SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems:Stocks w/Strong Earnings and High Tech. Rank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Sosmartinov who wrote (90983)3/31/2000 10:09:00 AM
From: eyg  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 120523
 
JAKK, the only green on my screen yesterday is still green today.



To: Sosmartinov who wrote (90983)3/31/2000 10:29:00 AM
From: westpacific  Respond to of 120523
 
Include Freemarkets in that list, this trend of cos. setting up their own online services is going to hammer the pure play B2Bs. Look to the J&J/Baxter announcement on Tuesday - killer Ventor. And then yesterday Foundation Health, Pacificare, Wellpoint Health announced they were setting up a business to compete against Healtheon. If the client companies themselves become competitors were are the revenues going to come from.

This whole sector is dead until they can prove the viability to compete. A very serious trend indeed this week!



To: Sosmartinov who wrote (90983)4/1/2000 10:14:00 AM
From: cm  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 120523
 
Why We Really Need B2B Companies...

First of all, all B2B companies are not created equal. To lump together, for example, CMRC and ITWO is fun... but not correct. The fundamentals of each company could hardly be more different.

Second, The Street, in classic all-momo-no-reading-beyond-the-headlines style, i.e. the stuff that makes Cramer who he is and who he isn't, aren't schooled enough to tell you, for example, that building private or public eMarketplaces isn't as easy as it seems. I mean, they certainly could build a non-strategic site to do online procurement of indirect materials (think pencils and coffee cups. But, the big boys, like Honeywell and UTC and VF Corporation and others know that they don't have the chops nor the time nor the technologies to deliver a collaborative DIRECT materials procurement marketplace like Sun Microelectronics has, thanks to i2.

Further, the ULTIMATE B2B play would HAVE to be a company whose solutions have mastered GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS. I mean, when you get right down to it: B2B IS supply chain management, planning and optimization taken to the Web.
It's helping companies make better decisions, plan for demand, optimize the physical fulfillment of goods, collaborate in REAL-TIME with suppliers, design partners, trading partners and key customers. And who is the hands-down, acknowledged (by EVERY industry analyst who knows the space, including Forrester Research and Gartner) leader in supply chain management? There isn't any serious debate about this: it's ITWO.

The real battle in eBusiness--with B2B and B2C as subsets--is now down to two: Oracle (big brand name, lacking solutions) vs. ITWO ("dark horse", but with PROVEN supply chain and multi-enterprise collaboration and decision support technologies). Ellison is fully engaged in the game and will score some victories. But, my money is on ITWO... as it has been since 1998. ITWO has ACTUAL, REAL software: collaborative procurement solutions up and running at Sun Microelectronics and Compaq. ITWO's eBusiness solutions power the top 10 PC companies in the world. ITWO has implemented the world's largest and most complex supply chain for Samsung. ITWO's TradeMatrix eMarketplace solutions have been, in essence, ratified by UTC, VF Corporation, Warnaco, Sun Microelectronics, Honeywell,
IBM, etc.

And what of Oracle? Well, a powerful, database-centric brand with a hard-charging CEO, Larry Ellison. They have terrific marketing muscle and message control. But, where are they in supply chain management? Nowhere. And, at a time, when analysts like Forrester are advising that enterprises outsource almost everything apps-related to ASPs, how valuable is a database-centric brand?

Only time will tell. In the meantime, a Prudential analyst downgrades to accumulate... and I can assure you... that Prudential itself was accumulating yesterday around $100 a share. Pru has been imprudent-ial in its assessments thus far of The New Economy. It played the DOWNGRADE card in an anxious market to achieve what it could not achieve by foresight some two years ago... get ITWO at a cheaper price.

Best Regards,

c m




To: Sosmartinov who wrote (90983)4/1/2000 4:28:00 PM
From: White Shoes  Respond to of 120523
 
Interesting. I just interviewed the CEO of a co. called mydestinations.com and he is saying that his firm will offer a "portal OS" that can dramatically lower time and cost for constructing a vertically-focused site, and reduce the need for in house expertise. There has definitely been a need for a middle level player or two in this area as the big portal builders are just too prohibitive for many companies...

... in other words we may see some commodification in this industry ... good news for companies seeking to build b2b or vertical sites.