By William Cao. Edited by Arjun Chandrasekar.
Overview
B2B or is it B to B or is it actually business-to-business? Well, it is actually all of the above. The term “B2B” stands for business to business and more about these will be discussed in the following sub-topics.
What are they? Origins?
Business-to-business by its name usually refers to transactions between two businesses. This can involve saying a manufacturer and a wholesaler (i.e. China to eBay) or even a wholesaler to a retailer. And this would further strengthen the aforementioned definition of B2Bs as essentially business conducted between two companies. There are also other types like business to customer (B2C) or business to government (B2G).
So, business-to-business are methods in which employees of different companies connect and interact with each other. This type of communication is called B2B communication. These transactions are typical in the supply chain, as companies are purchasing components and products like raw materials for use.
Applications
We can see business-to-business transactions to occur most commonly in large corporate accounts to manufacturing. For instance, this can be seen as how Intel supplies their chips for Dell, HP, and even Apple. Another example could include Samsung being one of the largest Apple suppliers for iPhone production. Service providers also are participants of B2B and B2B transactions are also the backbone of many industries, such as Automobile for one (vehicle parts being manufactured independently).
Conclusion
Whether or not it is B2B, B to B, or Business to Business, we know one thing for certain: B2B’s are transactions between two businesses and there are many types and applications of them. Large corporations or any company, in general, engage in this behavior and business-to-businesses can actually be the backbone of many industries as well.
