Opening Digital Markets: MBA Strategies for Internet-driven Commerce - Hardcover

Mougayar, Walid

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0070435421 ISBN 13: 9780070435421

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US, 1998

Synopsis

This how-to text is for the business or marketing manager who has to plan and implement an Internet business. It contains step-by-step planning templates, as well as case studies and practical examples of successful Internet commerce ventures. Internet-driven electronic commerce is rapidly emerging as an entirely new method of conducting business and interacting with customers, suppliers and partners. Many firms are looking toward Internet commerce because it brings new dimensions of speed, efficiency, interactivity and cost reduction. In the book-selling business, Amazon.com is an example of a successful venture in electronic commerce. While there are many technology-related issues to consider before implementing electronic commerce, careful business analysis that takes into accout a deep knowledge of the possibilities as well as the risks is equally important. The book should be of interest to business and technology executives interested in exploring how Internet commerce is destined to change their organizations, now and in the future. It shows how to develop a business strategy that fundamentally and positively alters core values with Internet commerce as the catalyst. The book explains how to plan and build successful Internet marketplaces by highlighting the major management and strategic considerations step by step within a logical framework.

About this title

Review

Opening Digital Markets: Battle Plans and Business Strategies for Internet Commerce, by global online consultant Walid Mougayar, is as thorough and thought-provoking an examination of both the promise and the reality of today's embryonic electronic marketplace as one is likely to find. His clearly proselytising but thankfully hype-free narrative shows why business people in assorted fields must pay close attention to this exploding arena and, more importantly, how they might effectively take their place among those who currently are (or soon will be) using it to maximum commercial advantage. Specifying relevant challenges along with appropriate solutions, Mougayar knowledgeably lays out an ample array of strategic options that could be engaged right now to turn ephemeral online possibilities into solid corporate opportunities. He explains how the Netis serving to broaden the traditional definition of "commerce" beyond mere buying and selling, and how it allows those who use it skilfully to improve their relationships with customers and suppliers. His ideas will not guarantee success, of course, but they do point the way toward alternatives and options that savvy managers will understand and find ways to apply in their own businesses. --Howard Rothman, Amazon.com

From the Publisher

An Interview with Walid Mougayar
What is the difference between Internet commerce andelectronic commerce?
Actually, the two terms are interchangeable, because the future of electronic commerce is in the hands of the Internet. In the past, electronic commerce used to be about EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) but the Internet has revolutionized the way in which companies connect to their partners and customers, as well as the way they keep an eye on the competition. You should stop asking, "what is electronic commerce?" and rather ask "how am I using electronic commerce in my business?" The Internet is what you make of it. It's more about exploration than exploitation.

Is there more to electronic commerce than buying and selling?
Absolutely, and I have been saying it for the past two years! To limit the definition of electronic commerce to buying and selling is boring and unimaginative. But that's how it started three years ago. Now, companies must go beyond duplicating the old world in the new realm of the Internet. Digitizing existing processes might be a first step into the digital marketplace, but the truly innovative uses must come from imagining processes that just can't happen in the real world.
Working in the digital realm instantly and spontaneously breaks down boundaries. To say that you're involved in electronic commerce, you have to develop your practices in four areas: 1) become aware of the changing buying/selling process; 2) relentlessly strive to create digital value; 3) think and behave as an intermediary; 4) create and compete in new digital markets. The digital marketplace offers new opportunities such as: complete virtual marketplaces, virtual superstores, electronic trading communities, virtual co-operatives, business-to-business communities, agent-based marketplaces, virtual exchanges and virtual enterprises. By linking business processes and workflows across the Internet, companies from diverse industries can thrive. The Internet provides a seamless transaction environment. From a business perspective, what could be better than that?

What other opportunities does the Internet provide?
Before a company can begin to integrate the Internet into their overall business strategy, the company needs to determine where the Internet can add value to business practices: in reducing costs, simplifying a process, improving customer service, generating new revenue or affecting corporate knowledge. This area is sometimes referred to as "electronic business," and the point is, even if a company is not in the position to make money on the Internet yet, it can still use the Internet to save money.
The Internet can reduce the cost of business as well as increase efficiency and customer satisfaction by replacing paper shuffling and lengthy calls to customer service operators with virtual processes and customer self-service through Internet information tracking systems. Savvy managers will use the Internet to service their clients better than their competition does, by offering their customers digital value.

What is digital value?
It is raw information transformed into information-based products or services. It surrounds and protects a company's current value, i.e. services and products which may exist in the physical world. Yet because digital value is information-based, it can be owned by intermediaries; how tightly it is controlled will vary from company to company.
The burden of providing digital value will rest with sellers. The traditional value chain will evolve as Internet processes replace entire layers, tightening the cycle of exchange between sellers, distributors and buyers.

What is the mistake you see most often in the strategy of companies toward the digital marketplace?
They aren't doing enough. It may seem simple to set up a Webpage, but managers are realizing that reacting to the Internet is more difficult than it seems. The larger the organization, the more complex the picture becomes. Or, if companies are doing something, they aren't doing it in the right places. Perhaps they are discovering how electronic commerce can streamline interaction with suppliers or customers, but they haven't taken the next step and thought about how it can bring them into new markets, or even how it can create new markets.
The final step is to integrate electronic commerce into the business as a whole, using it to restructure every facet of the company for a new, digital age. In my experience, there is a shortage of imagination in this area. More technology exists than people know what to do with. They need an organized framework to clear through "digital anarchy." I wrote OPENING DIGITAL MARKETS to provide that framework, a guidebook to a richly imagined future.

What do you say to companies that have already fully integrated the Internet into their business?
Great, it's time for a check-up! Companies that have been involved for a while should now benchmark their progress in the new areas and with the new metrics that I have recently developed. I recommend concentrating on 5 key areas: organizational readiness, level of penetration, on-line competitiveness, impact on the bottom line and technological strength. Benchmarking allows you to copy best practices and to identify areas of weakness. Therefore it is the next frontier of electronic commerce and is the way to stay ahead!

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Inc.,US
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0070435421
• ISBN 13: 9780070435421
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 304