Why don't buyers like electronic reverse auctions? Some insights from a French study

Lilan Peng and Richard Calvi

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2012, vol. 5, issue 3, 352-367

Abstract: This article aims to illustrate the resistance to change from the buyers' side that is related to the application of electronic reverse auction (ERA) in organisations. Our article focuses on the relation between the tool and the buyers. ERA brings significant changes to the purchasing process. When the method is introduced to the field, the resistance to change occurs not only from the suppliers' side, but also from the buyers' side. It seems that many buyers do not like ERA, and most of them will not use ERA spontaneously. There is a reluctance to change from the buyer's side, both at the pilot phase and sporadic phase. From this exploratory research, we also identify six reasons for this reluctance. This conclusion is deduced from a qualitative survey carried out with ERA experts from top retailer groups (Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, Castorama) and two e-procurement consulting companies in France.

Keywords: purchasing; electronic reverse auctions; procurement auctions; e-auctions; e-sourcing; eRA; online auctions; contracts; published specifications; bids; bidding; internet; world wide web; tool-buyer relationships; change management; France; buyers; change resistance; suppliers; pilot phases; sporadic phases; experts; retail trade; retailing; retailers; supermarkets; Auchan; Carrefour; Castorama; e-procurement; electronic procurement; consultants; consulting companies; Esoulutionsway; SynerTrade; hypermarkets; discount stores; Groupe Casino; Casino Guichard-Perrachon; do it yourself; DIY; home improvements; procurement management. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=47172 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijpman:v:5:y:2012:i:3:p:352-367

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Procurement Management from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().