Strategic Implications for e-Businesses
08-22-2003
By: Margaret Grene
One of the projects recently completed at the TSSG was the eFactors project [1]. E-Factors was a European Commission funded project dedicated to bringing together universities, research centers and practitioners with a common objective:
to determine factors influencing the successful adoption of new e-Business models based on practices and research expertise across Europe.
The E-Factors project network generated a set of strategic implications for organizations implementing e-Business models across Europe. Eleven case studies from businesses as diverse as aircraft maintenance and garden nurseries were reviewed. Common threads running through each of these cases were then fused together to produce a picture of the successful e-business. And this is how it looks:
Chronology of a successful eBusiness
From the start the successful eBusiness would demonstrate:
* Extensive research at the planning stages: the needs of the customer/market should be well understood.
* Clear strategy from the outset. For example see the website called Farmyard Nurseries [2]. During the development of their new website the owner of Farmyard Nurseries, Richard Bramley, conducted extensive research on the requirements of his identified market. He considered what the site should contain; how it should communicate with this market, how its mail order facility should work; how requests for information should be dealt with. With a clear picture of how the website would look, Bramley concluded that in order to cater for his target market, it should be simple (not many levels of information to work through) and user oriented with thumbnail images that would not effect the speed of download.
* Market driven - established in response to a perceived demand with clear benefits for all those involved.
* Strong control of the development phase and not technology driven.Building, where possible, on existing models and standards.
* Simple as possible deployment strategy with short as possible development phase.
Active site promotion.
The successful eBusiness taking an Orthogonal view
If you looked at any of these successful eBusinesses at any given time they would be:
* Responsive to personnel requirements driven by the new e-Business such as the need for training or the need for additional staff as a result of increased turnover.
* Responsive to feedback and signals about the e-Business.Adding value to its products and services. (Existing business applying e-Business model)Applying high levels of security to its e-commerce facilities.
* Centrally organized with strong, knowledgeable management team.Where possible, forging a virtual community of interest from which knowledge and transactions are generated. For example the Fokker Fleet website [3]. MyFokkerFleet.com is a web center developed by Fokker Services. This web center is available to Fokker aircraft owners and operators and it provides information about fokker maintenance techniques and products.
[1] www.e-factors.net
[2] www.farmyardnurseries.co.uk
[3] www.myfokkerfleet.com
For more information about the eFactors project see
www.e-factors.net
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