Реферат: From Brick And Mortar To Click And

Selling Power analysis. 35

JRDG analysis. 35

Research Limitations 36

Conclusions 37

Bibliography 39

Appendix??????????????…??????????.????????. A-1

Summary

The scenario created for this project called for the research team to simulate membership on the staff of a small, ?brick and mortar? firm. A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) heads the firm, and she is the primary decision maker for the firm. The CEO is inclined to pursue a venture into E-commerce, but neither she nor her staff members have experience or knowledge in this area. To help her make some decisions, the CEO asks three staff members to form a team to research E-commerce and make a recommendation on whether she should pursue E-commerce opportunities.

The objective of this research is to provide the CEO with a reasonable recommendation to either pursue some form of E-commerce or to remain with her current brick and mortar model. Because there are constraints with respect to cost/benefit analyses, there are two research questions to be answered: (a) Should the CEO venture into E-commerce, and (b) if she should, what should she do to initiate her E-commerce venture?

The research revealed that E-commerce is expanding quickly, and the potential benefits from participating are enormous. It also indicated that businesses that are reluctant to participate in E-commerce risk falling behind their competitors or becoming non-competitive in their existing market. For those that do wish to enter into E-commerce, the task should not be taken lightly. An organization requires a visionary leader, perseverance, a significant investment, the ability to establish partnerships with successful firms, and full participation from the entire organization. They must also recognize that E-commerce focuses on serving the customer, not pushing their products.

Successful E-commerce entrepreneurs become successful by developing strategic plans. At a minimum, a strategic plan should address methods for accomplishing the following five steps: (a) make it easy for your customers to conduct business, (b) focus on your true end-customer, (c) design customer-facing business processes, (d) use technology to enable your company to be profitable, and (e) promote customer loyalty. If a website is to be incorporated into the organization?s E-commerce plan, it must take five basic steps in order to complete the mechanics of establishing a viable website: (a) find an Internet service provider (ISP), (b) register a domain name, (c) develop the website, (d) manage the website, and (e) measure the website?s effectiveness. Additionally, many businesses progress through several evolutionary stages before reaching their full potential: (a) supplying company and product information, (b) providing customer support and enabling interaction with the customer, (c) supporting electronic transactions, (d) personalizing interaction with customers, and finally (e) fostering community among customers.

The research team reviewed a small, regional company?s experience with E-Commerce and a sample E-commerce proposal from a professional website development firm. The team found that the regional company initially failed when it attempted to enter into E-commerce without a strategic plan or professional expertise. However, the company?s fortunes changed after seeking help from a reputable professional and developing a strategic plan. In comparing the elements of the professional web development firm proposal with the textbook recommended model, the researchers found that they were substantially similar.

After reviewing all the collected data, the researchers made the following conclusions: (a) The CEO should pursue an E-commerce initiative, (b) the CEO?s first step should be to initiate a pre-investment study to estimate and assess the expected costs, benefits, etc. associated with establishing and maintaining an E-commerce presence, (c) the CEO should contract with a reputable E-commerce developer to build a strategic plan and establish the E-commerce vehicle, and (d) the CEO should develop a strategic plan before venturing into E-commerce.

From Brick and Mortar to Click and Mortar:

Making the Transition from Conventional Business to E-Commerce

Introduction

Background

This research project was prompted by the requirement for the researchers to complete a research project as part of the Applications of Business Research course, BSA 515. Per the guidance provided by the course instructor, the researchers chose to research an area of interest. The area of interest chosen for research was electronic commerce (E-commerce). However, none of research team members had any previous knowledge or experience with E-commerce. Accordingly, the team decided to build a research scenario to allow them to conduct their research from ?scratch.?

For the purpose of this project, the team assumed the role of staff members in a hypothetical firm. This firm is a small regional company headed by a CEO who is also the company?s founder and owner. The company has a staff of approximately 150 people, and it produces and markets several consumer products. Currently, the firm conducts business in a conventional ?brick and mortar? model. That is, the firm uses a tradition store, housed in building, where customers drive to the store?s premises to purchase goods. The firm employs traditional marketing methods (newspaper, television, and radio), and its only electronic transaction capability is a limited telephone ordering capability.

The CEO, who is the primary decision maker for the firm, is forward thinking, and she would like to expand her market. She perceives that E-commerce would be a good way to accomplish this goal, but she knows next to nothing about E-commerce. The firm?s staff members do not have any experience or working knowledge of E-commerce, so the CEO has no internal resources to provide immediate advice or recommendations on how she should proceed. She is inclined to believe that she should migrate to a ?click and mortar? model (a traditional business model expanded to take advantage of electronic business technologies; ?click? refers to the click of a computer mouse) to expand her business, but she is unsure. The CEO decides that she wants to investigate E-commerce, and she wants to determine whether E-commerce is a wise choice for her firm. Accordingly, she assigns three members of her staff to research E-commerce and provide recommendations.

Problem Definition

The research team used the following steps to define the problem: (a) ascertain the decision maker?s objectives, (b) understand the problem?s background, (c) identify and isolate the problem(s), (d) identify relevant variables, if any, and (e) state the research questions.

The decision maker has three objectives: (a) to expand her knowledge of E-commerce, (b) to find out how to implement an E-commerce model for her firm, and (c) to decide whether to migrate to a ?click and mortar? model. The following background factors are pertinent to the problem: (a) There is a perceived need to enter into E-commerce, (b) the CEO has minimal E-commerce knowledge or understanding, and (c) no experience or knowledge base on E-commerce exists within the firm.

The actual problem to be solved is two-fold. The CEO doesn?t know whether E-commerce is a good vehicle for her organization, and she does not know how to commence an E-commerce initiative. With respect to the relevant variables, the following variables would have an impact on the problem: (a) the estimated cost of establishing the E-commerce vehicle, (b) the estimated cost of maintaining the vehicle, and (c) the estimated return on investment (ROI). Unfortunately, the hypothetical nature of the firm in question prohibited the research team from performing a realistic cost/benefit analysis to use in making recommendations. This will impact on the research questions.

The objective of this research is to provide the CEO with a reasonable recommendation to either pursue some form of E-commerce or to remain with her current brick and mortar model. Considering the constraints with respect to cost/benefit analyses, there are two research questions to be answered: (a) Should the CEO venture into E-commerce, and (b) if she should, what should she do to initiate her E-commerce venture?

Hypothesis

The hypothesis for this research project supports the following proposition: E-commerce is not a fad, E-commerce is not only the wave of the future, but it is here to stay, and businesses will have to invest in E-commerce to remain competitive. Accordingly, barring pre-investment study results contrary to global trends, the hypothetical business owner in this project should pursue an E-commerce initiative because its benefits will far outweigh its costs.

Methodology

Research Design