EC Strategy and
Implementation Plan
Learning Objectives
Describe what a business strategy and
implementation plan are
Understand the process of formulating EC
strategies
Explain the issues involved in EC implementation
planning
Experience the role of intelligent agents in the
strategic perspective
Industry and
competitive
analysis
Strategy
formulation
Implementation
plan
Strategy
reassessment
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Strengths (S)
Weaknesses (W)
Opportunities (O)
SO Strategies
Generate strategies
here that use
strengths to take
advantages of
opportunities
WO Strategies
Generate strategies
here that take
advantage of
opportunities by
overcome weaknesses
Threats (T)
ST Strategies
Generate strategies
here that use
strengths to avoid
threats
WT Strategies
Generate strategies
here that minimize
weaknesses and avoid
threats
Strategy Formulation
Strategy formulation
Development of long-range plans
Organizations mission
Purpose or reason for the organizations existence
Value added
contributes to profit and enhances the asset value
as well as the competitive position of the company
in the market
to create additional value using EC channels, a
company should consider the competitive market
and rivalry in order to best leverage its EC assets
Prentice Hall, 2000
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Customers
Selection
Customers
Acquisition
Relationship
Marketing
Customers
Retention
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Risks
Competitive strategy risk external, due to joint venture,
alliances, or demographic changes among others
Organizational risk and uncertainty internal to company
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Competitive Strategy
Offensive strategy usually takes place in an
established competitors market
Frontal Assault attacker must have superior resources
and willingness to persevere
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Cooperative Strategies
Collusion active cooperation of firms within an industry to
reduce output and increase prices in order to get around the
normal economic law of supply and demand (illegal)
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EC Strategy in Action
What questions should a strategic plan answer?
How is Electronic Commerce going to change our business?
How do we uncover new types of business opportunities?
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Implementation EC Plan
Starts with organizing a project team
Undertake a few pilot projects (help discover
problems early)
Implementing EC
Redesigning existing business processes
Back-end processes must be automated as
much as possible
Company must set up workflow applications by
integrating EC into existing accounting and
financial back-ends
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Uncovering Specific EC
Opportunities and Application
Understand:
How digital markets operate
How Internet customers behave
How competition is created and what infrastructure
is needed
What are the dynamics of EC
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Uncovering Specific EC
Opportunities and Application (cont.)
Opportunities
Matchmaking matching buyers needs from seller
without a priori knowledge of either one
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Uncovering Specific EC
Opportunities and Application (cont.)
Finding IT applications
Brainstorming by a group of employees
Soliciting the help of experts, such as
consultants
Review what the competitors are doing
Ask the vendors to provide you with suggestions
Read the literature to find out whats going on
Use analogies from similar industries or business
processes
Use a conventional IS requirement analysis
approach
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Gatekeepers
Web team
Building
System
Infrastructure
Business
Process
Reengineering
Security
and Control
Marketing
Finance
Accounting
Information
Technology
EC Project Team
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Evaluating Outsourcing
Factors to consider:
Ease of configuration and setup
Database and scripting support
Payment mechanism
Sample storefronts
Workflow management
Documented database support
Integration into existing accounting and
financial back ends
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Web Hosting
Hosting Internally Vs. Hosting Using
ISP
System Cost
bandwidth
capabilities and specifications
firewall system
wireless delivery
buy, rent, or lease
maintenance, upgrade, and service of the
equipment
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Training requirements
Installation and server
maintenance
Programming
On corporate site hosting Vs.
off-site
Secure Server for financial
transactions
Your bandwidth needs
Your server capacity needs
Location of your server at the
Web company or ISP
company location
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Video
FTP
Forms
Chat rooms
VRML
Statistics
Customer tracking
E-mail response and
forwarding
Java applications
Animation
Security
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Strategy Reassessment
Webs grow in unexpected ways
e.g. Genentec and Lockheed Martin
Important
Develop a checklist
Project Team compiles statistics that can be tracked
CIOs and other executives are trying to extract the
business value from their investment in information
technologies
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Management Issues
Considering the strategic value of EC
Conducting strategic planning
Considering the risks
Integration
Pilot project
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