Some respondents expressed the view that firms serving local markets do not need B2B e-commerce.
They argued that transactions between local firms are easily carried out using fax, telephone and face-toface contacts. Others attributed their non-use of B2B e-commerce to a lack of security. One respondent
observed that ‘you never know into which hands our firm’s secrets will land … Competitors may access
such information and use it against our firm’.3
Those respondents reporting that their firms were using B2B e-commerce gave a variety of reasons for
doing so. Most respondents agreed that the use of B2B e-commerce might save time and reduce
communication costs.2 One respondent indicated that prior to the introduction of B2B e-commerce the
firm was communicating with its overseas customers using the DHL courier and that sending a sample to
a customer for verification took three to four days. With e-commerce he was able to send digital
photographs as e-mail attachments, which take only a few minutes to reach the customer. This firm was
unique in the sample. It had a website and was operating ‘open’ network link with its clients and a closed
extranet with its regular customers.
The other reason reported for using B2B e-commerce was to identify sources of raw materials. Since
most of the raw materials and other inputs are imported, it is easier to identify suppliers by using the
Internet. In the words of a respondent, ‘at the click of a mouse one can identify many suppliers from
whom to choose’.
5.4 Benefits Gained from the Use of B2B E-Commerce.
The respondents indicated that they had gained from the introduction of B2B e-commerce in several ways
(see Table 8). Four firms were reported to have changed suppliers due to the use of B2B e-commerce.
Three had increased the number of their international suppliers and business customers. Some reported
that they had increased revenues and profits as well as improved their operations. Five firms’ respondents
reported that B2B e-commerce applications had contributed to an increase in revenues and profits, the
latter being realised as a result of a reduction in telephone costs. Improvements in the firms’ operations
were said to have occurred due to reduction of transaction costs. Three firms using B2B e-commerce
were reported to have gained new clients as well as to have increased their sales.
3
This Director was unwilling to say which transactions are carried out using data communication.
Firms with middle aged adventurous directors and managers were more likely to use B2B e-commerce than older directors and
managers.
2
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