If the power of global technology companies and their users can stop Congress, are other entities susceptible?
Today?s post is by Danielle Begley, Account Manager at SafeSourcing.
Last week in protest of ?the SOPA and the PIPA bills against internet piracy from the House and the Senate, close to 10,000 websites blacked out either all or part of their content and allowed users to sign their petition against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Acts.
The world?s largest Internet companies boasted their presence in support of the petition as Google blacked out their logo, Craigslist blacked out part of their website, and Wikipedia went so far as to black out all content on their site.? In addition to the blackout, thousands of companies, including social media titan Facebook, expressed their support of the petition through various media outlets.
Millions of users signed the petition, made calls and sent emails to lawmakers which inevitably resulted with the bills losing support within Congress, thus proving the strength and power these internet giants have over their users, the media and even Congress.?
The strength of these giants made me think of the power incumbent suppliers boast when faced with running auctions where their business is in question.? Incumbents use all tactics possible in order to bring strategic sourcing companies down and much like Congress, the customer can at times give in to the protest.?
While this author believes the benefits of the internet would be severely jeopardized if censorship was enacted, the same holds true for the customer.? While an incumbent supplier may have an existing relationship, capitalism provides the opportunity to consider alternative solutions, which are similarly jeopardized when incumbent suppliers protest the sourcing process.
If you are facing a similar situation with your incumbent supplier, or have any questions on how to handle this problem, please contact a Customer Service Representative for more information.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
