Stories about: ChemConnect

Two B-to-B exchange leaders for the chemical industry, Chemconnect and CheMatch.com, will be joining forces as a result of Chemconnect's plan, announced Thursday, to acquire bulk commodity chemical exchange CheMatch.

An online exchange founded last year by several major chemical companies o find its place in the industry, and officials at the companies that created Elemica remain uncertain about what role the business-to-business marketplace should play.

Business-to-business marketplace competitors ChemConnect Inc. and Envera LLC Thursday announced their merger.

Bad financial news last week from leading b-to-b vendors served as an industry wake-up call, signaling a sharp shift toward private business-to-business marketplaces and tentative corporate spending on IT.

Through its B2B services, Dow is getting closer to its customers.

Companies that sell products and services to other businesses rather than to consumers, now known by the ubiquitous moniker B2B, are capitalizing on the benefits of e-commerce at a furious rate. B2B commerce in the United States alone will experience a 41 percent compound annual growth rate during the next five years; B2B transaction volume will top US$541 billion by 2003, up from $138 billion in 1999, according to a report by Yankee Group Inc., a Boston-based consultancy.

A year into their struggle to start an online business-to-business exchange with suppliers, the Big Three automakers came up with a name for the venture last week - Covisint - and also spoke about the obstacles it faces. The Covisint marketplace won't be able to start processing transactions until Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler put to rest antitrust concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission.

Some of the largest companies in the chemical industry announced last week plans to form an electronic marketplace to facilitate the buying and selling of chemicals and supply-chain collaboration.

For those on the verge of breaking with the past and either starting or joining a business-to-business trading exchange, there's a lot more to consider than Web connections to buyers and sellers.

Following on the heels of dire predictions about the business-to-consumer environment, some see the proliferation of business-to-business exchanges forcing an intense shakeout among e-marketplaces as well.

Following on the heels of dire predictions about the business-to-consumer environment, some see the proliferation of business-to-business exchanges forcing an intense shakeout among e-marketplaces as well.