E-commerce in Small UK Manufacturing Firms: A Pilot Study on Internal Competencies

Abstract

Success in cyberspace markets will be influenced by whether firms can develop unique organisational processes as the basis for supporting market performance.This perspective suggests that the adoption of a "resource-based" view of the firm may provide the basis for assessing the ability of an organisation to exploit the Internet as a path through which to enhance market performance. A competency model has been developed to define areas of capability that may influence the execution of an Internet marketing strategy. Proposed competencies include positioning, funding, innovation, workforce management, productivity, service quality and information management.Following qualitative validation of the model, a survey was undertaken amongst small UK manufacturing firms. Results of the survey indicate that the identified competencies within the model are perceived as critical for achieving market performance and that firms which exhibit these key competencies are able to achieve a higher level of sales growth.

An Integrated Model of the Adoption and Extent of E-Commerce in Firms

“…This result may highlight the need to examine additional strategic elements to those taken into account here, as well as to consider whether the conventional strategies of market and relationship orientations, as well as the segmentation strategies, require adaptation to the specific Internet environment if they are to have a positive impact on performance. Indeed, some previous work has also proved unable to clearly detect, for example, a positive relation between a relationship marketing orientation and improved performance on the Internet (Chaston & Mangles, 2002;Lee-Kelley et al, 2003;Wang & Cheung, 2004).…”

“…The firm's strategic orientation can play an important role in the adoption and extent of e-commerce (Raymond, 2001), and this in spite of the fact that we lack solid and pervasive conclusions about the influence of the market, marketing and relationship orientations (e.g., Chaston & Mangles, 2002;Lee-Kelley, Gilbert, & Mannicom, 2003) on the results of e-commerce operations. This is largely due to the positive role that these strategic orientations clearly play in general business performance (Achrol & Kotler, 1999;Avlonitis & Gounaris, 1999;Narver & Slater, 1990;etc.).…”

“…Much research has focused on specific sectors of the economy, such as commercial distribution (Doherty, Ellis-Chadwick, & Hart, 1999;O'Keefe, O'Connor, & Hsiang-Jui, 1998), industry (Chan & Swatman, 2000;Chaston & Mangles, 2002;Kula & Tatoglu, 2003), the communications sector (Vadapalli & Ramamurthy, 1997), the banking and finance sector (Corbitt, 2000), or tourism (Raymond, 2001;Wang & Cheung, 2004). Researchers have often examined the specific problems faced by SMEs when they adopt and use e-commerce on the Internet (Auger & Gallaugher, 1997;Chappell & Feindt, 2000;Chaston & Mangles, 2002;Daniel, Wilson, & Myers, 2002;Fillis, Johannson, & Wagner, 2004;Kula & Tatoglu, 2003;Matlay & Addis, 2003;McGowan & Durkin, 2002;O'Keefe et al, 1998;Poon & Swatman, 1997Sadowski, Maitland, & Dongen, 2002;Walczuch, Braven, & Lundgren, 2000). And while some studies analyze the determinants of B2B e-commerce operations (Bertschek & Fryges, 2002;Chan & Swatman, 2000;Eid & Trueman, 2004;Eid, Trueman, & Ahmed, 2002), others have preferred to focus on B2C e-commerce (Corbitt, 2000;Doherty et al, 1999;O'Keefe et al, 1998;Raymond, 2001).…”

“…A third group of studies, meanwhile, analyzes the final result of the adoption process, for which they identify and explain the factors contributing to ecommerce success (Chappell & Feindt, 2000;Eid et al, 2002;Eid & Trueman, 2004;Feindt et al, 2002;Jeffcoate et al, 2002;Sung & Gibson, 2005). Finally, we might mention a few studies that analyze the relation between a specific variable and e-commerce implementation (Chaston & Mangles, 2002;Matlay & Addis, 2003).…”

Escala para mensuração de modelo de negócios

“…Estas se transformaram criando ou adaptando seu modelo de negócios de tal modo que há uma interação global das atividades organizacionais. Nesse contexto, várias pesquisas foram realizadas no intuito de entender a dinâmica das atividades que compõem o modelo de negócios adotado pelas empresas (CHASTON;MAGLES, 2002;OSTERWALDER, 2004;OSTERWALDER;PIGNEUR, 2013;OSTERWALDER;TUCCI, 2005;WU;MAHJAN;BALASUBRAMANIAN, 2003).…”