Intermediation-Disintermediation-Reintermediation: The Process of Integrating the Internet into Traditional Travel Agencies

• Main Authors: Zong-Jhe Zheng, 鄭宗哲
• Other Authors: Chi-Kuo Mao
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/45638114259784408679

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 經營管理研究所 === 95 === Along with increasing penetration of the Internet, establishment of communication infrastructures and regulations and development of e-customer behaviors, the future of e-commerce for travel industry is getting more and more positive. The development trend of travel industry nowadays shows many upstream suppliers are seeking on-line business opportunities. Traditional travel players have been threatened due to the emergence of new Internet indermediaries. The paper discusses in encountering strong impacts caused by vigorous growth of the Internet, how traditional travel agencies apply limited resources to develop e-commerce, keep the cost down, improve competitiveness, and finally come disintermediated to optimize operational performance. Hence, the Internet is beneficial not harmful. The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of traditional travel firms being reintermediated while encountering disintermediation. The intermediation, disintermediation and reintermediation (IDR) framework propsed by Chircu & Kauffman(2000) explains how middlemen, in the presence of information technology innovations, change firm-level strategy choices and the structure of the marketplace. Intermediation describes the entry of a new company into the value chain that connects a buyer and a supplier, either as a provider of new and innovative services, or as a competitor to existing intermediaries. These new middlemen, also called infomediaries, can act on behalf of buyers in their interaction with sellers, leading to greater buyer power through the aggregation and consolidation of demand. Disintermediation occurs when a middleman gets pushed out by other firms, or when the services it provides become irrelevant in a marketplace that offers other ways to get the same kind of transaction done. In IT-mediated market, since intermediaries significantly increase the costs of the products, there is a strong incentive for their elimination from the value chain. Reintermediation occurs when the traditional player is able to adopt new and innovative ways for conducting transactions, often enhanced by the application of IT, and thus effectively fight back against other competitors that have created the pressures for disintermediation. In this context, the IDR framework is discussed to propose a workable business model as reference for travel firms.