ORDANINI, Andrea; MICELLI, Stefano; MARIA, Eleonora di <br/><br/>
Failure and Success of B-to-B Exchange Business Models :  a contingent analysis of their performance 

 - Oxford :  Elsevier,  June 2004 
<br/><br/> The new economy presents extraordinary opportunities for growth and profit of electronic management of business-to-business relationships. E-marketplaces, or digital exchanges, represent one of the most promising phenomena in this environment but, despite tha promises, many of these B-to-B exchanges have failed in the last few years, while a few 'survivors' remained in the market. The purpose of this paper is to investigate business models of active e-marketplaces, to understand which features make the difference between successful initiatives and failures. The paper is based on a survey of a sample of European exchanges located in Italy. Alternative business models are described through a cluster analysis along with three dimensions: content, structure, and governance. By comparing performances of the alternative business models for B-toB e-marketplaces.  The findings show that private large exchanges have a superior capability to generate turnover compared to vertical niche operators, due to specific choices of content, structure, and governance. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are proposed