Wednesday, January 31 7:45 AM SGT Paper Finds Middlemen Stifling E-Commerce Growth
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 2001 JAN 30 (NB) -- By David McGuire, Newsbytes.
Retailers, distributors, brokers and other traditional "bricks-and- mortar" middlemen are stifling the growth of e-commerce by devoting massive resources toward protecting their established roles in the consumer supply chain, according to a paper released today by a Washington think tank.
Fearful that Internet commerce will erode their traditional customer bases and hurtle them toward obsolescence, "middlemen" have consistently backed "protectionist" policies that end up costing US consumers roughly $15 billion a year, according to the paper.
Released today by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) - an organization run by centrist "new" Democrats - the paper, titled "The Revenge of the Disintermediated: How the Middleman is Fighting E-Commerce and Hurting Consumers," details the efforts of so-called middlemen to protect themselves.
"Claiming that they are acting for the public good, "bricks and mortar" professional and trade organizations ... have lobbied successfully, and in some cases even gone to court, to prevent direct online transactions between producers and consumers," the paper contends.
The paper cites legislative efforts undertaken by National Association of Travel Agents, the National Association of Realtors, National Automotive Dealers Association, the Wine Wholesalers Association, and National Association of Recording Merchandisers as examples.
Report author Robert Atkinson - head of PPI's new economy project - recommends a number of steps for Congress to take in order to prevent what he calls undue influence from traditional middlemen.
Among other things, Atkinson asked that the Bush Administration establish an "e-commerce ombudsman" to act as the public voice of e-tailers.
"Government must act in the public interest and not give in to the demands and pleadings of e-commerce resisters," Atkinson said in a release today. "Doing so protects businesses at the expense of consumers, many of them low-income individuals."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
asia.dailynews.yahoo.com |
