Supply Chain of B2b

Abstract

The efficient management of the supply chain has become a major issue for retailers, driven by the need to be responsive and cost effective in the context of changing businesses with the use of modern technology also known as e-business. These changes have revolutionized businesses into Internet based businesses known as the Business to Business and the Business to Customer. These two segments in e-business are unique and are widely projected for spectacular growth. However, they differ in many means when it comes to the supply chain.

Today’s consumers have increasingly high expectations that their individual needs and preferences will be met. They are offered a nearly endless variety of products and services. Customers are savvy about product, prices, and related information, and they have many choices to have their needs fulfilled. To date, the major impediment to getting what you want is simply searching for and finding the product. The Internet has streamlined the search process, which further heightens customer’s expectations that they will find exactly the product they want. This Internet business is generally categorized as either business-to-consumer (B2C) or a Business-to-business (B2B). B2B commerce is a model where transactions are between one company/business and another company/business. A B2C e-commerce is a model where transactions are between a company and consumers. B2C applies to any business or organization selling products/services to consumers over the Internet for their own use (CVOC 2000-2001). In this paper I will further explain how both of these business segments work and how they differ in the supply chain.

In the efficient management of the supply chain it has become a major issue for retailers, driven by the need to be responsive and cost effective in the context of changing businesses by technology also known as e-business. These changes revolutionize businesses into Internet based businesses are known as the Business to Business and the Business to Customer. These two segments in e-business are unique and are widely projected for spectacular growth. However they differ in many means when it comes to the supply chain.

To further define supply chain it is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory with the assumption that products are available when needed (Search CIO.com).

Business to Business:

B2B (Business to Business) site specifically caters one business to another business,

usually providing in house service or maintenance software/networks for other businesses to

utilize in order to increase function, marketing, sales, profits, efficiency and the like. Examples of B2B organizations include manufacturers; industrial suppliers that provide an input into another firm's manufacturing process; technology hardware vendors that operate through distributors; insurance companies that sell insurance policies through brokers; and government agencies serving the corporate community.

B2B firms into four categories:

a) MRO hubs (Maintenance, Repair, and Operating)

b) Yield Managers

c) Exchanges

d) Catalog units

This