Mathew Shafaghi

Business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplaces (e-Marketplaces) have been in the limelight since 1999 with the commercialisation of the Internet and subsequent "dot.com" boom Ill. Literature is indicative of the growth of the B2B sectors in all industries, and B2B e-Marketplace is one of the sectors that have witnessed a rapid increase. Consequence, the importance of developing the B2B e-Commerce Model for improved value chain in B2B exchanges is extremely important for SMEs to expose to the world marketplace. There are three research objectives (ROs) in this study; first (RO1) to critical review the concepts of the B2B e-Marketplace including their technologies, operations, business relationships and functionalities; second (RO2) to design an automated mechanism of B2B e-Marketplace for SMEs; and third (RO3) to propose a conceptual B2B e-Commerce model for SMEs. The proposed model is constructed by the analytical findings obtained from the contemporary B2B e-Marketplace literature.

The concept of B2B (Business-To-Business) e-Marketplace provides a new dimension in facilitating the marketers to work more effectively in particular when making critical marketing decision. Benefiting from the Internet technologies, the range of advantages that can be gained from the B2B e-Marketplace is extensive. This paper is intended to provide a clear understanding of the wide range of research approaches, strategies and methods that will contribute to the study of B2B e-Marketplace's performances for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). A two stage research design combining qualitative and quantitative research methodologies are used to generate relevant data for this study. Focusing on SMEs the paper will also explore the ability of the SMEs to capitalise from the opportunities provided by B2B e-marketplace. Based on the research results, B2B e-Marketplace is reported to reshape the business processes and enhances the business exposure in the market