994 Small Business Collaboration Through Electronic Marketplaces be pooled together, which cannot be achieved by the one-to-many and many-to-one e-business solutions. This study draws on the work of Stone (2003), ZKRSUHVH QW VW KHVL [³ , QWH U QHW6W DW HV´RI,%0¶VH business evolution, and Martin and Matley (2001), who present a DTI e-adoption ladder, which is adapted from the Cisco-led Information Age Part- nership study on e-commerce in small business. These two models have been adopted in this study as they highlight the transformational aspects of e-business technology; with a particular focus on WKH³WUDQVDFW´DQG³LQWHJUDWLRQ´VWDJHV To further assist with the development of a conceptual e-business framework and a generic e-catalogue, we utilize analysis of data from 6,000 small businesses situated within Tameside, Greater Manchester, England together with the vision of economic growth that could result from greater collaboration, within the context of the Tameside Business Portal. 1 According to Dixon et al. (2002), wholesaling and retailing are the two sectors more likely to adopt ICT than other sectors. In our data, as illustrated in Figure 1, the wholesale/retail trade is in fact the biggest sector Z LW K L Q 7D P H V L G H Z LW K D W R W D O RI ¿ U P V The e-business framework was thus designed to mainly support these two sectors. Nevertheless, these businesses are mixed in nature; therefore, an e-business framework able to support more than one e-business solution is imperative. Further, MacGregor (2004) showed that small businesses with fewer than 10 employees were more likely to be part of a formal network. Our data reveals WKDWDVXEVWDQWLDOQXPEHURI¿UPVLQWKH locality are micro enterprises, hiring fewer than 10 people (see Figure 2). Therefore, a framework that would also be able to provide an integrated DQGFROODERUDWLYHSODWIRUPIRUVPDOO¿UPVLVHV- sential. %DVHGRQWKH¿QGLQJVIURPWKHOLWHUDWXUHLQ this domain, IBM’s e-business evolution model (Stone, 2003), DTI e-adoption ladder (Martin & Matley, 2001), analysis of the industry sec- tor, Tameside company sizes, and review of the Tameside Business Portal, the proposed e-business framework is as shown in Figure 3. The framework utilizes both the Web portal and e-marketplace models (Piccinelli & Mokrushin, 2001; Dai & Kauffman, 2002; Stockdale & Standing, 2002). Although e-marketplace and Web portal are two different e-business models, they tend to intersect )LJXUH%XVLQHVVVHFWRUVDQGQXPEHURI¿UPVLQ7DPHVLGH6RXUFH70%& Businesses in Tameside - Breakdown by business sectors 1015 546 1737 694 249 88 572 271 86 616 (17%) (8%) (30%) (10%) (4%) (4%) (10%) (2%) (3%) (12%) 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 Manufacturing Construction Wholesale/retail trade Hotels and restaurants Transport, storage and communication Financial intermediation Real estate, renting and business activities Ed uc a tio n Health and social w ork Other community, social and personal service activities Business Sectors No of firms 659 (10%) 250 4% 210 (4%) 580 (10%) 210 (4%) 710 (12%) 1780(29%) 510 (8%) 1015 (17%) 110 (2%) 995 Small Business Collaboration Through Electronic Marketplaces )LJXUH6L]HRIWKH¿UPVLQWHUPVRIQXPEHURIHPSOR\HHVLQ7DPHVLGH6RXUFH70%& Breakdown of firms by no of employees 0% 2% 2% 75% 21% 1-9 10 - 99 100 - 499 500 + Unknown Figure 3. Conceptual view of the small business e-business framework (Adapted from Tan & Macaulay, 2006) E-Marketplace Web Portal B2C e-business (X) Indirect input Short-term relationships Spot sourcing e.g. sportswear retailers B2B e-business (Y) Direct/indirect input Mainly long-term relationships Pre-trade is usually required Systematic sourcing e.g. sportswear manufacturers & wholesalers C + Common business process in functionality, and the degree of intersection is increasing (Wang & Archer, 2004). Portal service providers attempt to add transaction facility into their portal applications, whilst e-marketplace service providers offer self-service personal- ized portals to assist clients administrate their transaction-related content (Wang & Archer, 2004). The framework is drawn up to meet the following criteria: 1. To support a considerable number of small businesses, who have a narrow product/ser- vice range 7RVXSSRUW VPDOO ¿UPV WKDW DUHPL[HG LQ nature, particularly the wholesale and retail trades 3. To support both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets As shown in Figure 3, the e-business framework comprises an e-catalogue (C), B2C (X), and B2B (Y) applications. Unlike B2B e-business, B2C trading partner relationships are mainly short-term, and transactions are mostly made instantly (spot sourcing); that is, price negotiation 996 Small Business Collaboration Through Electronic Marketplaces (pre-trade) is not required. Besides the pre-trade activity, the other main difference between them is that in B2B, the administration of several catalogues is required (Kim & Lee, 2003; Pham & Fucher, 2004). The intersection of elements X and Y (;ŀ<) is the e-catalogue (C) and shared/common business activities. The shared business processes might include, for example, various business documents and business functionalities that the two e-busi- ness solutions have in common. The e-catalogue is the core of the e-business framework and the accomplishment of the framework’s objectives depends upon its underlying architecture and data design. It can thus be proposed that the conceptual view of small business e-business framework is s e F: s e F = P portal * E e-marketplaces {X, Y}, and in which C catalogue = ;ŀ< A number of e-marketplace models and structure have been presented (Kaplan & Sawhney, 2000; Piccinelli & Mokrushin, 2001; Dai & Kauffman, 2002; Rudberg, Klingenberg, & Kronhamn, 2002; Stockdale & Standing, 2002, 2004; Daniel, Hoxmeier, White, & Smart, 2004). Based on the ¿QGLQJVWKHPDLQIRFXVLVRQKRUL]RQWDOPDUNHWV that enable spot and systematic sourcing of both indirect goods (used for the operation of business) and direct goods (used of raw materials for pro- duction) that do not require specialized logistics DQGIXO¿OOPHQWPHFKDQLVPV THE GENERIC E-CATALOGUE FRAMEWORK As e-catalogue is the core of the proposed e-busi- ness framework, to achieve our aims, a generic e-catalogue framework is proposed (as shown in )LJ X UH7KLVLVFD U U LHGRXWED VHGX SRQ¿ QG L QJV from the literature (Wong & Keller, 1994; Baron, Shaw, & Bailey, 2000; Fensel et al., 2001; Liu, Lin, Chen, & Huang, 2001; Kim & Lee, 2003) and a review of a number of SME Web sites in the locality. To deal with the problem of hetero- geneity of product categories, the United Nations )LJXUH*HQHULF¿YHOHYHOHFDWDORJXHIUDPHZRUN$GDSWHGIURP7DQ0DFDXOD\ Sportswear & Equipment Catalogue-level Resource-level Domain-level Product-level Protective rainwear or wet environment apparel (46181523) Sport cap (49221510) /sport safety headgear (49221504) ……… … 1 1 1 0 * Sub-catalogue (eg. Summer sales) Main catalogue Leisurewear, Sportswear e.g. Kammo ltd. (B2B/B2C) 0 * 1 Sub-catalogue (Trading partners) 1 1 Sportswear Manufacturer and wholesaler e.g.Trailwise Main catalogue Category level (UNSPSC) 997 Small Business Collaboration Through Electronic Marketplaces Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC ® , FODVVL¿FDWLRQVFKHPDLVDOVRDGRSWHG7KH proposed e-catalogue framework is divided into a number of levels: • Product-level / Goods-level: Product-level stores detail product item information. It includes standard product information that applies to all items, for example product name and description, as well as product attributes that belong to the similar product family such as colors and sizes. •Product Category-level: Products that have common characteristics are grouped within the same product category, and are not re- V W U LF W H G W R R Q O\ R Q H F D W H J R U \$ Z HO O G H ¿ Q H G SURGXFWFODVVL¿FDWLRQV\VWHPLVQHHGHGDQGLW is crucial for product location and discovery, the UNSPSC ® version 7.0901 is, therefore, adopted at this level. •Catalogue-level: To enable a diverse range RI¿UPVWRSDUWLFLSDWHDQGFROODERUDWHLQD multi-vendors catalogue environment, the catalogue-level is proposed. As shown in )LJXUHHDFK¿UPFDQKDYHRQHYLUWXDO store, each store has one main catalogue, DQGXQGHUWKHPDLQFDWDORJXHHDFK¿UPFDQ have zero to many (0 - *) sub-catalogues. Catalogues can be open (public) or closed (private). A closed catalogue is usually used by B2B businesses and typically in- cludes prenegotiated terms such as product SULFHVDQGLVRQO\DFFHVVLEOHE\DVSHFL¿F buyer or a trading partner. However, private catalogues still share the same systems and entries as the public catalogue. By doing so, the streamlining of business processes can EHDFFRPSOLVKHG:KLOVWIRU%&¿UPVD sub-catalogue can include either their special RIIHUVRUZLQWHUVDOHFDWDORJXHV(DFK¿UP maintains its own set of e-catalogues. The catalogue-level contains information such as catalogue name and status. • Resource-level/store-level: Resource-level KROGVL Q IRU P DW LR QRIDVS H FL ¿FYL U W X D OV WRUH such as store contact details. •Domain-level: Domain-level contains the domain that an individual business belongs to (e.g., sportswear and equipment). CONCLUSION: THE FRAMEWORK AND E-COLLABORATION Five different scenarios for collaboration that the framework would support are illustrated in Figure 5. Each circle represents a small business (e.g., a1, d2, b4) and the boundary lines show col- laborations. A business can belong to more than one collaboration group for example, b1 belongs WRJURXS$DQGJURXS%7KH¿YHVFHQDULRVDUH described below. Scenario A: Strategic Alliances Strategic alliances involve collaboration among GLIIHUHQWVHOOHUV6PDOO¿UPVFDQOLDLVHZLWKHDFK other to offer complementary products so as to boost sales or to enter new markets. Scenario B: Joint Ventures Joint ventures involve collaboration between similar or complementary service businesses. Two or more small businesses can be formed to jointly bid for bigger contracts or much larger contracts WKDQWKH\DUHDEOHWRIXO¿OOE\WKHPVHOYHVVXFK as responding to an invitation to tender from government agency. Scenario C: Collaborative Sourcing Collaborative sourcing involves collaboration among different buyers. Businesses can join to- gether to purchase items such as fuel and hence leverage collective buying power in order to negotiate a better deal. 998 Small Business Collaboration Through Electronic Marketplaces Scenario D: Sharing of Information, Knowledge, and Resources Firms can collaborate with other businesses to share information or resources, for example shar- ing of trade information. They can also organize a joint local or national event, or send a group of representatives to a costly international trade IDLUZLWKLQGLYLGXDO¿UP¶VSURGXFWDQGRUVHUYLFH information. Scenario E: Collaborative Supply- Chain Collaborative supply-chain involves collaboration between buyers and suppliers. Businesses can form a collaborative buyer-supplier relationship, thus streamlining their business processes. The framework utilizes the emerging e-busi- ness models of Web portal and e-marketplace, and provides an integrated and collaborative SO D W I R U P I R U V P D O O ¿ U P V 7 K H :HE S R U W D O S U RY L G H V a one-stop shop and the e-marketplace offers the aggregation of a wide variety of information such as services and products created by differ- ent businesses. With the advent of Extensible Markup Language (XML) standards, the sharing, exchange, and integration of product information among value chains can be accomplished easily and effortlessly (Bagchi & Tulskie, 2000). In addition, through grouping small businesses into RQHFRQYHQLHQWORFDWLRQWKHVH¿UPVZRXOGJDLQD wider audience than they could get on their own, as stated in Terziovski (2003), each business can REWDLQWKHDGYDQWDJHRI³ELJQHVV´RUHFRQRPLHV of scale while remaining small. ACKNOWLEDGMENT $ Q H D U O LH U YH U V LR Q RI W K L V S D S H U ³ ( P D U NH W SO D F H V A generic electronic catalogue framework for SMEs,” was presented to the 17th International Information Resources Management Associa- tion Conference, May 21-24, Washington, D.C., USA. Web portal + e-marketplace + generic e-catalogue framework (Each circle represents a small business) d1 B2C B2B B2B d3 c2 b5 c1 c3 B2C a1 a4 a2 a3 (A) Strategic alliances -offer complementary products b2 b1 b4 b3 (B) Jointly bid for a bigger contract/ responding to an invitation to tender from government agency d4 (E) Collaborative supply-chain (C) Collaborative sourcing d2 (D) Sharing of information /knowledge Figure 5. Possibly collaboration opportunities for small businesses 999 Small Business Collaboration Through Electronic Marketplaces REFERENCES Adams, J., Koushik, S., Vasudeva, G., & Galam- bos, G. (2003). Patterns for e-business: A strategy for reuse. Canada: IBM Press. Baron, J. P., Shaw, M. 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Chiozza, & M. Edin (Eds.), Challenges and achievements in e-busi- ness and e-work (pp. 173-178). Amsterdam: IOS Press. Wong, W. T., & Keller, A. M. (1994). Developing an Internet presence with online electronic cata- logs. Retrieved November 21, 2006, from Stanford University Info Lab: http://www-db.stanford. edu/pub/keller/1994/cnet-online-cat.pdf KEY TERMS Collaborative Sourcing: The collaboration among different buyers. Buyers can join together to purchase items such as fuel and hence leverage collective buying power in order to negotiate a better deal. Collaborative Supply-Chain: The coordina- tion of all supply activities of a business from its suppliers and partners to its customers, which streamline their business processes. E-Business Solutions: The use of emerg- ing computer and information technologies, in addition to re-engineered business processes to develop innovative Web applications that support online business activities. E-Marketplace: A Web-based system that facilitates and encourages buying and selling to induce collaboration among trading partners across a selection of industries. Spot Sourcing: A trading mechanism com- monly used in B2C online shopping. The buyer’s JRDOLVWR¿QGWKHUHTXLUHGJRRGVDWDORZHVWFRVW and the purchase of goods is usually made im- mediately. Buyer-supplier relationship is mainly short-term. Systematic Sourcing: A trading mechanism mostly used in B2B e-business. Prior to the trans- actions, buyers and suppliers have established some kind of trading relationships. The procure- ment of goods is made systematically, which is based on their prenegotiated terms. Web Portal: A Web-based system that ag- gregates multiple information sources and ap- plications hence providing a one stop, seamless access for its clients or users. This work was previously published in Encyclopedia of Encyclopedia of E-Collaboration, edited by N. Kock, pp. 569-576, copyright 2008 by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global). 1002 Copyright © 2009, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 4.2 The Role of Web Sites and E-Commerce in the Development of Global Start-Ups Brychan Thomas University of Glamorgan Business School, UK Christopher Miller University of Glamorgan Business School, UK Gary Packham University of Glamorgan Business School, UK Geoff Simmons University of Ulster, UK ABSTRACT This chapter introduces the role of Web sites and e-commerce in the development and growth of global higher education start-ups. The extant concepts, research, and experiences the chapter builds on is the literature concerning e-com- merce and small- and medium-sized enterprises (S M E s) t o g e t h e r w i t h p u b l i s h e d r e s e a r c h o n g l o b a l start-ups. It argues that the key results, evidence, and experience, from the empirical case study research, highlight clear and precise reasons for the development of Web sites and e-commerce by the global start-ups. The limitations of the results are that they report early stage development of Web sites and e-commerce by global start-ups. The DXWKRUVSODQWRXQGHUWDNH³IROORZXS´LQWHUYLHZV in future years to develop a longitudinal study. Furthermore, there are important implications of the study for entrepreneurs, policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and educators for the VSHFL¿F¿HOGRIHFRPPHUFHGHYHORSPHQWVIRU global start-ups. 1003 The Role of Web Sites and E-Commerce in the Development of Global Start-Ups INTRODUCTION This chapter considers the growth of global higher education start-ups and the role of Web sites and e-commerce in their development. The chapter builds on the extant concepts, research, and expe- riences of the literature concerning e-commerce and SMEs together with published research on global start-ups. It has been recognised that e-commerce is revolutionising business transac- tions. In fact, e-commerce is changing the way businesses of all sizes operate in terms of their interaction with customers and suppliers. In ad- dition, it is contended that the rapid adoption of HFRPPHUFHE\PDQ\¿UPVLVDOVRSURYLGLQJWKH catalyst for societal change. Through e-commerce, it is possible to market products and services to customers around the World. While there is no LQWHUQDWLRQDOO\ DFFHSWHG GH¿QLWLRQ RI HFRP- merce, the UK Department of Trade and Industry SURSRVHGWKHIROORZLQJZRUNLQJGH¿QLWLRQWR the organisation for economic cooperation and development (OECD): Using an electronic network to simplify and speed up all stages of the business process, from design and making to buying, selling, and delivery. E- commerce is the exchange of information across electronic networks, at any stage in the supply chain, whether within an organisation, between businesses, between businesses and consumers, or between the public and private sectors, whether paid or unpaid. (Inland Revenue, 1998, p.1) E-commerce continues, however, to present DVLJQL¿FDQWFKDOOHQJHWRUHJLRQDODQGFHQWUDO governments alike, in terms of policies and pro- grammes. In this sense, it is argued that businesses will need to adopt a proactive approach if they DUHWREHQH¿WIURPWKLVQHZPHGLXP0RUHRYHU LW LV VXEPLWWHG WKDW XQOHVV ¿UPV GHYHORS WKHLU own procedures and systems to keep pace with electronic developments, they are likely to be left behind and fall by the wayside as the e-economy gathers momentum. (YHUVLQFHWKHHDUO\VVPDOOHU¿U PVKDYH been recognised by economists and governments throughout the western world as being essential to e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t i n t e r m s o f w e a l t h c r e a t i o n and employment. SMEs make substantial contri- butions to national economies and are estimated to account for 80% of global economic growth (Jutla, Bodorik, & Dhaliqal, 2002). Within the extant literature, there is no single uniformly ac- FHSWDEOHGH¿QLWLRQRID60()RUH[DPSOHZKLOH WKH(8GH¿QHVVPDOOEXVLQHVVHVDVKDYLQJXSWR 50 employees and medium-sized businesses hav- LQJXSWRHPSOR\HHVWKH86GH¿QHVVPDOO businesses as having up to 500 employees. The PRVWZLGHO\DFFHSWHGGH¿QLWLRQRID60(LVVWLOO one based on the ideas of the Bolton committee (1971). They identify three important factors that FRQVWLWXWHWKHHVVHQFHRIDVPDOOHU¿UP • They have a relatively small share of their marketplace • They are managed by owners or part own - ers in a personalised way, and not through the medium of a formalised management structure • They are independent, in the sense of not forming part of a larger enterprise Developments in information technology have ceaselessly had profound marketing implications for smaller businesses. None more so in recent years than the ever-prospering forum of the Inter- net, which poses both tremendous opportunities and challenges for SMEs globally. Despite the widespread acceptance of Internet use in corporate environments the extent of Internet use continues to vary widely among small businesses (Sadowski, Maitland, & van Douyer, 2002). The opportunities presented by e-commerce participation for SMEs relates to the leveraging of inherent strengths to create competitive advantage. The size of SMEs enables them to be more adaptable and responsive . trade Hotels and restaurants Transport, storage and communication Financial intermediation Real estate, renting and business activities Ed uc a tio n Health and social w ork Other community, social and. http://www.sbs.gov.uk/ analytical/statistics/smestats.php Stockdale, R., & Standing, C. (2002). A frame- work for the selection of electronic marketplaces: A content analysis approach. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, 12(3),. start-ups and the role of Web sites and e-commerce in their development. The chapter builds on the extant concepts, research, and expe- riences of the literature concerning e-commerce and SMEs