B2B e-commerce: New efficiencies and relationships
Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Computer-to-computer exchange of standard transactions such as invoices, purchase orders
Major industries have EDI standards that define structure and information fields of electronic documents for that industry
More companies increasingly moving away from private networks to Internet for linking to other firms
E.g., Procurement: Businesses can now use Internet to locate most low-cost supplier, search online catalogs of supplier products, negotiate with suppliers, place orders, etc.