Intermediaries handling disintermediation, due to the changing business environment of e-commerce : a case study of incoming operators in the visiting/resort industry

The purpose of this thesis was to highlight how incoming intermediaries are able to handle the threat of disintermediation. The thesis dealt with the new challenges that e-commerce brings to the business environment. In order to achieve this purpose a case study was conducted, that revealed that the companies acted according to theories to some extent. The conclusions drawn from the thesis were that adding value to offers is the key in order to handle the threat of disintermediation and to keep the position in the vale chain. The investigated companies tended to rely on relationships, strong bounds and cooperation with the supplier and act as a gatekeeper handling information. We further concluded that the respondents located their main value in information search, bundling offers, and logistic activities.