Such a taxonomy can help managers make technology decisions that are most appropriate for their particular requirements and objectives. While no definitive language has emerged for categorizing B2B relationships, one useful model is that of Acquaintances, Friends and Lovers. Acquaintances are companies you work with without any extended contractual commitment. Acquaintances typically shop based on pricing and availability, and don't demonstrate much long-term loyalty. This turnover usually prevents companies from establishing any direct, fixed linkages between their respective e-business infrastructures.
Friends work a little more closely together.
Often, they'll have some kind of explicitly negotiated contractual agreement covering issues such as pricing, service and delivery. Just as importantly, Friend suppliers can add value by exposing information from their back-end systems to their Friend customers. Lovers can link their systems to each other's even more tightly. And, because the number of B2B Lovers a company has is usually limited and fixed, their respective IT departments can apply the extensive security measures needed to ensure that those linkages don't compromise key information resources. An open catalog-style Web site that's available to any and all B2B Acquaintances, for example, will probably have fixed pricing.