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Intermediaries and Cybermediaries A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Business
页数：10 字数：4413
Intermediaries and Cybermediaries: A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Business
Abstract
The advent of nearly ubiquitous information infrastructures has led many to predict that one effect of electronic markets will be the bypassing of intermediaries in electronic markets. The ability of electronic networks to reduce transaction costs is the theoretical cause of this supposed trend. On the contrary, not only is it likely that widely available information infrastructures will reinforce the position of traditional intermediaries, but that networks will also promote the growth of a new generation of intermediaries. These new players, which we term "Cybermediaries," are organizations that perform the mediating tasks in the world of electronic commerce. We illustrate that the case for the elimination of intermediaries in the move to create direct producer-consumer links is based on questionable assumptions. We then examine functions of intermediaries that are not easily absorbed by producers. We describe some of the new forms of cybermediaries, noting the new needs that electronic commerce imposes on producers and consumers. We note that using a rational, economic logic rooted in transaction cost theory, it is equally plausible to conclude that more, rather than fewer intermediaries will be involved in electronic markets. Finally, we briefly highlight several social and institutional factors that also may mitigate against the elimination of intermediaries. This broader perspective of the role of intermediaries in the exchange process calls for incorporating consumer-centric and institutional perspectives into the discussion of the evolution of electronic market structures.
Keywords: Intermediaries ; Cybermediaries; Electronic Business
Arguments for the Elimination of Intermediaries
Critiquing the Threatened Intermediaries Hypothesis
Towards a Broader View of Intermediary Functions
Cybermediaries: New Network-Based Intermediaries
Institutional, Social and Subjective Factors and Intermediation
Conclusion
References
Introduction
The increasing popularity of the Internet has generated significant interest in the development of electronic retail commerce. As the fledgling form of the NII, the Internet has the potential to evolve into an interconnected marketplace, facilitating the exchange of a wide variety of products and services. Although we agree that direct producer-consumer linkages will proliferate over the NII, we disagree that this will cause intermediaries to disappear. Analysis of the nature of consumer needs, particularly in a computer-mediated environment, suggests that there will be a role for both traditional and new types of intermediaries that broker the relationship between producers and consumers.
The paper is organized in the following sections. First, we review the arguments made by those who believe that traditional intermediaries, such as wholesalers and retailers, will be bypassed in an electronic mark
页数：10 字数：4413
Intermediaries and Cybermediaries: A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Business
Abstract
The advent of nearly ubiquitous information infrastructures has led many to predict that one effect of electronic markets will be the bypassing of intermediaries in electronic markets. The ability of electronic networks to reduce transaction costs is the theoretical cause of this supposed trend. On the contrary, not only is it likely that widely available information infrastructures will reinforce the position of traditional intermediaries, but that networks will also promote the growth of a new generation of intermediaries. These new players, which we term "Cybermediaries," are organizations that perform the mediating tasks in the world of electronic commerce. We illustrate that the case for the elimination of intermediaries in the move to create direct producer-consumer links is based on questionable assumptions. We then examine functions of intermediaries that are not easily absorbed by producers. We describe some of the new forms of cybermediaries, noting the new needs that electronic commerce imposes on producers and consumers. We note that using a rational, economic logic rooted in transaction cost theory, it is equally plausible to conclude that more, rather than fewer intermediaries will be involved in electronic markets. Finally, we briefly highlight several social and institutional factors that also may mitigate against the elimination of intermediaries. This broader perspective of the role of intermediaries in the exchange process calls for incorporating consumer-centric and institutional perspectives into the discussion of the evolution of electronic market structures.
Keywords: Intermediaries ; Cybermediaries; Electronic Business
Arguments for the Elimination of Intermediaries
Critiquing the Threatened Intermediaries Hypothesis
Towards a Broader View of Intermediary Functions
Cybermediaries: New Network-Based Intermediaries
Institutional, Social and Subjective Factors and Intermediation
Conclusion
References
Introduction
The increasing popularity of the Internet has generated significant interest in the development of electronic retail commerce. As the fledgling form of the NII, the Internet has the potential to evolve into an interconnected marketplace, facilitating the exchange of a wide variety of products and services. Although we agree that direct producer-consumer linkages will proliferate over the NII, we disagree that this will cause intermediaries to disappear. Analysis of the nature of consumer needs, particularly in a computer-mediated environment, suggests that there will be a role for both traditional and new types of intermediaries that broker the relationship between producers and consumers.
The paper is organized in the following sections. First, we review the arguments made by those who believe that traditional intermediaries, such as wholesalers and retailers, will be bypassed in an electronic mark
