e-Procurement: From Strategy to Implementation

Is It for Real?

What is the scope and impact of this B2B revolution? Is it for real, or is it just more of the hyperbole that we have been witnessing with e-commerce over the past two years?

Just as with e-commerce, estimates on the effect of B2B vary widely. Gartner Group forecasts that global B2B e-commerce will reach $4 trillion by 2003—this, compared with less than $400 billion in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce online sales^[2] (see Figure 1.1). Similarly, AMR points out that the manufacturing sector accounted for $96 billion of Internet-based commerce in the U.S. in 1999, and this should grow at an annual rate of 78% to reach $1,700 billion by 2004.^[3] Goldman Sachs predicts that B2B e-commerce will grow in the U.S. from $39 billion ...