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Keywords Internet, Purchasing
Abstract Modern procurement is being shifted from paper-based, people-intensive buying systems toward electronic-based purchase procedures that rely on Internet communications and Web-enhanced buying tools. Develops a typology of e-commerce tools that have come to characterize cutting-edge industrial procurement. E-commerce aspects of purchasing are organized into communication and transaction tools that encompass both internal and external buying activities. Further, a model of the impact of e-commerce on the structure and processes of an organization's buying center is developed. The impact of the changing buying center on procurement outcomes in terms of efficiency and effectiveness is also analyzed. Finally, implications for business-tobusiness marketers and researchers are discussed.
Cost of distribution
Introduction
The explosive growth of the Internet and Web-based software applications has brought about increasing adoption of electronic commerce tools by businesses to achieve efficiencies in production and marketing of products and services. Electronic commerce has been defined as "... more than simply buying and selling goods electronically; involves using network communications technology to engage in a wide range of activities up and down the value-added chain both within and outside the organization" (Applegate et al., 1996, p. 32). The assortment of business products and services distributed through the World Wide Web ranges from office equipment, heavy industrial products, and computers to more esoteric services such as consulting on modified atmosphere packaging. Internetbased applications provide the means for industrial buyers to find suppliers in the most efficient way through electronic markets and communities such as CommerceOne and VerticalNet and to potentially pass on the resulting savings to end users. In fact, in some categories such as information services and digital products, providers can potentially decrease the financial cost of distribution to zero (Jones, 1995; Hoffman et al., 1995).
Business to consumer transactions
Most of the recent research dealing with the Internet and e-commerce focuses on business to consumer transactions; that is, how to employ electronic commerce strategies to market products or services to individual consumers. However, the vast majority of e-based transactions are in the business-to-business sphere rather than directly involving consumer end-users (Kalakota and Robinson, 1999). While estimates vary, analysts suggest that business purchases account for upwards of 90 percent of Internet transactions. Further, over 90 percent of medium/large firms have...