> I don't think the source is that sophisticated/obscure.
>
> The Internet is simply giving rise to a reduction in the number of
> industries in which intermediaries can add value, because the consumer
> and the supplier can more quickly and easily transact business across
> the Web.
>
> Hence the Web is leading to "disintermediation".
The Internet is also giving rise to new opportunities for
"intermediation".
To take the discussion in a new direction, I point to Hagel's and
Rayport's article in "The New Informediaries" (18 pages)
<http://www.mckinsey.com/pub/quarterly/quarterly_97/9704/article1_9704.pdf
> in which they pose the question: "Will they dominate the networked
economy? Agents, proxies, and filters whose first allegiance will be to
customers and to the information they guard. Their challenge? Managing
the interplay between trust and value received."
See the article summary at
<http://www.mckinsey.com/pub/quarterly/quarterly_97/9704/article_1.html>.
In the opening paragraphs of the article they the make the following
points:
"Received wisdom has it that there are two fundamental truths about the
networked economy. First, that every networked business is ideally
positioned to capture information about its customers - information that
represents the main source of value in this economy. Second, that any
players specializing in customer information that may emerge will
naturally serve vendors, not customers. We take issue with both of these
assertions.
Our view is that firms established to capture customer information will
serve customers rather than vendors. They will enjoy low capital costs and
high ROI - the hallmarks of an emerging category of business that we call
infomediaries."
Hagel and Rayport define infomediary as follows: "infomediary" a business
whose sole or main source of revenue derives from capturing consumer
information and developing detailed profiles of individual customers for
use by selected third-party vendors.
Ian Johnston
Australian Information Brokers Pty Ltd
Phone: +61 2 6259 7777
Fax: +61 2 6258 3409
Canberra Australia