Xem mẫu
Sensis.Com.Au
ing, there appears to be a shortfall in people with VSHFL¿FH[SHUWLVHLQHFRPPHUFHLQ$XVWUDOLD This may be because international demand is high and it takes time for the right skills to be taught in universities. The shortage in human resources DQGVNLOOVUHPDLQVDVLJQL¿FDQWEDUULHUWRRQOLQH entrepreneurship and innovation in Australia. Sensis believes that retention of staff is a very VLJQL¿FDQW GULYHU RI LQQRYDWLRQ DQG DV VXFK they have developed reward systems which will commit their people to the company and offer them recognition, training, and opportunities. The ompany also has developed relationships with universities and regularly engages speakers to address staff.
Other lessons learned from Sensis Search are also fundamental. According to the Sensis’ CEO, the key factors contributing to the company’s suc-cess are Sensis’s continued focus and commitment to its people and customers. Survey data showed that its customer satisfaction improved 10% in 2004 and its employee satisfaction has continued to rate up to 10% higher than the Australian av-erage with regards to key satisfaction measures (Sensis, 2004d). In addition, there is a need to be realistic (particularly if the company is competing against established players), and to identify what differentiates the company from its competitors and the sustainability of that differentiation. Fur-WKHUFRPSDQLHVDOVRVKRXOGKDYH¿UPPLOHVWRQHV which can be derived from a user point of view, customers, brand recognition, or advertising, with which to gauge the progress of their investment. Finally, a calculated risk assessment is crucial to an online business. Companies should know when to let go or substantially change their model or sell it to others in order to go to the next level.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH
The overall improvement of economic conditions worldwide in 2003 and 2004 and the recovery of
LQYHVWRUV¶FRQ¿GHQFHLQKLJKWHFKDQGHEXVLQHVV industries have refueled the growth of e-busi-nesses. Indeed, the public interest in Google’s IPO launch in August 2004 is an indicator of the recovery. After two days trading, Google’s share price jumped 27% and the company’s value (around $US29 billion) equaled that of the Ford Motor Company (Wood, 2004). According to the projection made by Forrester Research, online sales will grow at a year-over-year pace of 19% to US$225.9 billion in 2008 in the United States. Further, the number of online shoppers also will LQFUHDVHVLJQL¿FDQWO\DQGQHDUO\PLOOLRQQHZ United States households will shop online every year (TechWeb News, August 5, 2003). The mega economic environment entails a positive and promising future for e-business, although there are many challenges and hurdles that need to be surmounted. There is clear evidence as provided by companies like Google, Yahoo, and Amazon. com as well as the case company of this study that e-innovation is alive and well. Consumer behaviour has changed, and people are more likely WRDFFHSWQHZ,QWHUQHWWHFKQRORJ\WKDQ¿YH\HDUV ago.E-entrepreneurship ande-innovation will help an e-business get to the stage where they are SUR¿WDEOHDQGVXVWDLQDEOH
However, dot-coms also are facing greater challenges than ever. First, dot-com industries need to achieve sustainability, due to a more uncertain economic environment and the increas-ing complexities of new technologies and a more globalized economy. Second, the business success and fast expansion of Amazon.com, Dell, travel. com, and the like through e-business partner-ships reinforce the value of strategic alliances. Corporate e-partnerships will be a crucial factor and play a key role in the future development of e-business activities. In the frenetically changing competitive landscape of today’s business world, few organizations can rely only on their internal strengths to gain a competitive advantage in national and/or international markets. Continued expansion to global markets will push more in-
1314
Sensis.Com.Au
ternational dot-coms to form strategic alliances in e-business. Yahoo, Google, e-Bay, and E*trade provide good examples of global expansion using alliances with local e-businesses worldwide for smaller players who will follow the trend to go global. Finally, the key principles oftotal quality management (TQM) will be the fundamental cornerstone to e-business success, which include customer focus, and continuous improvement and measurement to achieve customer satisfaction. The failure of many e-businesses and the dot-com crash have on the whole been caused by poor qual-ity customer services and support, problems with Web site security and technologies, and weaker change management (Janenko, 2003).
Future research could focus on:
Kanungo, R.N. (Ed.). (1999). Entrepreneurship and innovation: Models for development. London: Sage Publications.
Mellahi, K., & Johnson, M. (2000). Does it pay WREHD¿UVWPRYHULQHFRPPHUFH"7KHFDVHRI Amazon.com. Management Decision, 38(7), 445-452.
Miller, D. (1983). The correlates of entrepreneur-VKLSLQWKUHHW\SHVRI¿UPVManagement Science, 29, 770-791.
Sensis. (2002). 3DFL¿F$FFHVVODXQFKHVQHZFRU-porate brand – Sensis.
Sensis. (2004a).Sensis acquires leading directory mapping business, Universal Publishers. Growth in digital mapping drives merger.
• the complex, dynamic, and sophisticated structures under which e-business can oper-ate,
LGHQWL¿FDWLRQRIWKHHEXVLQHVVQHWZRUNVDQG relationships that are most likely to succeed, and how they succeed,
WKHVSHFL¿FQDWXUHDQGFKDUDFWHULVWLFVRIWKH operations of dot-coms in different industry sectors and in different country settings,
WKHLPSDFWRIVSHFL¿FHEXVLQHVVWHFKQRORJL-FDOLQQRYDWLRQVRQVSHFL¿FIXQFWLRQDODUHDV of e-businesses, and
• the effectiveness of the current technological WUHQGRI³RQHVL]H¿WVDOO´HEXVLQHVVVROX-WLRQVEXLOWRQ³LQGXVWU\EHVWSUDFWLFHV´IRU e-business.
Sensis. (2004b). Online advertising growth no surprise to Sensis.
Sensis. (2004c).6HQVLVFRPDXUHGH¿QHV$XVWUD-lian search market.
Sensis. (2004d). Sensis exceeds FY 04 targets: Strong core business growth maintained, rein-IRUFHGE\FRQWLQXLQJGLYHUVL¿FDWLRQRIWKH6HQVLV business.
Slevin, D.P., & Covin, J.G. (1990). Juggling en-trepreneurial style and organizational structure – how to get your act together. Sloan Management Review, Winter Issue, 43-53.
Steinberg, A. (2003). 7KHUHGH¿QLWLRQRIH[SHUW knowledge in e-entrepreneurship: A study on the sense-making of success and decision-mak-
REFERENCES
Drucker, P.F. (1994). Innovation and entrepre-neurship: Practice and principles. London: Heinemann.
Janenko, P.M. (2003). E-business: The illusion of automated success. The TQM Magazine, 15(3), 180-186.
ing amongst e-entrepreneurs in the wake of the dotcom crash. London: London School of Economics.
TechWeb News (2003). Steady growth projected for online retail. Information Week, August 5.
Wood, D.B. (2004, August 23). Google’s debut in the stock markets sends a mixed signal; a weaker-than-expected pre-market auction, followed by
1315
Sensis.Com.Au
two brisk days of trading, tells a tale of tech IPO ENDNOTE market. Christian Science Monitor, p 2.
Zhao, F. (2005). Exploring the synergy between entrepreneurship and innovation. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Re-search, 11(1), 25-41.
³0H´EUDQG7KHWHUP³Me2” brands re-fers to merely copying existing, successful e-commerce models under the premise of ³EXLOGLWDQGFXVWRPHUVZLOOFRPH´ZKROO\ failing to recognize the power of established branding.
This work was previously published in Entrepreneurship and Innovations in E-Business: An Integrative Perspective, edited by F. Zhao, pp. 148-158, copyright 2006 by IGI Publishing (an imprint of IGI Global).
1316
1317
Chapter 4.21
The Snakes and Ladders Game in E-Business:
Digital Transformation at
American Hardware Depot
C. Ranganathan University of Illinois, USA
Dong Back Seo University of Illinois, USA
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
American Hardware Depot (AHD), a retailer of hardware and home improvement products, sells over 65,000 products through its network of 4,500 stores nationwide that are operated by owner-dealers. While rivals such as Home Depot were quick to launch their e-business efforts, AHD was late to embrace technology as well as electronic retailing. Though some of the AHD’s e-business efforts met with moderate success, others faced severe challenges. AHD invested over $5 million as a minority equity stake in Americanhome. FRPLQUHWXUQIRUWKLVGRWFRP¿UPDFWLQJDVDQ online front-end store for AHD—however, this effort failed within a year. AHD was at a critical LQÀH[LRQSRLQW$+`VHHNVWRHQKDQFHLWVH
business efforts in at least three major areas: (1) to connect its dealers who had varied business processes and technologies, (2) to market and sell its products through the Web, and (3) to streamline its supply chain operations. A newly appointed YLFHSUHVLGHQWRIHEXVLQHVVKDVWR¿QGVROXWLRQV to the challenges facing AHD.
ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
Sri Nathan, vice president of e-Business at the American Hardware Depot (AHD) looked out KHURI¿FHZLQGRZDWWKHJDUGHQVVSUDZOLQJWKH seven-acre campus of AHD. The lush green foli-age reminded her of her ancestral home in India. She thought back to the meeting she had just left
Copyright © 2009, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
The Snakes and Ladders Game in E-Business
on the future of e-business at AHD. Nathan had joined AHD only six months ago after leaving her successful consulting career at Accenture. AHD had gone through a rough phase after its e-business venture failed to deliver on its intended promises. Nathan was hired to resurrect and steer AHD ahead on its e-business efforts.
Nathan faced three key issues: First, AHD needed an intranet to electronically connect its 4,500 owner-dealer operated stores nationwide. Such a system will not only facilitate electronic ordering and inventory management, but also help alert stores with special offers, trends and product information. AHD had deployed a legacy system that linked only a proportion of its stores—this system had several limitations in providing real time information and was also outdated. Second, AHD needed to quickly step up its online retailing efforts in order to respond to its competitors’ Web-based e-commerce endeavors. This was crucial as AHD’s e-business venture with Americanhome.com, which had over $5 million as equity investment, had failed. Third, in order to expand its online initiatives, AHD had to work out a strategy to partner with other companies that had online experience.
Nathan wondered how long it would take AHD WR¿QDOL]HLWVWHFKQRORJ\SODQ7KHFRPSDQ\¶V recent experience with the Web had created considerable cynicism and skepticism among some senior executives as well as dealers of AHD. However, the CEO and some senior managers were strongly committed to e-business. Given WKHVHVKDUSGLIIHUHQFHVDPRQJWKHUDQNDQG¿OH of AHD, considerable ambiguity had surfaced about the course of action to be adopted.
Relaxing for a rare moment, Nathan pondered: Is it worthwhile for a hardware retail company to think about e-business? At a time when other hardware retailers and rivals have been effective in using the Web for increasing their sales, how could AHD utilize this opportunity and become a retail leader? How do you make a once-bitten-twice-shy company continue with its online
initiatives? These issues highlighted some of the major challenges facing the senior management at AHD.
Nathan was reminded of the traditional Indian game of snakes and ladders, in which the players roll a dice and run a race on a board featuring multiple squares. There are various amounts of snakes and ladders of differing lengths on the board—the varying lengths of snakes and lad-ders will move a player backward or forward, slowing down or speeding up their race to the end of the board. If one should land at the base of a ladder, they advance to the top of the ladder, surging ahead of rivals. If the top of the snake is reached, a player descends down to the bottom and will have to attempt to move up again. AHD was going back and forth on some of its e-business efforts and in some cases, had to even restart and rebuild. While AHD had attempted major strides, all of its efforts have not paid off, forcing many of AHD’s rivals to surge ahead. .
Home Improvement Retail Industry
The home improvement industry caters to a variety of customer needs—supplying tools, materials and the know-how to build, repair, maintain, and improve residential homes. The industry boomed right after World War II, and within a decade, the do-it-yourself concept started becoming popular.
Prior to the 1970s, the industry was dominated by small and mid-sized retailers and specialty VWRUHVWKDWVROGVSHFL¿FKRPHLPSURYHPHQWSURG-ucts. However, during the 70s, hardware stores expanded their product line to include building PDWHULDODQGOXPEHUWREHFRPH³KRPHFHQWHUV´ Lumberyards expanded their offerings to move into the home center category. This led to the emergence of regional and national hardware retail chains. By the 1990s, these chains had opened large stores, 100,000 square feet or more in size, that operated across several states and territories.
1318
...
- tailieumienphi.vn
nguon tai.lieu . vn