Abstract :
Engineering and manufacturing SMEs must embrace e-commerce to survive and prosper. Existing e-commerce models tend to be ´product´ orientated, hence the large number of catalogues that exist on the WWW. We believe that engineering companies are defined by their competencies, not by their existing products. Also existing models are biased towards the needs, resources and skills of larger companies. The West Midlands collaborative commerce marketplace builds on the strengths of the existing models and limits their weaknesses by leveraging regional resources and loyalties.
