The Market - who sets the price?

Paradoxically, the complexity of the secondary market was spun out ofthe simplest notion: supply and demand. When demand ruled, so didvendors. They set prices; they determined the value, or lack thereof,of used gear. Now supply rules, and CIOs have a great opportunity tograb the power to define value.

HP's Rothman calls it the law of the jungle. ARC's Lynch calls it theAmerican way.

Malcolm Fields, CIO at Hon Industries, a $1.8 billion office furnituremanufacturer in Muscatine, Iowa, calls it his fiduciaryresponsibility. Fields is a self-described tightwad. He says thatrecently his units have fallen in love with the secondary marketbecause demonstrating ROIROI is a cinch when capital costs can bereduced. Alles zu ROI auf CIO.de

"We've started browsing the hardware section of eBay. I've bought gearon there three or four times," says Fields. "We'll search on a type ofequipment just to get a sense of the market. Then we typically buyfrom smaller, independent players, direct. We insist on strongwarranties."