Information Flow and Auction Outcomes in Business-to-Business Market

This book tackles complex problems in the context of Business-to-Business (B2B) auctions regarding the impact of information flows on auction¿s performance. B2B auctions are new types of ventures which have begun to shape how industries of all types trade goods. Online B2B auctions have also become particularly popular for industrial procurement and liquidation purposes. By using online B2B auctions companies can benefit by creating competition when auctioning off goods or contracts to business customers. B2B Procurement auctions¿ where the buyer runs an auction to procure goods and services from suppliers¿ have been documented as saving firms millions of dollars by lowering the cost of procurement. On the other hand, B2B auctions are also commonly used by sellers in ¿secondary market¿ to liquidate the left-over goods to business buyers in a timely fashion. To maximize revenues in either procurement or secondary market, auctioneers should understand how the auction participants behave and react to the available market information. Auctioneers can then use this knowledge to improve the performance of their B2B auctions by choosing the right auction design or strategies.