Author:
Efthymios Constantinides
Affiliation:
School of Management and Governance, University of Twente, Netherlands
Keyword(s):
e-Commerce, online business, stages model, innovation adoption, E-Commerce strategy, organizational
change.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
B2B, B2C and C2C
;
Communication and Software Technologies and Architectures
;
e-Business
;
e-Business and e-Commerce
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Social Networks and Organizational Culture
;
Society, e-Business and e-Government
;
Software Agents and Internet Computing
;
Web Information Systems and Technologies
Abstract:
Electronic Commerce (EC) is increasingly perceived as a mainstream element of the marketing strategy.
With more firms trying to extract value from the virtualized and global marketplace of the 21st century it is
essential that managers effectively address the problems related to the organizational adoption and internal
implementation of EC. The paper evaluates the aptitude of the stages model, one of the well-known
approaches describing the adoption of EC, in accurately mapping and explaining this complex process.
Based on a study of ten commercial firms the study concludes that in the majority of cases the stages model
does not adequately describe the EC adoption process. The model suffers from a fundamental flaw, namely
overlooks the irregular pattern of the EC assimilation in the internal organizational processes who are
shaped by EC with different intensity, in different ways and at different times rather than in a linear way the
stages model suggests.
The paper propose
s a more flexible approach recognizing the complexity of this process and providing a
more accurate and representative picture of the EC adoption by commercial firms.
(More)