B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process
The paper presents background of B2B exchanges and review of their forms and functionalities. The rapid growth of B2B trade revenues and their details are noticed. European and Polish interest in B2B trade is next aspect of consideration. Author also tries to explain the reasons of low interest in B...
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Інститут проблем моделювання в енергетиці ім. Г.Є. Пухова НАН України
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Kot, S. 2016-06-07T09:15:29Z 2016-06-07T09:15:29Z 2007 B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process / S. Kot // Электронное моделирование. — 2007. — Т. 29, № 4. — С. 121-128. — Бібліогр.: 10 назв. — англ. 0204-3572 https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/101792 The paper presents background of B2B exchanges and review of their forms and functionalities. The rapid growth of B2B trade revenues and their details are noticed. European and Polish interest in B2B trade is next aspect of consideration. Author also tries to explain the reasons of low interest in B2B purchasing in Polish enterprises and points on problems in B2B purchasing application. Представлены основы обменов B2B и дан обзор их форм и функций. Рассмотрены детали быстрого роста доходов от торговли B2B и обоснован интерес Польши к такой торговле. Предпринята попытка объяснить причины малой заинтересованности польских предпринимателей в приобретении B2B. Наведено основи обмінів B2B и зроблено огляд їхніх форм та функцій. Розглянуто деталі швидкого росту доходів від торгівлі B2B і обгрунтовано зацікавленість Польщі у такій торгівлі. Зроблено спробу пояснити причини малої зацікавленості польских підприємців у придбанні B2B. en Інститут проблем моделювання в енергетиці ім. Г.Є. Пухова НАН України Электронное моделирование B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process Обмены B2B — возможность реализации процесса продажи Article published earlier |
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B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process |
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B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process Kot, S. |
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B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process |
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B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process |
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b2b exchanges — opportunity for purchasing process |
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Kot, S. |
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Kot, S. |
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2007 |
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Інститут проблем моделювання в енергетиці ім. Г.Є. Пухова НАН України |
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Обмены B2B — возможность реализации процесса продажи |
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The paper presents background of B2B exchanges and review of their forms and functionalities. The rapid growth of B2B trade revenues and their details are noticed. European and Polish interest in B2B trade is next aspect of consideration. Author also tries to explain the reasons of low interest in B2B purchasing in Polish enterprises and points on problems in B2B purchasing application.
Представлены основы обменов B2B и дан обзор их форм и функций. Рассмотрены детали быстрого роста доходов от торговли B2B и обоснован интерес Польши к такой торговле. Предпринята попытка объяснить причины малой заинтересованности польских предпринимателей в приобретении B2B.
Наведено основи обмінів B2B и зроблено огляд їхніх форм та функцій. Розглянуто деталі швидкого росту доходів від торгівлі B2B і обгрунтовано зацікавленість Польщі у такій торгівлі. Зроблено спробу пояснити причини малої зацікавленості польских підприємців у придбанні B2B.
|
| issn |
0204-3572 |
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https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/101792 |
| citation_txt |
B2B Exchanges — opportunity for Purchasing Process / S. Kot // Электронное моделирование. — 2007. — Т. 29, № 4. — С. 121-128. — Бібліогр.: 10 назв. — англ. |
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2025-11-26T20:16:19Z |
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2025-11-26T20:16:19Z |
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1850772950404300800 |
| fulltext |
S. Kot, Ph.D.
Faculty of Management
Czestochowa University of Technology
(E-mail:sebakat@zim.pcz.czest.pl)
B2B Exchanges-opportunity
for Purchasing Process
The paper presents background of B2B exchanges and review of their forms and functionalities. The
rapid growth of B2B trade revenues and their details are noticed. European and Polish interest in B2B
trade is next aspect of consideration. Author also tries to explain the reasons of low interest in B2B
purchasing in Polish enterprises and points on problems in B2B purchasing application.
Ïðåäñòàâëåíû îñíîâû îáìåíîâ B2B è äàí îáçîð èõ ôîðì è ôóíêöèé. Ðàññìîòðåíû äåòàëè
áûñòðîãî ðîñòà äîõîäîâ îò òîðãîâëè B2B è îáîñíîâàí èíòåðåñ Ïîëüøè ê òàêîé òîðãîâëå.
Ïðåäïðèíÿòà ïîïûòêà îáúÿñíèòü ïðè÷èíû ìàëîé çàèíòåðåñîâàííîñòè ïîëüñêèõ
ïðåäïðèíèìàòåëåé â ïðèîáðåòåíèè B2B.
K e y w o r d s: B2B platforms, purchasing.
Traditional purchasing process seems to be neither suitable nor effective, in
most large production enterprises supplied materials and services can participate
55—75% of all costs [1]. Therefore enterprises have been looking for the solu-
tions to decrease purchasing costs and enlarge the profit margin of their prod-
ucts, in effect. Participating in Business-to-Business (B2B) exchanges can be
one of the solution.
Business-to-Business (B2B) exchanges are electronic marketplaces on the
Internet where suppliers and buyers interact to conduct transactions. Many B2B
exchanges sprung up in 1999 and 2000, each generally focusing on industry ver-
tical, such as electronic components, plastics, or auto parts [2].
B2B Internet trading platforms may take many different forms. They in-
clude all Internet-based technical solutions that aim at facilitating the establish-
ment of new trading relationships between companies or at supporting existing
relationships. Some B2B Internet trading platforms focus on completing busi-
ness transactions while others support the integration of IT systems and a third
group simply provides information.
B2B Internet trading platforms can take following forms [3]:
1. Company web sites: company sites can be thought of as round-the-clock
mini-trade exhibits. In some cases, company web sites serve as the entrance to an
exclusive Extranet, available only to customers and registered site users. In other
ISSN 0204–3572. Ýëåêòðîí. ìîäåëèðîâàíèå. 2007. Ò. 29. ¹ 4 121
cases, company web sites have direct access allowing them to effectively retail
to other businesses. In this sense, company web sites could be considered as a
forerunner of Internet trading platforms.
2. Product supply and procurement exchanges: a company can shop for sup-
plies from vendors, request proposals, and, in some cases, bid to make a pur-
chase at a desired price. Sometimes referred to as e-procurement sites, some
serve a range of industries and others focus on a niche market.
3. Specialized or vertical industry portals: these sites provide a «sub-web»
of information, product listing, discussion groups and other features. They have
a broader purpose than the procurement sites although they may also support
buying and selling. A special form of this type of activities is brokering sites,
which act as an intermediary between someone wanting a product or service and
potential providers. Equipment leasing is an example.
4. Web-EDI: the most basic Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) level con-
sists of a computer-to-computer exchange over dedicated lines of normal busi-
ness transactions including payments, information exchange and purchase order
requests. The second level incorporates an application-to-application design
where individual companies link a minimum of one of their in-house systems to
the EDI interface, gaining optimal productivity. A new type of EDI is based on
real-time data exchange over the Internet between customers, partners and sup-
pliers. Evolving from basic EDI, the solutions are becoming more complex. Par-
ticipants in the data exchange may use different software, utilize different proto-
cols, and data formats.
5. E-marketplaces: they are defined as an online service run by a third party
where several buyers and sellers meet to buy and (or) sell products and (or) ser-
vices — the famous «butterfly» model (Fig. 1).
S. Kot
122 ISSN 0204–3572. Electronic Modeling. 2007. V. 29. ¹ 4
Marketplace
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller
Seller Buyer
Buyer
Buyer
Buyer
Buyer
Buyer
Fig. 1. The butterfly model [4]
Many B2B Internet platforms have two things in common: they can be used
with a web browser and they bring together many suppliers and many buyers.
These platforms are called Business-to-Business (B2B) portals.
Many B2B Internet platforms offer a combination of the different func-
tionalities described below. Therefore platforms offering only one of these
functionalities are rather rare. The different functionalities are [5]:
supplier directories and search engines for finding suppliers and getting
leads;
tendering services for finding orders and placing requests;
classifieds for finding and publishing discrete offers;
auctions to achieve the highest price when selling;
reverse auctions for determining the cheapest supplier.
B2B exchanges development. Since the beginning, B2B exchanges have
had a tremendous growth, Goldman, Sachs and Co. had projected that US B2B
sales on the Internet would reached $1,5 trillion by 2004 compared with $114
billion in 1999. The growing interest in B2B e-business is also reflected by the
fact that in 1999, venture capitalists poured $17 billion into B2B endeavors,
compared with $11 billion in Business-to-Customer (B2C) ventures [6].
Real growth of B2B sales has met above mentioned forecasting. In 2003 US
B2B exchanges was estimated on $1,33 trillion (Fig. 2) [7]. The largest partici-
pation in this amount had B2B platform trading computing and electronics, mo-
tor vehicles, petrochemicals and utilities.
B2B Exchanges-opportunity for Purchasing Process
ISSN 0204–3572. Ýëåêòðîí. ìîäåëèðîâàíèå. 2007. Ò. 29. ¹ 4 123
Fig. 2. U.S. Business-to-Business e-Commerce Revenue ($Bn)
Despite of rising trade value reached via B2B platform we can observe that
since 2000, a consolidation process has started which seems not yet fully com-
pleted. It is estimated there are around one thousand B2B e-marketplaces
world-wide, with about 300—500 active in Europe (Table 1).
Concerning the usage of B2B Internet trading platforms by enterprises, the
e-Business W@tch reports for the 4 largest EU Member States (Germany,
France, UK and Italy) that around 5% of European enterprises used e-market-
S. Kot
124 ISSN 0204–3572. Electronic Modeling. 2007. V. 29. ¹ 4
Active in
Berlecon Research e-Market Services
4/2002 2/2003 4/2002 6/2003
World 1060 889 1189 1008
North America 669 556 619 447
Europe 381 324 540 516
N o t e. The regional information denotes activity within the respective region, not necessarily the
headquarters.
Table 1. Estimated numbers of active B2B marketplaces by region of activity [8]
Sectors (EU-4)
Trading on
e-marketplaces
Planning to trade on e-marketplaces
within 12 months
6/2002 3/2003 6/2002 3/2003
Food, beverages and tobacco 0.7 0.6 2.7 1.1
Publishing, printing & AV services 4.7 — 3.9 —
Chemical industries 4.3 2.9 2.7 4.4
Metal products 0.8 — 2.4 —
Machinery and equipment 3.0 — 2.7 —
Electrical machinery and electronics 4.6 4.0 3.8 4.7
Transport equipment manufacturing 4.1 3.6 3.2 4.1
Retail 6.6 4.9 2.0 4.3
Tourism 8.6 5.5 5.0 4.2
Financial sector 3.7 — 1.6 —
Insurance and pension funding 4.2 — 5.0 —
Real estate activities 2.5 — 1.3 —
Business services 5.0 — 5.1 —
ICT services 11.9 7.2 9.0 5.7
Health and social services 3.8 — 2.3 —
Total (EU-4) 5.3 4.9 3.4 4.2
Table 2. Participation in B2B e-marketplaces by sector (2002—2003) [9]
N o t e. That the sector composition of the EU-4 is a different one in 2003 (7 sectors, N = 2815)
than in 2002 (15 sectors, N = 5917).
places in mid-2002 and early 2003 and that a further 3—4% are planning to do so
in the near future. These figures suggest that the overall impact of B2B e-market-
places is still relatively low, but considerable differences exist between different
industry sectors.
In the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) services sector,
for example, 7—12% is regularly trading via e-marketplaces, while a further
6—9% has reported that they are planning to do so (Table 2). Also the tourism
industry shows an above-average use of e-marketplaces. It is also interesting to
note that the plans to use e-markets seem to be more developed in those indus-
tries that already use them to a larger extent, such as in ICT services, tourism or
business services. This suggests that e-marketplaces are more suited to the
Internet trading demands for some sectors than for others.
Some industries show considerable differences between the e-marketplace
use of small and large companies (Table 3.) Generally, large enterprises are
more likely to use e-marketplaces than SMEs.
While almost 10% of the large enterprises confirm that they use e-market-
places for selling or purchasing products and services, only about 5 % of the
SMEs do so. This picture prevails in the data available for early 2003. The re-
B2B Exchanges-opportunity for Purchasing Process
ISSN 0204–3572. Ýëåêòðîí. ìîäåëèðîâàíèå. 2007. Ò. 29. ¹ 4 125
Participation in e-marketplaces 0�49 employees 50�249 employees 250+ employees
Food & beverages, tobacco 0.5 4.4 6.9
Media & printing 4.6 5.1 13.8
Chemical industries 3.8 2.4 23.2
Metal products 0.6 7.1 13.5
Machinery and equipment 2.6 5.0 19.5
Electronics 4.3 11.0 7.6
Transport equipment 3.6 3.9 20.6
Retail 6.6 5.2 5.5
Tourism 8.6 11.2 8.8
Banking and leasing 3.7 4.7 1.5
Insurance and pension funding 4.0 4.6 6.4
Real estate activities 2.5 2.5 10.5
Business services 5.0 2.9 3.5
ICT services 11.9 14.5 7.8
Health and social services 3.8 0.0 0.8
Total (EU-4) 5.3 5.1 9.8
Total (EU-15) 5.3 5.2 8.6
Total EU-4 in 3/2003 4.9 6.0 7.3
Table 3. Participation in B2B e-marketplaces by sector and size class (mid 2002) [9]
spective ratio is 7% to 5% for a subset of the industries studied in 2002. Among
current non-users, the percentage of enterprises that plan to start using market-
places is higher among large enterprises (5%) than among SMEs (about 4%), but
not as significant as in terms of active participation. Also this picture is the same
in 2003.
Less interest in on line and B2B trading platforms usage is noticed when
comprising B2B purchasing in Poland to situation in other EU countries. 12% of
all enterprises (with 19% employees) in Poland make purchases on line. But 2%
of enterprises do it via B2B trading platforms. This share is relatively higher in
other presented countries (Table 4). Comparable or even higher share of enter-
prises in Poland to other EU countries exchange their documents online with
suppliers but there is a few enterprises in Poland using supply chain manage-
ment systems.
The reasons of such a low interest in online purchases and B2B trading plat-
forms usage can be lower share of enterprises with the computer and the internet
access. The percentage of enterprises using computers in Poland amounts to
77% (86% of employees) while in Germany 93%, in UK 80% but with staff of
94% of total employees number in both countries. The Internet access has 66%
of total enterprises in Poland while in Germany 80% and in UK 75% almost 90%
employees in both countries. Moreover the internet access in Poland is realized
applying technologically less advanced analogue modem [9]. Considering lack
of ICT infrastructure one should remember important assertion made by Carr
S. Kot
126 ISSN 0204–3572. Electronic Modeling. 2007. V. 29. ¹ 4
Country
Online procurement (sourcing) B2B connectivity (SCM)
Make online
purchases, %
Online purchases
> 5%
Buy on B2B
trading
platforms, %
Exchange
documents
online with
suppliers, %
IT system
integrated with
supplier,%
Use SCM
system, %
Firms
Emplo-
yees
Firms
Emplo-
yees
Firms
Emplo-
yees
Firms
Emplo-
yees
Firms
Emplo-
yees
Firms
Emplo-
yees
Germany 39 56 27 30 12 20 25 33 5 8 2 7
Spain 20 28 11 15 8 9 38 46 6 8 6 13
France 27 37 14 16 6 7 35 50 2 7 1 4
Italy 27 30 17 15 4 6 25 30 9 8 1 3
United
Kingdom
48 58 25 29 5 8 46 52 2 9 1 5
Estonia 28 35 6 11 2 3 47 56 3 12 1 4
Poland 12 19 5 9 2 4 40 44 2 3 0 2
Table 4. Online purchasing, B2B connectivity and supply chain management in 2003—2004 [9]
that it was no longer possible to gain strategic advantages from ICT, since their
use has become a commonplace [10].
Many Polish and European enterprises still hesitate to fully engage them-
selves in electronic trade. In some cases, they may have good reasons not to,
based on a clear assessment of potential costs and benefits. In other cases, they
may underestimate the dynamics that lie behind the transition from paper-based
to electronic transactions.
The following problems seem to be of particular relevance.
Lack of awareness of the risks and benefits: Searching for information is not
a priority for most of enterprises. It is often unclear whether e-business is benefi-
cial to them.
Difficulties in identifying the most relevant B2B Internet trading platforms.
In most sectors, a great number of trading platforms exists, with some of them of
dubious character. Due to the lack of market transparency, it is not always easy
to select the right ones, as this would require time and money. This may result in
the need to participate in many different Internet trading platforms, with multiple
fees and higher investment costs.
Insufficient clarity of product definitions and incompatible technical standards:
the diversity of standards makes it difficult to choose the most stable solution.
New commercial risks resulting from incomplete information about market
rules, business partners and unfair practices: e-marketplaces have their own rules
that are sometimes distinct from usual business, e.g. for electronic auctions.
Financial barriers to enter into e-business: the cost of implementing a se-
cured transaction protocol and to maintain IT systems and websites can be very
high. Larger companies can usually better afford these costs, spreading them
more widely and benefiting from the economies of scale. The costs of ICT usage
are lower for large enterprises, even though their systems are more sophisticated,
as smaller enterprises are forced to invest six times more human capital in their
poorer ICT infrastructure and medium-sized enterprises have to invest about
twice as much.
Lack of qualified personnel: qualified personnel are either not directly avail-
able within the existing staff of the enterprise, or hard to find on the job market.
High salaries required by qualified IT experts are often not affordable.
Conclusion. Considering the presented effects of B2B marketplaces for
purchasing, it can be stated that various forms of B2B solutions can be used, the
share of enterprises using B2B platforms depends on the branch and the func-
tioning scale (employees’ number). There is a clear difference in apply of B2B
platform to procurement in Poland and other EU countries. There are still many
problems to solve to make B2B exchanges more common in purchasing process
organizing.
B2B exchanges – opportunity for purchasing process
ISSN 0204–3572. Ýëåêòðîí. ìîäåëèðîâàíèå. 2007. Ò. 29. ¹ 4 127
Íàâåäåíî îñíîâè îáì³í³â B2B è çðîáëåíî îãëÿä ¿õí³õ ôîðì òà ôóíêö³é. Ðîçãëÿíóòî äåòàë³
øâèäêîãî ðîñòó äîõîä³â â³ä òîðã³âë³ B2B ³ îáãðóíòîâàíî çàö³êàâëåí³ñòü Ïîëüù³ ó òàê³é
òîðã³âë³. Çðîáëåíî ñïðîáó ïîÿñíèòè ïðè÷èíè ìàëî¿ çàö³êàâëåíîñò³ ïîëüñêèõ ï³äïðèºìö³â ó
ïðèäáàíí³ B2B.
1. Emiliani M. L. Business-to-business online auctions: Key issues for purchasing process im-
provement. Supply Chain Management // International Journal. — 2000. — Vol. 5, N 4. — P.
176 — 186.
2. Chopra S., Meindl P. Supply Chain Management. Strategy. Planning, and Operation.— New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. — 460 p.
3. Report of the Expert Group on B2B Internet trading platforms. Final report//
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/ict/policy/b2b/index.htm.
4. Opportunities and barriers for SMEs — A first assessment. Commission Staff Working Pa-
per on B2B Internet trading platforms. Commission of the European Communities, Brussels,
11.11.2002. — 35 p.
5. Trading functions on business-to-business portals.— Http://www.emarketservices.com/.
6. To B2B or not to B2B// U.S. News & World Report (2000, February 7). — 36 p.
7. Utility B2B Exchanges Elements for Success. Www.carilec.org/conf_archive.htm.
8. www.emarketservices.com.
9. The European e-Business Report 2004 edition. Official Publications of the European Com-
munities, Luxembourg, September 2004. — 240 p.
10. Carr N.G. IT Doesn’t Maste.— Harvard Business Review. May, 2003.— P. 41—49.
Ïîñòóïèëà 29.03.07
S. Kot
128 ISSN 0204–3572. Electronic Modeling. 2007. V. 29. ¹ 4
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