E-Commerce Transaction Mechanisms And Buyer-Supplier Relationship

Information exchange between the buyer and supplier is an important aspect of supply chain management. B2B e-commerce helps firms to share information, maintain relationships, and conduct transactions more efficiently. The choice of B2B e-commerce transactions will influence, and as well as affect, the relationships between exchange parties. Thus, the choice of e-commerce transaction mechanisms has a relational context. An appropriate choice of a transaction mechanism can affect a firm’s strategy, procurement decisions, and performance. It had been argued that e-commerce facilitates both discrete and relational exchanges, and it has a dual impact on business relationships. In this paper, we examine a collection of diverse studies on EDI and e-marketplace from marketing and information systems literatures. We assimilate these findings for managers considering choices on e-commerce transaction mechanisms. We hope that this will provide managers a more consistent understanding of buyer-supplier relationships in the B2B e-commerce context.