e-Hubs: The Critical Role of First-Tier Suppliers

This chapter provides a solution for a critical supplier-side problem in e-business. The chapter also describes how the solution was implemented in a large international technology transfer project. The chapter directly addresses the problem of supplier nonparticipation in supply chain relationships and proposes an e-hub solution for brokering transactions at first-tier suppliers.e-hubs are a relatively new and somewhat controversial e-business solution, since many projects that were initiated as e-hub projects have been reported in the literature as failures. This chapter clearly defines an e-hub, as well as the incentives that enable or hinder successful e-hub implementation. The assertions are supported with a case study from a Boeing-supported aerospace e-hub project that was implemented during 2001 in Taiwan. The case study is used to show how e-hubs may be successfully implemented so that suppliers are provided incentives to participate in multitier supply chain relationships. The main contribution of the chapter is that it provides an end-to-end understanding of how e-hub solutions can be successfully implemented in multitier supply chains, as well as supporting that understanding with a description of an actual e-hub that was developed for commercialization on a large international e-business project.