The Evolution of Supply Chain in E-Business Environment

Abstract

AS the number of products and services increase sharply, the supply chain structure under the e-business environment is more complicated and diverse. This paper describes a model for the supply chain under the e-business environment, which consists of three products and five trade services, including distribution, transfer, payment, sale, certification. We try to discuss the structural changes of e-business supply chain based on improved transaction efficiency. In addition, the optimum configuration in which the e-business enterprises choose which service to provide is explored. The results shows that, if and only if there is higher fixed learning costs and higher transaction efficiency, the supply chain will evolve from self-sufficiency to complete division of labor for products, online services and logistics services in e-business. Besides, a hierarchical logistics structure will emerge in the evolution process.