Business Models for Internet-Based B2B Electronic Markets

Information technology (IT) has long been applied to support exchanges of goods, services, and information between organizations. With the advent of Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) electronic markets, however, real opportunities for online transactions have opened up. This paper develops an extended framework for studying business models of B2B electronic markets in terms of their roles and functions. Synthesizing prior research on electronic markets, interorganizational information systems, and adoption of network technologies, we reveal that B2B electronic markets offer basic market functions, as some researchers have indicated, and that the current functionality base for electronic markets is beginning to emphasize other capabilities that aim to satisfy management information and risk-management needs and enable technological adaptation and systems integration. The analytic framework is applied to a systematic study and classification of representative electronic markets to make sense of the landscape of the emerging on-line B2B marketplaces. Several potential impacts and characteristic development trends are identified, along with a variety of opportunities that B2B e-markets can exploit to create competitive advantage. The extension of prior evaluative frameworks builds a strong foundation that managers can rely upon to enhance their understanding of future developments in this arena.