Tipos De B2B

TYPES OF B2B E-BUSINESS MODEL COMMONLY USED: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON AUSTRALIAN AGRIBUSINESS FIRMS

Dr Eric Ng Faculty of Business University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba Queensland Australia Phone: 61 7 4631 1298 Fax: 61 7 4631 5597 E-mail: ericng@usq.edu.au 4350

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TYPES OF B2B E-BUSINESS MODEL COMMONLY USED: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON AUSTRALIAN AGRIBUSINESS FIRMS

Abstract This paperexplores the various B2B e-business models commonly used using in-depth interviews and case studies conducted with Australian agribusiness firms. There is an apparent need to rethink the types of e-business models to be adopted as businesses make their transition toward the electronic environment. This is particularly evident in the B2B market where e-business has seen a significant growth. Fromthe analysis, 10 B2B e-business models were identified with seven of them regarded as commonly used by agribusiness firms. Furthermore, rationales on the adoption of these models were also discussed and comparisons were made based on organisational size, industry sector and the current state of e-business model adoption.

Introduction The growing importance of e-business has resulted in anincreasing number of organisations conducting their business activities in the electronic environment (Kalakota & Robinson 1999). The uptake of e-business has been particularly significant in business-to-business (B2B) markets (Barnes-Vieyra & Claycomb 2001) to the extent that approximately US$105 trillion worth of sales transactions will be generated worldwide by the year 2005 (Gartner Group 2004).Although the emergence of e-business requires changes to existing business models to reflect the changing new environment (Barnes & Hunt 2001), organisations are faced with a wide range of e-business models, many of which are not well understood by potential users (Rappa 2001). The emergence of e-business and the resulting lack of empirical research into the types of models available for conductingB2B e-commerce are the

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key issues addressed in this paper. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the Australian agribusiness industry (NOIE 2001).

Agribusinesses worldwide have increasingly been involved in B2B e-commerce and have capitalised the many benefits of e-business to improve the marketing of their products (Shapiro & Varian 1999; Allen Consulting Group 2000). TheAustralian agribusiness industry consists of a large number of small enterprises, many of which are supportive of the adoption of e-commerce techniques (The Australian Electronic Business Network 1998). The industry has a high level of reliance on accurate and timely information (such as weather data and stock information) and large distances between producers and customers, making this industry conduciveto the benefit of e-business (Allen Consulting Group 2000). Hence, this paper will address the question ‘What e-business models are commonly used for conducting B2B e-commerce in the Australian agribusiness industry? Why?’

Literature Review An e-business model refers to a structure that increases the value propositions to customers as compared to traditional business models and to provideguidance for organisations to conduct their business activities in the e-business environment on a sustainable basis (Hardaker & Graham 2001). Research into B2B e-business models has only just begun to emerge (Osterwalder, Lagha & Pigneur 2002), whereas the current literature has mainly focused on the details and development (Wise & Morrison 2000; Rappa 2001) and does not adequately address the manycomplexities facing contemporary businesses including agribusiness firms.

Whilst, research in B2B e-business models has examined different classifications with the aim of addressing the difficulty of consistently categorising e-business models (Pigneur n.d.;

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Timmers 1999), no single unique classification system for the types of B2B e-business models has been developed (Rappa 2001;...