Thank you for your questions. I’m glad to see that you are interested in Ariba and making it the focus of your Master’s Thesis. I can address your question regarding the difference between the Ariba Network and Ariba Discovery.
If you take a process viewpoint of the collaboration touch-points between a buyer and a seller in a B2B transaction as illustrated below, you see there are several phases of the cycle that involve different parties on both the buyer and seller sides of the business.
Ariba Discovery addresses the very first part of the Market-to-Cash cycle, being “Market.” Ariba Discovery is a matching service that matches buyers and sellers to each other based on the buyer's needs and the seller's capabilities. The way it works: A buyer posts their buying need as an RFI or RFP on Ariba Discovery, and Ariba Discovery matches them with sellers who can provide the products or services needed. It's a way for buyers to discover new suppliers and for sellers to discover new business leads. Through Ariba Discovery, buyers can save time and resources identifying new suppliers, compare bids easily, and select the seller that fits best. And sellers can save time and resources identifying new leads and build relationships with many of the large buying organizations using Ariba Discovery - it's a win-win situation for both sides of the business.
Once a buyer has discovered a seller through Ariba Discovery, they can invite the seller to a sourcing event hosted on Ariba Sourcing or award the business directly on Ariba Discovery.
The Ariba Network is a network of over 1 million sellers where more of the operational aspects of the Market-to-Cash cycles happen. After a seller wins business and is receiving purchase orders and delivering invoices, these activities happen on the Ariba Network. Sellers join the Ariba Network to transact with their customers. For example, trough the Ariba Network, sellers can send their customers invoices, and buyers can pay them through the Ariba Network - all electronically, without touching paper.
Many sellers on the Ariba Network also use Ariba Discovery to find new leads and build relationships with buyers. For a buyer that represents another benefit: When they discover a new seller through Ariba Discovery who's already on the Ariba Network, the buyer can save time and resources on-boarding the seller and can start doing business with the seller much faster. And for the seller that means, another buyer who sends payments faster through the Ariba Network.
I hope this helps. Feel free to reach out with any other questions you might have.