This research analyzes some specific successful business to business electronic Commerce service platforms and their strengths and weakness when approaching to buyers from Latin America. The research also identifies the most important challenges or issues that this geographically grouped target of buyers face when using these Services in order to find the main key points that a new model could solve. The findings suggests that as Latin American is very broad and different, further narrowing is necessary in order to provide a more precise solution. Therefore the decision on focusing in Mercosur’s market of buyers, and the recommendation is to provide a service model based on demand side, with customer intimacy as the company’s core value. Therefore, for the launching stage of the service, no high level of automation is required and the human involvement during the process will be highly appreciated for the first group of target market of buyers that will serve as pilot test for the solution.

This research analyzes some specific successful business to business electronic Commerce service platforms and their strengths and weakness when approaching to buyers from Latin America. The research also identifies the most important challenges or issues that this geographically grouped target of buyers face when using these Services in order to find the main key points that a new model could solve. The findings suggests that as Latin American is very broad and different, further narrowing is necessary in order to provide a more precise solution. Therefore the decision on focusing in Mercosur’s market of buyers, and the recommendation is to provide a service model based on demand side, with customer intimacy as the company’s core value. Therefore, for the launching stage of the service, no high level of automation is required and the human involvement during the process will be highly appreciated for the first group of target market of buyers that will serve as pilot test for the solution.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Objectives 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3
2.1 Electronic Commerce 4
2.2 Business to Business Electronic Commerce 4
2.3 B2B Electronic Commerce Types 5
2.4 B2B vs B2C 7
2.5 B2B Electronic Commerce Trends 8
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH PROCESS 9
3.1 Methodology 9
CHAPTER 4: STUDY CASES 10
4.1 Alibaba.com 11
4.2 Globalsources 17
4.3 Made-in-china.com Case 18
4.4 Power2SMEs 19
4.5 Cases Comparison 21
4.6 Major findings 24
4.8 Potential Risks of B2B exchanges 27
4.9 Processes 27
CHAPTER 5: MODEL PROPOSAL 28
5.1 Overview 28
5.2 Characteristics of the Model 31
5.3 Blue Ocean Analysis 32
5.4 Buyers Target Market for first stage of development 37
5.4 Paraguay Overview 37
5.5 BUSINESS MODEL 41
5.6 Model Structure 43
5.6 Service Process 45
5.6.1 Buyers Portal 45
5.6.2 Suppliers Portal 47
5.6.3 Revenues Model 48
5.6.4 Canvas Analysis for the Model 49
5.7 Consulting Services 50
5.8: Benefits 50
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 52
REFERENCES 55

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