2012 Volume 53 Issue 8 Pages 643-650
Platform providers who have a new role have appeared in inter-firm relationships in distribution systems. This phenomenon is discussed in some literature on inter-firm relationships in distribution systems. However, focusing on the term “platform'', people have different viewpoints on it and the fact remains that it has not been exactly organized yet. The purpose of this paper is that we focus on the term “platform'' and also consider advancement of modern informatization and the inter-firm relationships in distribution systems. This implies that when we focus on the term “platform'' a platform design/model varies based on the platform type we look at. This time, I present the model relevant to supply chain platforms among platform typologies.
