The Effects of E-commerce on the Structure of Intermediation

Stefan W. Schmitz

Industrial Organization from EconWPA

Abstract: The paper questions the notion that the diffusion of electronic commerce will lead to disintermediation. Rather than interpreting intermediation as a single service it is pointed out that intermediaries can provide a number of services. The analysis based on the New Institutional Economics, Market Microstructure Theory, and Information Economics shows that the three intermediation services studied are, generally, not under threat by the diffusion of electronic commerce. The overall effects on intermediation depend on the relevance of these services relative to others (e.g. order processing) which are supposed to become obsolete.

Keywords: B2C eCommerce; intermediation; new institutional economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L L B (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com
Date: 2002-11-04
Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on wordfile on mac; pages: 36; figures: none. Will be published in C. Steinfield (ed.), New Directions in Research on E-Commerce, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indianna (forthcoming)

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpio:0211002

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