Transforming Inter-Organizational Information Systems into Electronic Commerce Marketplaces: Development of B2B Electronic Commerce in China's Pharmaceutical Industry

The aim of this paper is to identify the barriers to the B2B e-commerce development in China’s pharmaceutical industry and to devise an effective strategy for its future development. Built on a detailed investigation of the market structure and recent development of electronic commerce in China’s pharmaceutical industry, this paper proposes that the key issue in the development of effective B2B e-commerce business models is the successful transformation of the inter-organizational information systems into electronic marketplaces. In order to ensure the success of such electronic marketplaces, a government driven approach will be needed. In the process, designing an incentive compatible mechanism of coordinating the interest of all the market players will be the prerequisite.