After all, the premise of competitive advantage in every industry is that participants bring a unique, inimitable value to their customers. We then describe why we think the three requirements described above will satisfy the infrastructure needs of various types of B2B intermediaries and incumbents, both today and as they evolve. These stages are illustrated in Figure 1 and described below. In the early stage, B2B intermediaries focus more on bringing buyers and suppliers to a Web portal. They also provide content and community information of interest to participants.
Participants benefit from reduced search costs and the ability to conduct ad hoc purchases.
In this stage, intermediaries drive volume, often by partnering with large buyers or sellers in their industry. Intermediaries also may internally implement financial and other applications to better serve participants and support their growth. To do that, however, these applications and business services must be integrated with the intermediary's platform and business processes. The cost of design, supply chain and fulfillment processes can be greatly reduced with collaboration and automation. Participants can also, for example, significantly shorten the time it takes to introduce new products and generally speed the flow of goods through their supply chains.