Automotive e-hubs: Exploring motivations and barriers to collaboration and interaction

Business-to-business electronic marketplaces or ‘e-hubs’ `are increasingly being adopted by organizations seeking to achieve dramatic reductions in cost. While initially heralded in such industries as the automotive sector as the key to restructuring old economy firms, the claims for e-hubs appear optimistic. This paper explores collaboration and interaction by examining four cases of e-hub adoption by vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. A conceptual framework emerges from this examination that helps to assess the real benefits of electronic applications—not the hyperbole—by revealing firm and industry level motivations and barriers. The framework explains the dissonance between expected and realised benefits, and extends the literature on IS barriers. The investigation concludes with recommendations for how best to adopt e-hubs in terms of supply topology, buyer–supplier relationships, leadership, and the threat of disbenefit from e-hubs.