Electronic Intermediaries in the Media Buying and Advertising Industry:
The industry. Statistics, dollar volumes, major players, major issues, transaction volumes, flows between firms, flows between countries.
Traditional intermediaries. The middlemen, infomediaries, metamediaries, portals, distributors, importers, exporters, wholesalers, brokers, shippers, information providers, trading companies, etc. describe these and explain their value added.
Electronic intermediaries.
Introduction to new intermediaries.
- links
- history
- financial backers
Classification:
- Vertical hub (industry focus) or functional hub (business process focus)?
- What is the business model of each intermediary?
- How does it make markets?: catalogs, auctions, or match-making?
Benefits and Marketing
- What does it offer the buyers?
- What does it offer the sellers?
- How does it create a sense of community?
- How does it sell to new customers (in other words, not the benefits, but what is the sales cycle)?
Overcoming e-intermediary obstacles
- How does it overcome problems of asset specificity, product rating, product descriptions?
- How does it handle payment issues?
- How does it lead to trust between buyers/sellers?
Attaining critical mass
- How does the intermediary bring a critical mass of users-- if indeed it has already? Is it targeting buyers first? Sellers first?
Technologies
This report was completed in October 1999 for the class International Electronic Commerce taught in the program of Management Of Global Information Technology at the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington D.C.