The paper questions the notion that the diffusion of electronic commerce will lead to disintermediation. Rather than interpreting intermediation as a single service it is pointed out that intermediaries can provide a number of services. The analysis based on the New Institutional Economics, Market Microstructure Theory, and Information Economics shows that the three intermediation services studied are, generally, not under threat by the diffusion of electronic commerce. The overall effects on intermediation depend on the relevance of these services relative to others (e.g. order processing) which are supposed to become obsolete.
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Length: 36 pages Date of creation: 04 Nov 2002 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpio:0211002
Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on wordfile on mac; pages: 36; figures: none. Will be published in C. Steinfield (ed.), New Directions in Research on E-Commerce, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indianna (forthcoming) Contact details of provider: Web page: http://129.3.20.41
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