Abstract
The recent advancement of Internet technology and development of e-business standards have transformed conventional approach to business and commercial relationships. Some commentators are proposing that electronic markets and virtual communities of trade will become dominant in the deconstruction of supply chains. To further our understanding of this new business practice, this paper aims to assess the organizational structure of virtual trade communities, with a focus on the coexistence of virtual markets and virtual hierarchies as complementary structural elements of these communities, as well as on the role of resources acquisition in the deployment of these two coordination mechanisms. Building on resource-based view of the firm and relational view of competitive advantage, it is argued that a mixed mode of network structures represents a more accurate structural model of virtual trade communities, and that a strategic fit is achieved when electronic markets and electronic hierarchies are deployed for accessing commodity resources and strategic resources, respectively.
Recommended Citation
Ho, Danny C K; Au, K F.; and Newton, Edward, "Virtual communities of trade: The strategic fit of resources acquisition and virtual coordination mechanisms in supply chains" (2002). PACIS 2002 Proceedings. 27.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2002/27