This paper analyzes the impact of e-commerce on markets where established firms face competition
from Internet-based entrants with focused offerings. In particular, we study the retail brokerage
sector where the growth of online brokerages and the availability of alternate sources of information
and research services have challenged the dominance of traditional brokerages.
The Internet and business-to-business e-commerce have grown much more rapidly than anyone guessed even
five years ago, spawning potentially new ways of communication, collaboration and coordination among
consumers, businesses and trading partners. However, there are many different opinions about the importance
of e-commerce in facility management. The goal of this project was to develop factual information about how
e-commerce is being used, who is using it, and how they expect it will be used in the future. We would like to
acknowledge the support of the IFMA Foundation Corporate Circle of Contributors, without whose financial
support this project would not have been possible
This book was prepared as a background document for the OECD Ministerial Conference on
"A Borderless World: Realising the Potential of Global Electronic Commerce", held in Ottawa, Canada, in
October 1998. It represents one of the very first analyses of the role of electronic commerce in the broader
economy, and addresses such issues as the impact of e-commerce on employment and on society as a
whole, as well as its contribution to economic growth and efficiency.