Authors: R.D. McLaughlin and S. Tan
American Metal Market, Vol. 109, E-Commerce Suppl , Pp. 6a. 6 June 2001
Abstract
The implosion of the dot.com world has taken all but a few of the e-enabling suppliers with it. Where there was once fast and furious competition between internet based exchanges to draw some portion of the $300 billion + spent on steel products (in the US alone) to their sites, there are now only bankruptcies and shells of what were once
companies that couldn’t aire fast enough. What went wrong? Are the Metalsites, esteels, and other exchange ventures simply the victims of the current state of the steel industry, suffering through a severe and extended downturn like the steel producers themselves? Or is there a more fundamental, more strategic shortcoming to these
businesses, that would hurt their long-term prospects even if industry conditions improve?
