The emergence of a globalelectronic market

French company founded in 1949 by André Passot Supplying office products Initially the company specialized exclusively in the

paper processing business 1970s, it diversified its activities into the distribution of

office supplies and products related to computer and office equipment

By 1992, the company had several major customers such as Renault, Alcatel, Electricité de France, France Télécom, the French Armed Forces and the national railroad company SNCF

In 1983, system,Bureautel, became the first Minitel-based telepurchasing service implemented in France.

In 1985, SICLAD, a PC-based EDI In 1989, an advanced EDI A major drawback : customers were able to link up

electronically with only a single supplier (i.e. Brun Passot)

In October 1992, Jean-Philippe Passot created the new company, DDP & Associés

After a 12-month DDP launched CITIUS as the first European platform for business-to-business electronic commerce.

By late 1995, the company has expanded worldwide

CitiusNet plays the matchmaker between purchasers and suppliers CITIUS (the ‘transaction processing’ module) ALTIUS (the ‘information provision’ module) FORTIUS (the ‘financial settlement’ module)

CitiusNet revenues are generated from the fees paid by the trading partners: a one-time entry fee, a monthly subscription fee and a transaction fee

for suppliers, on the size of the product catalogue and, for purchasers, on the number of workstations connected to CitiusNet

Implementation issues faced by CitiusNet include2. cultural differences in purchasing practices among customers3. the electronic conversion and maintenance of large product

catalogues4. the management of a variety of EDI standards already adopted by

different trading partners. In some

“Our requisitioners15 are satisfied with CitiusNet because ordered goods are delivered within 24 hours. This is a key success factor for the implementation of such a system”

Improved purchasing control Shorter procurement time and lower stock retention

• reduced by a factor ranging from three to eight Access to multi-sectorial product databases

• competitive bidding• search

Empowered end-users Enhanced competitiveness Timely management reports Reduced purchasing costs

• reduced by 20% to 80%

CitiusNet shortens the time-to-market providing access to new potential purchasers handling the electronic interface and conversion

between different application formats and EDI Achieve economies of scale by the network without

additional marketing investments

CitiusNet offers new business opportunity The risk involved for the bank is rather low

Job enrichment in the purchasing function

Organizational impact Advanced product features

• supports multiple IT environments• a strong product cataloguing capability

Budget control capability Reduced purchasing time Enhanced productivity Market growth for CitiusNet

Technical challenges Introduction of the Windrows version of CitiusNet Developing new interfaces to connect

CitiusNet with a variety of applications Developing ways of interfacing Internet and CitiusNet

Management challenges Company’s ability to manage the different corporate

cultures and business procedures

Marketing challenges lack substantial experience in commerce

International challengesdeveloping the pricing policy for their

respective regions

!!!? Question

Innovative use of ITFirst moverChanging role playBPR (Business Process Reengineering)Top management commitmentFocusing on R&D