Electronic marketplaces - designing marketplace practises from a supplier perspective

The project aim is to develop design knowledge regarding so-called electronic marketplaces. Electronic marketplaces have become an increasingly common infrastructure over the past decade. Public- as well as private sector buyers communicate with their suppliers through third-party-furnished electronic procurement/purchasing systems for the sake of efficiency and cost reduction. Small suppliers often have to accept this infrastructure as a non-negotiable condition for keeping their customer. The focus in this study is set on the small supplier's perspective and the design need such a view implies on marketplace systems. The emerging result of the study includes a practice-oriented as well as a theoretically targeted contribution. The practical knowledge contribution is presented as quality criteria for designing electronic marketplaces that includes the supplier perspective. The second aspect of the result is a set of general design principles based on an approach where the studied phenomenon (the marketplace) is understood as a socio-material practice.