1 18 th Bled eConference eIntegration in Action Bled, Slovenia, June 6 - 8, 2005 Environmental Factors Defining eMarketplace Adoption: Case of Large Organizations in Slovenia Andreja Pucihar, Jože Gričar eCommerce Center, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, Slovenia Gricar@FOV.Uni-Mb.si, Andreja.Pucihar@FOV.Uni-Mb.si Abstract By bringing together large numbers of buyers and sellers and automating transactions, eMarketplaces expand the choices available to buyers, give sellers access to new customers (buyers), and reduce transaction costs for all participants. Business environment factors, how an organization does business, have an influence on the organization’s decision about adopting eMarketplace activities. In some cases, the business environment encourages adoption of eMarketplace activities, while in others it is discouraged. This paper presents the importance of the following business environmental factors: trust between business partners, encouragement from the business environment, use of e-commerce between business partners and an organization’s relationship to the business environment. Factors were derived from research in 119 large organizations in Slovenia. Key words: eMarketplace, adoption, factors, business environment 1. Introduction to eMarketplaces Traditional markets and eMarketplaces consist of many trading processes that create value for both, buyers and sellers. Successful eMarketplace operation entails trading processes that can be efficiently transformed from traditional business exchanges to eMarketplaces. The challenge is how to successfully transmit current traditional business processes to a virtual environment (Kambil and van Heck, 2002). Information technology enables business process integration in the eMarketplace environment. eMarketplaces are virtual marketplaces where buyers and suppliers meet to exchange information about products, services and to negotiate and implement business transactions (Archer and Gebauer, 2000). Furthermore, in the age of the Internet, and with the emergence of new information and communication technologies, eMarketplaces allow multiple suppliers and buyers to complete business transactions via the Internet (Russ, 2001). Internet technologies and standards enable e-Marketplaces to distribute product data and to facilitate online transactions (Segev et al., 1999). eMarketplaces offer four important value-added mechanisms (Christiaanse et al., 2001; Bailey and Bakos, 1997): by facilitating multiple buyers and sellers to connect to negotiate prices on a dynamic real-time basis. It also encourages trust among participants