Journal of Electronic Commerce 6:41–72, 2002; Giaglis et al. Information Systems Journal 12(3):231–246, 2002; Novak and Schwabe Electronic Markets 19:15–29, 2009; Rossignoli et al. Electronic Markets, 19:55–66, 2009).

Authored by Cecilia Rossignoli