Business is a continuous loop of suppliers and customers, all intermediaries. Today, globalization and e-commerce are forcing every link in the business chain to be evaluated and re-evaluated regularly to measure value in the ever-changing business processes. "Disintermediation" means elimination of intermediaries in a business process. This happens typically when the cost of doing business with them exceeds the value they provide. In past years, manufacturers were considered "upstream in the food chain"--they generated the highest profit margins with proprietary products. Intermediaries (sales channels, distributors, retail outlets, commodity suppliers) were considered "downstream" links and generated lower margins.
展开▼
