E.M.P. As Enabler Of New Organisational Architectures: An Italian Case Study

The opportunity for organisations to manage their own processes using electronic means has lead to the development of new interand intra-organisational relationships and consequently to the network firm phenomenon (Fulk, De Sanctis, 1995; Powell, 1990 ; Malone, Yates, Benjamin, 1987; Prager, 1996). Business to Business (B2B) and electronic marketplaces (EMP) are assuming an ever-increasing role in the context of inter-organizational relationships, especially in the area of information systems. In this paper, the authors aim to show how B2B marketplaces have a significant potential impact on the structure of channel relationships and IT management arrangements. For this purpose an Italian example of an EMP called Tilesquare was analysed where the development of the digital market and all the connected technologies has brought about the creation of a new type of organisation. This paper studies this new organisational scheme in the light of Transaction Cost Theory (TCT). In the context of marketplaces, Tilesquare is a particularly important case from the points of view of both the organisational integration of the various integrated participants in the digital value chain (all the possible actors of the value chain of the building and furnishing material industry are present in the market) and of the commercial coverage represented by the various participants located in different countries all over the world and integrated in the platform. IS theory traditionally investigates these phenomena from a Transaction Cost Theory (Williamson, 1975) point of view. On the contrary, the authors of this paper have taken into consideration the limitations of this approach by showing how the Strategic Network theory could provide a useful framework in order to understand the new phenomena that are distinguishing some industries. To do this, the research work of Christiaanse and Markus (2002), who have worked on new organizational assets and the development of B2B in an EMP context, has been used.