Responses to an ISworld query on e-commerce success factors

From Mac Benoy

Mac Benoy
Strategist - Electronic Service Delivery
Department of Human Services
Government of South Australia
PO Box 287, Rundle Mall, SA 5000
+61 8 8226 7282
mac.benoy@saugov.sa.gov.au

From Tony Stiller

Tony Stiller,
Lecturer in Information Systems,
Faculty of Business,
University of the Sunshine Coast,
Maroochydore DC Queensland 4558
Australia
Email: tstiller@usc.edu.au
Tel : 07 5430 1223
Fax: 07 5430 1210

From Rob MacGregor

Email: rmacgreg@uow.edu.au

From Sid Huff

Sid Huff
Email: sid.huff@vuw.ac.nz

From Beverley Hope

Beverley G. Hope, PhD
Director MCA(IS) & BCA(Hons) in IS Programmes
School of Communications & Information Management
Victoria University of Wellington
Box 600, WELLINGTON, New Zealand
Phone: (64)(4)463-5876
Fax: (64)(4)463-5446
Beverley.Hope@vuw.ac.nz

From Yue Wei

He has also two other papers about the above theme

• Hagel, John and Jeffrey F. Rayport, "The New Infomediaries", The McKinsey Quarterly, 1997, Number 4, pp. 55-69.
• Hagel, John and Jeffrey F. Rayport, "The Coming Battle for Customer Inforamtion", Harvard Business Review, January-February 1997, pp. 53-65. Hope they are useful.

From Patrick Staehler

Their seems to be a big different between the incumbents and start-ups in their way of measuring "their" success. We found that traditional companies used very much their traditional investment proceedures for e-Business, start-ups look more for growth variables like customer accquisition, sales growth, etc. not profit-oriented figures.

These different valuation measures of success leads to totally different investment approaches of the two groups. The valuation procedures of the incumbents favor efficiency imporvments of current activities while start-ups use the new technology to provide new value propositions to new customers. So it is not really surprising to see why incumbents invest in cost saving activities like supply chain integration via B2B solutions while start-ups are more into industry redefining business models. As described earlier it is all about the resource allocation process in the companies. The companies get what they measure.

Christensen and Bower have written about the resource allocation process in their paper Christensen, C.M. and Bower, J. (1996) Customer Power, Strategic Investment, and the Failure of Leading Firms. Strategic Management Journal 17, 197-218.
Patrick Staehler

=mcm Institute for Media and Communications Management
University of St. Gallen
Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8
CH-9000 St. Gallen
Tel. 0041-71-224 2779
Fax. 0041-71-224 2771
Patrick.Staehler@unisg.ch
http://www.mcm.unisg.ch

From Trent C. Sanders

YEAR: 1998

INSTITUTION: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS; 0158

DESCRIPTORS: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, GENERAL; MASS COMMUNICATIONS; INFORMATION SCIENCE; BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT: Electronic commerce is a dynamically evolving business methodology that is changing the context and boundaries of markets and technology. As its use increases, however, questions arise as to how companies are measuring the success of this new market medium, and if the appropriate strategy is driving the growth. Research in this area can help determine whether Internet commerce represents incremental competitive advantage, an extension of traditional business processes, or a paradigm shift in the structure of electronic markets and the use of information technology. This research employed the case study methodology to examine the issues, challenges, and project lessons learned for a large firm engaged in electronic commerce on the Internet. Organizational drivers, the role of technology, strategy employed, and critical success factors were explored. Additionally, customer impact and satisfaction with electronic commerce transactions were measured. Evidence was gathered using multiple sources and methods including a pre-interview questionnaire and structured interviews with the firm's project team and management and a web-based customer survey linked from the firm's electronic commerce web site. The study revealed that for this firm, electronic commerce over the Internet is an appropriate and successful tactic in support of the firm's business strategy and low-cost provider competitive positioning. Evidence supported the synergistic relationship between business strategy and strategic fit for this successful electronic commerce project. The study also determined that depending upon the EC strategy, business processes may be minimally effected, rather than dramatically changed as often predicted in electronic markets. Additionally, the historical use of technology is not necessarily a predictor of success or failure in electronic commerce. This very conservative user of technology was successful in a new and innovative area that supported its overall business strategy and focused on its core competence. The resulting research model and twenty working propositions provide a basis for further research in other firms and across industry boundaries.

Email: tsanders@memphis.edu

From Fred Riggins

This framework identifies 15 key ways to add value in the organization's e-commerce strategy. The extent to which each of these is utilized can represent "success factors". We are in the process of developing metrics to measure how well the organization is doing in each of these fifteen way.

Email: fred.riggins@mgt.gatech.edu

From Donna Maupin

From Robert Plant

From Nicholas C. Romano, Jr.

• Aldridge, A., Forcht, K., Pierson, J. Get linked or get lost: marketing strategy for the Internet. Internet Research, 7, 3, (1997), 161-169.
• Athey, T. Leadership Challenges For the Future. IEEE Software, (May/June), (2000),
• Bennett, D., and Eustis, B. Electronic Commerce: Integration of Web Technologies with Business Models. Information Systems Frontiers, 1, 2, (1999),
• Bennett, D., and Eustis, B. Electronic Commerce: Integration of Web Technologies with Business Models. Information Systems Frontiers,, 1, 2, (1999),
• Elofson, G., and Robinson, W. N. Creating a Custom mass-production channel on the internet. Communications of the ACM, 41, 3 (March), (1998), 56-62.
• Fulkerson, B. A response to dynamic change in the market place. Decision Support Systems, 21, 3 (November), (1997), 199-214.
• Gonsalves, G.C., Lederer, A.L., Mahaney, R.C., Newkirk, H.E. A Customer Resource Life Cycle Interpretation of the Impact of the World Wide Web on Competitiveness: Expectations and Achievements. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 4, 1 (Fall), (1999), 103.
• Han, K.S., Noh, M.H. Critical Failure Factors That Discourage the Growth of Electronic Commerce. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 4, 2 (Winter), (1999-2000), 25-44.
• Hoffman, D.L., & Novak, T. P. A New Marketing Paradigm for Electronic Commerce. The Information Society, 13, (Jan-Mar), (1997), 43-54.
• Jahng, J., Jain, H., and Ramamurthy, K. Product Complexity, Richness of Web-based Electronic Commerce Systems, and System Success: A Proposed Research Framework, in Proceedings of Proceedings of the Fifth Americas Conference on Information Systems, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1999, Publishe 520-522.
• Lee, H.G., Westland, J.C., Hong, S. The Impact of Electronic Marketplaces on Product Prices: An Empirical Study of AUCNET. International Journal of Electronic Commerce,, 4, 2 (Winter), (1999-2000), 45.
• Roberts, J.H. Developing new rules for new markets;. Academy of Marketing Science Journal, 28, 1 (Winter 2000), (2000), 31-44.
• Selz, D., Schuert, P. Web Assessment - A Model for the Evaluation and the Assessment of successful Electronic Commerce Applications. Electronic Markets, 7, 3, (1997), 46-48.
• Selz, D., & Schubert, P. Web assessment - a model for the evaluation and assessment of successful electronic commerce applications, in Proceedings of Proceedings of the Thirty-First Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Kona Coast, Hawaii, 1998.
• Strader, T.J., & Hendrickson, A. R. A Framework for the Analysis of Electronic Market Success, in Proceedings of Proceedings of the America's Conference on Information Systems (AIS '98), Baltimore Maryland, 1998, Publishe 360-362.
• Yan, G., and Paradi, J. C. Success Criteria for Financial Institutions in ElectronicCommerce, in Proceedings of Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Annual Hawai'i International Conference on System Sciences, Maui, Hawaii, 1999.
• Burn, J., Barnett, M. Emerging Virtual Models for Global E-Commerce - World Wide Retailing in the E-Grocery Business. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 3, 1, (2000),
• Day, A. A model for monitoring Web site effectiveness. Internet Research, 7, 2, (1997), 109-115.
• Gebauer, J., Scharl, A. Between Flexibility and Automation: An Evaluation of Web Technology from a Business Process Perspective. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 5, 2, (1995),
• Klose, M., Lechner, U. Design of Business Media - An integrated Model of Electronic Commerce, in Proceedings of Proceedings of the Fifth Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS'99), Milwaukee, WI, 1999, Publishe 559-561.
• Lincke, D.M. Business Models for the Implementation of Mediating Electronic Product Catalogs, in Proceedings of Proceedings of the America's Conference on Information Systems (AIS '98), Baltimore, Maryland, 1998.
• Manchala, D.W. E-Commerce Trust Metrics and Models. IEEE INTERNET COMPUTING, 4, 2 (March-April), (2000), 36-44.
• Timmers, P. Business Models for Electronic Markets. Electronic Markets, 8, 2, (1998), 3-8.

From Malcolm Munro

From Malcolm Scott

From Hui-ling Wang

Email: hw19@uow.edu.au

Home