What is E-Commerce?
- Utilize telecommunications technology and networks for:
– Conducting business transactions
– Sharing business information
– Maintaining business relationships
– Developing business strategies
A Framework to identify E-Commerce Application
- Two main dimensions for characterizing e-commerce (Riggins& Rhee, 1998)
– Location of application user relative to
system firewall
• Internal
• External
– Type of relationship affected
• Technology enhanced
• Technology facilitated
Inhibitors of E-Commerce
10 Dimensions
– Difficulties in organizational change
– Problems in project management
– Unresolved technical issues
– Unresolved legal issues
– Lack of top management support
Source: Teo, Ranganathan, & Dhaliwal, 2006
– Lack of e-commerce strategy
– Lack of IT expertise and infrastructure
– Fear and uncertainty
– Lack of interoperability
– Difficulties in costbenefit assessment
Difficulties in Organizational Change
- Organizational context
– Difficulties in making organizational and management changes
– Difficulties in making changes to current corporate culture
– Difficulties in making changes to existing organizational structure
– Difficulties in redesigning the business processes for e-commerce -Lack of support from functional managers
– Lack of champion
– Difficulties in gaining cross-functional cooperation
– Inadequate support from other departments
Problem in Projects Management
- Organizational context
– Lack of appropriate methodology
– Inadequate training on e-commerce for organizational staff
– Not enough time to develop new skills
– Lack of external consultant support
– Lack of dedicated team or decision maker for e-commerce
– Difficulties in keeping IT staff adequately trained on up-to-date e-commerce technologies
Unresolved Technical Issues
- Technological context
– Unresolved security, encryption and
authentication issues
– Inadequate mechanisms for protecting
data and information in e-commerce
transactions
– Lack of adequate payment systems for
conducting financial transactions with
business customers and suppliers
– Lack of robust and stable infrastructure
Unresolved Legal Issues
- Environmental context
– Complex legal issues involved in conducting
electronic transactions with business
partners
– Lack of international access and trade
barriers to do e-commerce across national
borders
– Inconsistent taxation laws related to ecommerce
– Lack of clear legal environment for
conducting e-commerce
Lack of Top management Support
- Organizational context
– Lack of top management support
– Lack of top management leadership
– Lack of top management understanding
about potential benefits and issues
related to e-commerce
Lack of E- Commerce Strategy
- Organizational context
– Lack of strategic vision for e-commerce
– Lack of strategic plan for e-commerce
– Lack of alignment of e-commerce plans
and corporate plans
Lack of IT Expertise and infrastructure
- Technological context
– Lack of adequate IT/e-commerce
expertise in the organization
– Lack of adequate IT infrastructure in the
organization
– Limitations posed by existing database
infrastructure in the organization
– Limitations posed by current
telecommunication infrastructure in the
organization
Fear and Uncertainty
- Environmental context
– Internal fear of opening corporate
systems to suppliers and customers
– Uncertain response of customers
– Uncertain response of suppliers
– Uncertain response of business partners
Lack of Interoperability
- Technological context
– Lack of interoperability between new ecommerce
applications and legacy
systems
– Difficulties in integrating e-commerce
applications with existing applications
and systems
– Lack of interoperability between ecommerce
applications and those of
business partners (suppliers, customers,
etc.)
Difficulties in Cost-Benefit Assessment
- Organizational Context
– Difficulties in financially justifying ecommerce
investments and benefits
– Problems in measuring benefits of ecommerce
efforts
ecommerce and website development 