With the advent of Internet, On-line intermediaries have put tremendous pressures on traditional intermediaries which might be disintermediated without resort to information technology. The IDR model was thus to bring about the interpretation how traditional intermediaries could regain their competitive advantage by utilizing co-specialized assets and information technology. Office supply is the domain of this research. Through observation of on-line office stationary suppliers and interviews with domain experts, the factors for constructing reintermediation strategies of traditional channel are as follows: 1. The business model of office supply. 2. The characteristics of office stationery procurement. 3. The co-specialized assets of traditional office supplies. These three factors lead to development of questionnaire in the Delphi method implemented in this research. Based upon the expert opinions from the Delphi method and the review of business model implemented by the domestic on-line stationary suppliers, this research proposed a business model with feature of domestic industry characteristics. The reintermediation strategies proposed in this research have addressed the development of e-commerce solution and the support of customer service. The traditional office stationary distributors might team up with other suppliers and information technology companies to develop a B2B e-commerce solution. As for the customer service, they could provide inventory management for enterprise users based upon their distinctive co-specialized assets. Furthermore, a development of procurement software for office supplies is necessary because it automates the procurement process and facilitates the vender managed inventory service.

[pt] Com a crescente utilização da Internet, a Indústria do Turismo vive novo cenário de distribuição de seus produtos. Hotéis alcançam seus clientes diretamente através dos seus websites e novos atores, como os chamados intermediários online ou Third Party Intermediary (TPI), aproveitam suas experiências com tecnologias de informação para galgarem uma posição privilegiada no mercado de distribuição de serviços de hospedagem, concorrendo com os próprios hotéis. Em contraste com os hotéis, os TPIs ofertam múltiplos produtos (passagens aéreas, aluguel de autos, ingresso para eventos etc.) para atrair consumidores que buscam conveniência na compra online de tudo que se refere à viagem. Além dessa estratégia de full-service, fornecem facilidades para pesquisar e comparar fornecedores. Assim, os TPIs não só se tornam concorrentes diretos dos hotéis que os utilizam, mas também, acirram a competição entre eles. Que estratégias de relacionamento com TPIs restam aos hotéis e quais são mais eficazes em cada caso? O presente trabalho tem como objetivo investigar como os principais hotéis do Rio de Janeiro se posicionam frente aos canais eletrônicos. Assim, a partir do ponto de vista dos gerentes dos hotéis, busca contribuir para o entendimento dos novos aspectos da competição dos hotéis entre si, entre eles e seus canais de distribuição e entre esses distribuidores. Para isso, foram realizadas entrevistas com gerentes de dez dos maiores hotéis do Rio de Janeiro. A pesquisa revelou que as estratégias adotadas são diretamente relacionadas à força de marketing que cada hotel possui, sendo, portanto, decisivo para o posicionamento do hotel o fato de ele ser independente ou pertencer a uma cadeia. / [en] Considering the increasing Internet utilization as reservation medium, the Tourism and Hospitality Industry faces a new distribution scenario of its products and services. Hotels reach the clients directly through their own website, and also through new actors as the one known as online partner, also called Third Party Intermediary (TPI). These companies take advantage of their knowledge and long experience in information technology with the purpose of getting the maximum market share in the hospitality service distribution, becoming even a directly competitor of their own partners. Different from the hotels, TPIs offer multiple products such as airline and event tickets, and car rental that can be bought bundled, or separately, in order to attract guests seeking convenience of booking online everything they need for their trip. One of the conveniences sought by consumers is easy and fast comparison of prices, products and services offered even by different companies. Hence, the TPIs not only became direct competitors of the hotels, with whom they have distribution contracts, but they intensified the struggle among competing hotels as well. The objective of this thesis is to investigate how the main hotels in Rio de Janeiro position themselves in face of the electronic distribution channels. Therefore, starting from viewpoint of the hotels´ managers, this research seeks to contribute for a better understanding of the new aspects of the competition among the hotels, between them and their own distribution channels, as well as among these same distribution channels. To achieve this objective, interviews were conducted with managers of ten of the largest hotels in Rio de Janeiro City. The research revealed that the strategies adopted are directly linked to the marketing strength of the hotel. Therefore, a key factor for the strategic positioning of the hotel is whether it is independent or chain owned.

Purpose - The purpose of this master thesis is to identify critical factors and create guidelines for traditional consultant brokerage firms to stay competitive in a digital economy. Methodology - This qualitative study with an abductive approach, gathered data primary from semi-structured interviews. A total 18 interviews were conducted with travel agency executives as well as buyers, sellers, and matchmakers of consultant services. Collected data were analyzed using thematic coding. Findings - The main findings of this show that traditional matchmakers can take actions to stay competitive if a digital platform enters the market. In addition, the study suggests proactive and reactive measures that organizations can take to address these disruptive forces. Theoretical implications - The study will provide an understanding of consultant brokerage and their function as a matchmaker in the marketplace. Besides, it will provide an insight into how some traditional matchmakers can survive in a digital economy. Practical implications - This thesis will provide managers with concrete guidelines on how to react in the event of disintermediation of a matchmaker market. Keywords - Disintermediation, Business strategy, Reintermediation, Matchmakers, Intermediates, Consultants, Brokers Paper type - Master thesis

隨著網路的崛起，傳統實體通路的存在價值與市場地位也飽受威脅，在市場上的實際演變，書店、銀行、證券、旅遊、機票等中介者的角色，明顯的已可被電子商務網站所取代，因此在國外已經有很多針對網路對實體通路產生「去中介化」之研究，在國內雖然也有類似的現象產生，但迄今還沒有類似的研究，所以本研究有開啟此議題研究先河之意義。 與其他遭到「去中介化」產業或服務比較，不動產仲介業更倚賴「人」之中介角色，但其銷售之產品又具有高度不易「去中介化」的特性：異質性、高總價、少交易經驗等，所以其面臨「去中介化」之威脅，的關鍵因素是什麼，其受到「去中介化」衝擊之程度到底多大，都是本研究想要探討之課題。 根據問卷調查，本研究發現交易成本是不動產仲介業面臨「去中介化」的關鍵原因，不過在目前之環境下，不動產仲介業還是不可能完全被不動產自售網站所取代，而不動產自售網站如果想要發揮自售之功效，還需多強化網頁內容呈現、提升網站知名度以及增加配套服務。 / Following the emerging of internet, traditional retail channels of books, banks, stocks, tourism and ticketing have faced the challenges from many internet-based businesses (electronic commerce) which eliminating intermediary between buyers and sellers make products or services to sell cheaper and faster. And there are many researches on such kind of disintermediation effects in foreign society. But till now there is not any kind of disintermediation study in Taiwan. This study is a beginning research of disintermediation in Taiwan. Though the real estate brokerage industry, which relying more on middleman (broker) than others, has the high-priced and idiosyncratic product features, it also faces the direct challenges from for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) websites. So the study tries to find out what is the key factor that caused the disintermediation and how far it goes in the real estate brokerage industry. The major findings of the study are that transaction cost is the real factor that caused the disintermediation, the functions and status of real estate brokers are still not easily to take place by FSBO websites and the later has to intensify content layouts, increase website’s reputation and offer extra services to attract more users to FSBOs.