Published by:
London School of Economics
Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is widely believed to promise a radical change in the way that firms trade with one another. B2B e-commerce applications are being promoted as tools that will enable producer firms in developing countries to reduce their costs substantially, thereby easing their access to global markets. The vision of B2B e-commerce is driven by a simple idea. The Internet provides an open global network and access to this network is relatively cheap. Internet-based B2B e-commerce should help producers in developing countries obtain better information on global markets and give them direct access to new customers.