The Elemica case study at the end of chapter 12 and think about how the online medium has changed the nature of how businesses do business with each other, and then provide your opinion about the topic. Use the case questions as a starting point, and feel free to branch out into other interesting areas such as examining how other companies utilize the online space to streamline their B2B networks.

• If you were a small chemical company, what concerns would you have about joining Elemica?
• Elemica provides a community for participants where they can transact, coordinate, and cooperate to produce products for less. Yet these firms also compete with one another when they sell chemicals to end-user firms in the automobile, airline, and manufacturing industries. How is this possible?
• How did the purchase of Elemica by Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, change how Elemica fits into the B2B framework illustrated in Figure 12.10?