Business-to-consumer

Chemical-based products cover a broad spectrum of materials and forms, ranging from molecules to appliances. Table 16.1-1 shows the various product functional forms, along with examples in major application areas. Examples highlighted in italic are those discussed in this book. Most small molecules such as BTX (benzene-toluene-xyxlene) are sold to chemical and allied products industries while a limited number such as refrigerants and solvents are for sale in the consumer market. In contrast, multicomponent liquid mixtures such as liquid shampoo, semi-solids such as cream and paste, and structured solids such as controlled release herbicide are often sold directly to the consumers. Business-to-consumer sale is even more prevalent for ready-to-use devices and appliances such as diagnostic kits, drinking water filters and air cleaners. 

Table 11.1. Typology of marketing in business-to-business and business-to-consumer contexts...

Hypothesis (8) Environmental and health-compatible substance properties are at best additional qualities. This is particularly the case in business-to-business (B2B) markets. These qualities become most relevant for manufacturers operating with their products on demand-dominated, saturated markets with differentiated quality production (especially business-to-consumer = B2C)... 

Business-to-Consumer An organization focused on selling products, services or data to individual consumers rather than commercial customers. Also known as B2C. 

Yon may get involved in two different kinds of market (Figure 15-5). The one you know from the supermarket is the B2C or business-to-consumer market. Here there are huge numbers of small transactions, which are mostly anonymous (via a cashier for example). This is a market for end-users and it is important. This is the market commonly considered in MBA courses and in all the advertising you see around you. The other B2B or business-to-business market will probably be even more important for you as an engineer. Here the number of transactions is smaller, but the money involved per transaction is orders of magnitude higher. 

Until today, most of the revenue in the field of lab-on-a-chip is created on a business-to-business, but not on a business-to-consumer basis [21], as the vast majority of research in the field only approaches the stage of demonstrators and is not followed by the development of products for end-users. Among the hurdles for market entry are high initial investments and running fabrication costs [22]. Furthermore, the multitude of individual lab-on-a-chip solutions developed so far cannot compete with the flexibility of state of the art liquid handling approaches, e.g. with pipetting robots. 

A very important issue is that of trust in the system. This is of paramount importance at both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer levels. Certification of the product and assurance on the integrity of the system are hot questions. 

The discussion of a customer-satisfaction orientation is not limited to a few select businesses and industries. A satisfaction orientation exists in profit, not-for-profit, public and private, and business-to-business, and business to consumer (see Table 3). 

Accessibility is clearly a business issue. Dell has recently moved past Compaq computer as the leading PC in the United States, yet DeU doesn t sell a single computer in the store. Intel and Cisco wiU book more from direct Internet orders than aU the business-to-consumer sales that have taken place up until now. We can check inventory levels, place orders, and track these orders and delivery dates from these companies anytime we want to from our desk (as well as answer or have answered any of the questions we might have). 

Forrester Research, Inc. expects that business-to-consumer online sales will reach 184.5 hUhon in 2004 and business-to-business e-commerce will grow to 1.33 trilUon by 2003 (see, e.g., Massie 2000). The explosion of e-commerce will change the way the company distributes its products due to an increasing number of small, unpredictable orders for individual customers. E-commerce requires that warehouses deal with unit quantities of inventories rather than pallet loads of inventories and subsequently accommodate high frequency of small parcel delivery services. Because the role of warehouses has become more of flow-through transshipment facilities intended for quick order fulfillment and product return than traditional storage facdities, their locations need to be dispersed in... 

Browsers, see Web browsers BSI (British Standards Institution), 1185 B2B electronic commerce, see Business-to-business electronic commerce B2C (business-to-consumer) electronic commerce, 70 Budgeting ... 

In this study, LCA methodology of a full cradle-to-grave or business-to-consumer carbon footprint approach is used to draw the general map of energy consumption, and later any possible savings opportunities are analyzed and appropriate action plans are structured. In Table 2.5 life cycle stages that are included and also excluded in the conducted work are listed. 

The Internet along with Y2K was the perfect accelerant. The two forces intertwined to reshape and transform both business-to-consumer and business-to-business relationships. The most profound effect was in retail. As shown in Table 1.1, the Internet sparked a new channel that outpaced the growth in traditional store formats. While the uninformed might conclude that the growth of e-commerce made bricks obsolete, in reality, the opposite was true. Successful companies transformed their traditional supply chains to meet the new requirements of this growth channel. It required new bricks, new processes, and a business transformation. 

In this period, interest in business-to-business trading exchanges skyrocketed however, growth in these ventures fell short of expectations. While business-to-consumer business models flourished, business-to-business models were overhyped and often underdelivered. 

Connectivity was a strong enabler. With the growth of the Internet, friction was taken out of the supply chain. New processes evolved to better serve business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) relationships. In this period, millions of dollars were spent on B2B connectivity, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and e-commerce initiatives. Most were hastily implemented. These tipping points are shown in Figure 1.6. 

Customer knowledge and data capture remains crucial to delivering appropriate services. Site personalization and high levels of recognition may enable the business to enlist its affiliates and jointly target the customer. It may also identify new markets. The service network customer encounter dimensions include the internal busi-ness-to-business customers and the external business-to-end-users (or customers). Frohlich and Westbrook (2002) have researched some internal business-to-business customer effects, but the business-to-consumer dyad has not been empirically studied (Chen Paulr, 2004). 

ANSI american national standards institute B2B business-to-business B2C business-to-consumer CORBA common object request broker architecture... 

Design of Markets and Mechanisms of Transactions. Initially the business-to-business (B2B) types of transactions were the primary e-commerce activities. These activities quickly expanded to include sales to consumers via electronic retailing (e-tailing), often called business-to-consumer (B2G). Since the late 1990 s e-commerce has expanded to include consumer-to-consumer (C2C) Web sites, including eBay, and consumer-to-business (G2B), such as Priceline, where several airlines or hotels will compete for the purchase dollars of consumers. Each of these types of transactions can be completed within the general structure of one of the many different types of e-commerce models to generate revenue. 

The B2B2C (Business to Business to Consumer) performance network is increasingly characterized by electronic orders. Even though the definition is not altogether accurate, it is referred to globally as a supply chain. 

In Level 5, the idea of virtual logistics is part of the collaboration that takes place as the network members want to find the best costs and satisfaction, whether the orders go through traditional channels or are processed through an Internet channel. With residential package delivery, for example, expected to top 2.1 billion per year by 2003, this latter situation is of great interest to business to consumer (B2C) channel providers. Here lead logistics providers (lip) can enter the equation — firms with little to no physical assets, but the wherewithal to find the best answer to logistics needs, inbound and outbound. 

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