Internet Studies

Questions to ask:

• Customer service and future needs - does it meet customer’s needs for today and tomorrow
• Value proposition - what capabilities needed to create rich experiences?
• Resources - internal or outsource?
• Organisation structure
• Function or process oriented?
• Selling method - sales force, reseller or direct sales?
• Distribution channels
• How do we go once we decided?

Roadmap Steps

1. Self Diagnosis
   • New ways to do business?
   • Be aware of changing customer expectation
   • Challenge industry assumptions to create innovative product
   • Is the plan flexible and adaptive enough under current market conditions?
   • Can we get low operating costs while making complex applications?
2. Reversing the Value Chain—by understanding customer needs and making them a priority. Decide what they need and then make it happen. “In an outside-in approach, the strategy revolves around the customer.”
3. Choosing a Narrow Focus—choose excellence among the following:
   • Service—to give superior value to a small niche market and making a concerted effort to serve them well. Trying to anticipate target customer’s needs.
     Strive for: Self-service, relationship marketing and value
   • Operations—quick, error-free and cheap.
     Strive for: customised solutions, outsourcing and process effectiveness.
     Key principles:
     • Efficient use of resources
     • Speedy transactions
     • Sales intelligence - know what’s selling
     • Monitoring all processes
     • Meeting customer expectations
   • Continuous Innovation—push performance boundaries. Results in product leadership.
     Strive for: culture of innovation, market education and constantly delight the customer.
     Key principles:
     • Risk oriented
     • Acquisition of new products (example: Google and Yahoo!)
     • Educating the market/users
     • Reward experimentation (example: Google)

“…established firms can be early adopters and compete successfully with small, fast-moving innovators.”

Sounds like the writers are on the big firms’ side. I would rewrite it to:
Small and big companies can compete successfully by being early innovators.

The Internet and within it e-business = “…the biggest stories in modern times: the transformation of society.”

I liked that sentence:

“…in its heyday refused to believe consumers would prefer air transportation to railcars.”

Without getting into the debate of Microsoft vs. Apple, I believe it is Apple that tries to understand what the customers’ needs and then Microsoft copies Apple inventions.
But in regards to word and office applications, Microsoft have won the battle with other competitors are not even close to its market share and reach.
But anyway …

“The creation of an e-business is inextricably linked to the management of change.”

Resource:

Kalakota, R., Robinson, M., (1999), e-Business, Roadmap for Success, Addison-Wesley