| Electronic commerce (EC) involves business transactions, marketing efforts, information gathering, and other functional activities with respect to information technology both within and without an organization. It provides various opportunities to a firm to adopt different styles of business practice and allows it to configure its technological infrastructure and applications to meet increasing demand for communication, coordination, and collaboration.; To achieve success in EC, a firm must operate each element within its value chain efficiently. Further, it must pay attention to the conduct of EC with both customers and trading partners. Thus, it is critical for an organization to effectively coordinate its EC initiatives and to provide adequate technological support. Every key element in the extended value chain should become integrated and work in harmony with each other.; This research will first focus on the operationalization of EC success. It will enumerate factors that influence such success and study related initiatives through the development of a “business value model” linking EC initiatives to measures of success. The empirical component of the study will test the strength of the relationships between the levels of initiatives and success; further, it will show where firms stand relative to their EC investments, and identify areas where firms need to concentrate on to improve organizational efficiency and flexibility.; The business value model of electronic commerce success involves multiple levels, with performance and organizational measures, and EC “design” initiatives. We will empirically test the model using a survey questionnaire, collecting data for statistical analysis. Complementarity theory will be discussed to show how different factors and issues are interacting with each other. Based on the result of the study, the model will be refined and further validated through more research work.; The contribution of this research is an empirically tested business value model of electronic commerce success, which can be applied to a particular organizational setting to help a firm succeed in its electronic commerce practice. Firms use this model as a guide to improve their organizational efficiency and flexibility through appropriate investments in specific areas relating to technologies, processes, and strategies. |
