Distributors Use Syndication example essay topic

Week 5 Syndication of the Web July 23, 2003 Robert LyonsEBUS/500.1 C. Denver MullicanSyndication of the Web " Syndication involves the sale of the same good to many customers, who then integrate it with other offerings and redistribute it (Werbach, 2000). ' ; E-Trade is one such organization. They distinguish themselves from their competition by the way they package and price the information they sell not through the information itself. Syndication is a very different way of structuring the business of today. This way of doing business is very different than the way business has been done in the past. It requires small and large businesses to rethink their tactical and strategic plans, thus causing the reshaping of organizations.

This will also change the way they interact with customers and partner with other entities. In addition, businesses will be forced to develop new models for collecting revenues and earning profits. Syndication has traditionally been rare in the business world for three reasons. First, syndication works only with information goods. Second, syndication requires modularity. Third, syndication requires many independent distribution points (Werbach, 2000).

Within this syndication network, businesses can play three different roles or a company can play one role in a syndication network, or two or three roles simultaneously. The three roles are originators, syndicator's, or distributors. The originators create the original product or content. The syndicator's package the content for distribution to the distributors.

Often times they integrate it with the product or content from other originators. And last but not least, the distributors deliver the content to customers (Werbach, 2000). Within the structure of syndication there are syndicator's and distributors. Syndicators save the distributors from having to find all of the different originators in an effort to gather all of the content that they want to package and eventually put out for distribution. The syndicator's are able to collect standard formats and contracts from a variety of sources and making it readily available. This part of the process frees the distributors from having to find and negotiate with dozens or even hundreds of different originators.

This allows syndicator's to act as information collectors by collecting and packaging digital information in a way that adds value to it. In the physical world, it is very difficult to find a syndicator that works alone and is not associated with the entertainment industry. With the popularity of the Internet ever increasing, it is making this business model increasingly predominate on the Net. Distributors are the side of the business world that the customer faces. The distributors use syndication to lower their costs for acquiring content and to expand the value to provide consumers. As stated earlier in this report, E-Trade is one example of an organization that provides distribution.

Syndicating the Internet opens up an endless amount of opportunities for the individual proprietor, small, and large corporation alike. It also provides an enormous amount of freedom to companies of all sizes. It enables businesses to choose where they wish to concentrate their efforts and to add on an infinite number of other businesses that can handle the remaining elements to complete the services offered. Unlike outsourcing, it does not restrict flexibility. Because of the way syndication relationships can be structured and the way businesses can be handled, companies can quickly shift between the roles of the originator, syndicator, or the distributor (Werbach, 2000). Syndicators can offer features such as: 1) Interactive applications as Web services 2) Enable the distribution of existing Web applications 3) Support rapid application delivery to multiple business partners 4) Enable full application integration with partner systems 5) Support real-time analysis of customer behavior across partners and channels 6) Supply enterprise-wide scalabilitySyndicators can offer software packages that promote benefits such as: 1) Making it easier for customers to make purchases, which will enable businesses to provide their online sales and service tools through distribution channels.

2) Help businesses get closer to customers by offering online services and products wherever customers are on the Web. 3) Leveraging existing technology, where businesses can re purpose applications developed within the enterprise for use throughout the demand chain. 4) Help reduces integration costs by eliminating the need to redevelop the interaction and presentation for each business partner. Using a product that will supply everything you need to integrate interactive Web applications into your business partner sites. In conclusion, beyond its impact on individual companies's trategies and relationships, syndication promises to change the nature of business. As organizations begin to be constructed out of components syndicated from many other organizations, the result will be a mesh of relationships with no beginning, end, or center (Werbach, 2000).

Bibliography

Werbach, K., (May-June 2000). Syndication - the emerging model for business in the internet era. Harvard Business Review.