حذف واسطه از نقش های واسطه گرهای مواد شیمیایی سنتی در روابط تجاری بنگاه به بنگاه مبادلات جهانی

The traditional chemical distribution industry is a multi-billion dollar business and with the introduction of Electronic Business-to-Business (e-B2B) exchanges to the global chemical industry there is some concern about the future roles of traditional intermediaries (TI). The objectives of this research paper are to investigate the possibility of disintermediation of roles of TI by e-B2B exchanges and to identify the value adding role of TI as perceived by chemical distributors and buyers. If these value adding roles may be the key to future survival for TI in the marketplace. International data collected from e-B2B exchanges, chemical distributors and buyers are used. Content analysis of e-B2B exchanges was conducted while survey questionnaires were used for distributors and buyers using a cross-sectional approach. The research shows that whilst the e-B2B exchanges have a role to play in the chemical supply chain management there were still sub-functions which the buyers viewed that the TI could offer to them. So the supplier–buyer relationships could be maintained between the buyers and the TI, at least for the time being, until newer business models of e-B2B exchanges begins to compete with the TI’s to offer these sub-functions. The research holds valuable implications for TI in the chemical industry regarding the need for differentiation with a view building new competences to survive the encroachment of their traditional business base by e-B2B exchanges. The impact of e-B2B exchanges on TI in the chemical industry has not previously been studied in-depth. This paper provides new knowledge and makes a contribution by providing evidence of evolution in the chemical distribution channels.

Much has been written about electronic commerce (EC) and Electronic Business-to-Business (e-B2B) exchanges in relation to the roles they play and these roles seems to be numerous (e.g. Smith, 2009 and Bull, 2010). This view was also supported by the argument that outdated distribution channels were being replaced by distributors that could add value to the customers (Hammer, 2000) with traditional goods, services and information supply chains being obliterated in the process (Datta, 2005). Hence, manufacturers can by-pass traditional intermediaries (TI) such as distributors, resellers, dealers and retailers by selling direct by using the internet channels (Lee et al., 2003 and Day and Bens, 2005). The introduction of e-B2B exchanges to the chemical industry has raised concerns about the future roles of TI for chemical distributions. Can e-B2B exchanges cause channel conflict and disintermediation of the TI? Are there TI roles that can be usurped by e-B2B exchanges? This research aims to assess the possible current and future impact of e-B2B exchanges on the roles of TI in the global chemical industry, thus allowing strategic planners across that sector to better anticipate changes in distribution dynamics and buyers’ preferences. The research also examined the roles that chemical distributors considered as important to the buyers in order to continue their services to the buyers and also the roles that buyers considered as important to them in retaining the services of the distributors.

The research shows evidence that buyers were currently buying from e-B2B exchanges. There were consensus from both the distributors and buyers on the roles that needed to be provided to the buyers by distributors to ensure the continuing relationships between them. So the buyers see a role for the TI in their supply chain and the TI will possibly not face total disintermediation by e-B2B exchanges. However, from evidence gathered in this small preliminary survey the TI’s have to share the business with e-B2B exchanges and they are possibly facing a partial disintermediation from e-B2B exchanges. The summary of the findings relevant to the research questions and objectives for this research are as follows: 1. Each of the types of e-B2B exchanges, i.e. independent, private and consortium-led, appear to be able to cause partial disintermediation of the roles of the TI. 2. In the one sample t-tests, the buyers viewed the sub-functions of “On-Time Delivery”, “Product Availability”, “Aggregating” and “Credit Payment” as being very important to them. The distributors also viewed all the sub-functions as very important to them except for the sub-functions of “Blending/Repackaging” and “Regulatory”. Both the distributors and buyers viewed the sub-function of “Blending/Repackaging” as not at all important to them. 3. From the independent two samples t-tests results, it was observed that there were significant differences in the preferences between the buyers and distributors for the sub-functions of “Determination of Product Offerings”, “Searching”, “Price Discovery”, “Product Availability”, “On-Time Delivery”, “Product Knowledge” and “Legal”. 4. From the Spearman Correlation Coefficient obtained for the ranks data, it was observed that the distributors and buyers have very high agreement on the overall order of preferences of the sub-functions.