Vince,

Greetings.  I am forwarding to you the following research request from
three of my Business School colleagues.

Best,
Ehud


Dear Trustee of the Center for Energy Finance:

Three professors of the McCombs business school, Dr. Sirkka Jarvenpaa, Dr.
Emerson Tiller, and Dr. Kerem Tomak are conducting a research project in
alliance with the Center for Energy Finance on B2B online energy trading
systems.  All three researchers both conduct research and teach in the area
of electronic commerce (strategy & policy, economics, and technology).

They are seeking your help at this time.  They would like to interview an
executive in your firm who is in charge of managing or participating in an
online energy trading exchange. They are looking beyond the first-order
effects of B2B exchanges-- benefits of dramatically reduced costs, greater
access to buyers and sellres, and improved market liquidity -- to second
order effects (e.g., redesign of  broader firm processes, greater
innovation,  standardization, etc.) and broader organizational and
environmental drivers and barriers (institutional and regulatory
structures, associations, and alliances). This is a research project that
aims to accumulate insight into firm capabilities and environmental
complexities involved in B2B energy exchanges. At this time, they are
focusing on one industry, energy trading. They are conducting interviews
with owners and operators of proprietary exchanges as well as owners of
member-based exchanges in energy trading.

The researchers would like you to kindly pass this request for a 45 minute
phone interview to a person in your firm whom most closely deals with your
firm's strategy for B2B exchanges. We would like to conduct the interviews
during December and January.  The appropriate executive or his/her
assistant can directly contact Dr. Sirkka Jarvenpaa for scheduling the
interview.

Thank you so much for your assistance and support.

Email: Sirkka.Jarvenpaa@bus.utexas.edu
Phone: 512-471-1751
Mobile: 512-415-8570
Secretary: Glenda Lee,  512-232-6112, Glenda.Lee@bus.utexas.edu

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     Ehud I. Ronn
     Professor of Finance and Jack S. Josey Professor in Energy Studies
     Director, Center for Energy Finance Education and Research
     McCombs School of Business
     University of Texas at Austin
     Austin, TX. 78712-1179
     Voice:  (512) 471-5853
      FAX:   (512) 471-5073
      Internet:  eronn@mail.utexas.edu
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