Web-based e-catalog systems in B2B procurement

Reviewer: S. Srinivasan

Electronic catalogs (e-catalogs) are used in both consumer-oriented electronic commerce (CEC) and business-to-busi ness-oriented electronic commerce (BEC). For many users, they are the primary entry point to a company's products and services. BEC is more focused than CEC, since it has many fewer users. Most e-catalogs are static. Dynamic e-catalogs have a search capability. A virtual catalog combines information from several dynamic catalogs and presents the information in a uniform manner. BECs tend to use virtual catalogs. Electronic data interchange is useful for procurement once the e-catalog has been accessed. Web-based e-catalogs incorporate this feature. The authors point out that procurement has been decentralized with the use of procurement cards. They identify five tangible factors as important for a Web-based procurement system: cycle time, transaction cost, error rate, inventory, and item prices. Their analysis shows that e-catalogs can reduce costs by 25 percent and cycle time by 33 percent. Also, four intangible factors of using a Web-based procurement system are identified: integration, security, technology, and operations. Integration poses the greatest challenge because of existing legacy systems. The authors consider several critical success factors in the implementation of Web-based procurement systems, including complexity, flexibility, and control. Their analysis shows that the goals of the parties involved in flexibility and control were in sufficient conflict to threaten the success of the effort. The authors conclude with some ideas on generalizing their model. The paper is well written and easy to read, and the references are fairly current and pertinent.