Like all stereotypes, however, the perception that dot coms are history, while generally true, has a number of notable exceptions. AMR recently released its nominees for the best and the brightest independent and industry-organized exchanges across a number of industries, and the independents certainly held their own.

Authors Joan Harbin and John Fontanella noted that the winners “have ridden out a storm of corporate skepticism, economic downturn and investor flight. They have shown that not only can they survive, but also be valuable resources for the companies within their industry, the final hurdle for acceptance by users.”

Based on consistency of strategic vision, depth of industry expertise, ability to create liquidity and level of functionality, AMR’s choices are:

• Chemicals: In this category, the authors chose CheMatch: “Hard charging and aggressively pursuing dominance of the chemicals commodity market, CheMatch, with a billion-plus dollars of trade in 2000, is one of the most successful e-commerce ventures in any industry.” If trading volume is the major determinant in this category, however, it’s tough to be sure of the authors’ choice. As Leif Eriksen, their colleague at AMR who specializes in chemicals, also noted last week, it’s possible that ChemConnect is doing even more business than CheMatch.

While CheMatch claimed 900,000 tons of product transacted in the first quarter of 2001 valued at about $250 million, ChemConnect claimed 1.4 million tons transacted with a value (extrapolated from annual numbers) estimated at $600 million. Complicating the comparison, however, is the fact that ChemConnect has three trading mechanisms, while CheMatch has but one. As Eriksen observed, “In the absence of a major change in the playing field, such as a merger or an acquisition, both companies will still be in the race at the end of the year.” By current dot com standards, that makes both companies sound like winners in our book.

• Automotive: The authors chose Covisint, observing that “with the solid backing of Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, no other exchange comes close to having as much influence in the industry.” Clearly, this is a case of being influential purely based on who you are. Covisint may have started the industry-backed consortia frenzy, but it reportedly has made far less tangible progress than either Elemica or Envera in the chemical industry.
• Aerospace and Defense: Here AMR chooses Exostar. Founded by BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon, AMR praises Exostar for “making notable progress toward their collective vision of becoming the collaborative hub for aerospace.”
• Consumer Products: Transora, which has “$250 million of investment and 55 members. Born with a silver spoon in its mouth, it’s up to management to win or lose.”
• High Tech/Electronics: Converge, praised for “a good shared services model with a strong combination of online and offline services.”
• Metals: e-Steel, “the best positioned to capitalize on the opportunity” in the steel industry. “Besides driving revenues through commodity trades, the exchange has led the march toward offering exchange services for private trading communities.”
• Oil and Gas: FuelQuest, for “wisely targeting a market below the radar of the large oil and gas companies.”
• Paper: PaperExchange, which has experienced “a 20-fold volume increase along with a 575% increase in transactions for 2000, the first exchange for buyers and sellers of pulp and paper has seen impressive growth and is established worldwide.”
• Retail: GlobalNetExchange, described as “well on its way to delivering support for collaborative commerce, an increasingly important and necessary piece of retail business.”
• Utilities: Altra Energy Technologies, recognized for being “profitable, self-sustaining and growing at a rapid rate with more than $1 billion of transactions a month.”