| Despite the newness of conducting business on the Internet, Electronic Business (E-Business) is growing at an unprecedented rate. Experts predict that E-business will continue to expand as more people get connected to the Internet and as a result, they become potential online consumers. Companies and entrepreneurs, on the other end, are rushing to have a share of the e-market by launching their web sites. However, many studies show that failures do occur in E-Business.; A large number of E-Business companies, especially e-tailing ones, began failing. (startupfailure.com) Reasons behind these failures include lack of strategic implementation planning, incorrect or unclear picture of E-business and its models and environment, and inefficient management practices. All these reasons have led to the failure of recognizing the important role of e-customers. Therefore, customers' input is not considered or if it is considered, it is not integrated in the implementation process as early as it should be.; This study provides a framework, that is based on sound system engineering principles and optimization techniques, for implementing E-Business. A systematic 3-step way is developed to solve the resource allocation problem. First, the status quo of the business is examined. Next, resource needs of the businesses are determined. Last, models are developed to optimize needed resources.; Data are collected from e-customers, information technology professionals, and companies' managers (through surveys, interviews, and clickstream data). In order to determine the critical factors of a successful E-Business and weigh their importance, the data will be tested statistically. Then, Analytical Hierarchy Process, which a multi criteria decision technique, is utilized to rank variables according to their importance. Finally, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is applied to optimize resources in order to maximize the success of the E-business. |
