Collaborative Markets in B2B Relationships

Since about 2000, relationships among firms within the supply chain have been changing in order to face new threats and opportunities that have arisen from web-based technologies. In the literature, two trends are emerging: market mechanisms are emphasized through electronic catalogs, auctions, and exchanges; at the same time, web technologies support collaboration among partners within the supply chain. This divergence opens up space for the emergence of a particular typology of relationship, which can be defined as a collaborative market. In such a relationship, the flexibility of new technologies reduces costs and resources needed to communicate and coordinate with suppliers, thus allowing companies to collaborate over a short-term horizon. The aim of this research is to analyze and understand the main implications of Internet adoption in the relationships across the supply chain and to test its influence on the customer-supplier interaction. Evidence is based on a survey administered to 162 U.S. companies that investigates customer-supplier relationships before and after Internet adoption.