Abstract
Electronic Marketplaces (e marketplaces) appear to be a promising solution to B2B e-commerce, however its role, as well as the role of other solutions we have identified that can be used to help or to partially support A/VE integration, must go beyond helping to identify suppliers, improving the efficiency of purchasing transactions, etc., as also confirmed by several credible analysts and information technology research sources. Simultaneously, and considering the perspective of the recent virtual enterprise models, we could not see any other environment to cope with its requirements than the integrated environments as the one we are proposing: a Market of Resources or similar solutions. In this chapter we analyze the context in which the Market of Resources appears, identifying favorable existing conditions and reviewing forecasts by credible analysts and consultancy houses, present a SWOT1 analysis, present some critical success factors associated with the exploitation of the Market of Resources, identify the targeted users, and finally explore some potential opportunities and expected benefits. This chapter also identifies the opportunities for the Market of Resources, presenting the e-marketplaces’ evolution, the failure of the first generation of e-marketplaces and presenting some research forecasts for B2B Internet-based transactions. In addition, it highlights the main strengths and weaknesses of the Market of Resources’ ability to support the A/VE model requirements and the main opportunities and threats associated to its exploitation, using a SWOT analysis. This chapter presents the set of critical success factors for the Market of Resources, their definition or explanation and the competitive advantage that each critical success factor confers. It identifies the target users of the Market of Resources and reflects on the opportunities and expected benefits presented by the creation of the Market of Resources to its targeted users and to the implementation of the A/VE organisational model. Finally, it presents some conclusions and future trends.