AGENTS FOR ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT SUPPLY - WHO ARE THE LIKELY PLAYERS

The authors consider a group of commercial vendors who may be potentia l agents or players in electronic document supply. The group examines five potential providers of products/services: Dow Jones, Geac, OCLC, Faxon, RLG using Malone's 1989 comments on electronic markets as a fra mework, and using Porter's analytics to describe competition, and the role of technology in conferring advantage. The authors suggest that e lectronic document supply has produced an observable shift in exchange relationships between suppliers and buyers: the former are regrouping into partnerships which offer a confusing range of options to clients .