Portfolios of Exchange Relationships: An Empirical Investigation of an Online Marketplace for IT Services

Uladzimir Radkevitch, Eric van Heck and Otto Koppius

ERIM Report Series Research in Management from Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam

Abstract: Small firms face distinct problems and opportunities when procuring IT resources. Whereas previous work focused at the level of firm or buyer-supplier dyad, we address portfolios of buyer-supplier relationships at an online marketplace for IT services. Using the portfolio approach, we develop a buyers taxonomy and analyze properties of resulting clusters. Our investigation reveals four clusters of buyers with distinct mixes of long-term and short-term supplier relationships. Although reverse auctions are found to be associated with short-term relationships and negotiations support long-term relationships, buyers in different clusters use the two mechanisms in combination to a different extent.

Keywords: Buyer-supplier relationships; IT services; Online markets; Outsourcing; Performance; Reverse auctions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L11 L15 M O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-05-10
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