ABSTRACT
Term meaning ‘business-to-business’. Not exactly a concept, but an
important element of the current architecture of interactive
communication, especially in multimedia applications. ‘Horizontal’
b2b commerce has proven more important than ‘vertical’ b2c
(business-to-consumer) interactions thus far in the new interactive
economy. In fact b2b is now an identifiable business sector in its own
right, sustaining a vibrant culture of Internet sites and portals
devoted to assisting, exploiting and expanding this sector (see, for
example, https://www.communityb2b.com/ or https://www.b2btoday.com/)
Among the reasons why b2b matured more rapidly than the
potentially much larger-scale b2c are:
. businesses invested in interactive technologies to a much higher degree than individuals, resulting in a widespread availability of fast,
networked systems in many businesses large and small;
. the ‘new economy’ applications of IT spawned many microbusinesses and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) able to
compete with established dinosaur corporations online – the base of
business itself broadened (at least temporarily);
. digital and broadband infrastructure was slow to roll out in most countries, making household connection to the Internet both slow
and expensive;
. retail consumers proved reluctant to divulge their personal and credit details online, and may also have had qualms about the extent
to which their actions could be tracked and exploited.
