مزایا، موانع و عوامل مهم موفقیت در پذیرش تجارت الکترونیکی B2C

This paper reports the results of a study carried out to assess the benefits, impediments and major critical success factors in adopting business to consumer e-business solutions. A case study method of investigation was used, and the experiences of six online companies and two bricks and mortar companies were documented. The major impediments identified are: leadership issues, operational issues, technology, and ineffective solution design. The critical success factors in the adoption of e-business are identified as: combining e-business knowledge, value proposition and delivery measurement, customer satisfaction and retention, monitoring internal processes and competitor activity, and finally building trust. Findings suggest that above all, adoption of e-business should be appropriate, relevant, value adding, and operationally as well as strategically viable for an organization instead of being a result of apprehensive compliance.

Organizations adopt e-business for several reasons and perceived benefits. Some of these benefits include better management of information, better integration of suppliers and vendors, better channel partnership, lower transaction costs, better market understanding, and expanded geographical coverage (Damanpour, 2001). Typically, successful exploitation of e-business requires making a creative link between an organization's strategy and the technology that supports it, and managing pervasive information and communication technology applications that are increasingly integrated and convergent, and that enable flexible and adaptive behavior on the part of the firm and its employees. The definitions of e-business are many and varied. For the purpose of this paper, e-business is described as: “utilization of networks and near-time interactions to accomplish some combination of six core business goals: empowerment of customers, enhancement of trade, increased business agility, extension of enterprises in a virtual manner, evolution and invention of products and services, and the development of new markets and audiences” (Sharma, 2000, p. 28).In this paper, we explore one form of e-business, namely business to consumer (B2C) electronic commerce. This form of e-business is often associated with the buying and selling of information, products, and services via the Internet, which seeks to replace traditional sales channel with online channel to consumers (Griffith and Palmer, 1999). While many organizations across all industries have embraced various types of e-business solutions, there are a considerable number of cases indicating that creating the successful dot.com enterprise is a challenging task. Channel conflicts, legacy systems, resistant business partners, confusion on strategy, and corporate cultures prevent existing firms from successfully integrating e-business into business practices (Kanter, 2001 and Kalakota and Robinson, 1999). In particular, established companies, now widely referred to as ‘old economy,’ are facing challenges in e-business adoption that differ from those experienced by pure e-business or so called ‘new economy’ companies. The literature clearly supports the need for more detailed investigations of how organizations manage problems associated with e-business adoption, and which factors are associated with successful e-business adoption. This paper reports the results of a study carried out to assess benefits expected and benefits derived from e-business adoption, the major obstacles in e-business adoption and the critical success factors in B2C environment. In order to explore these factors, we conducted a multi-case study of a selection of both established, old economy and online, new economy companies with major e-business activities. The exploratory nature of this study does not promote any specific set of hypotheses. Instead it provides empirical evidence for future theory development focusing on success factors and obstacles experienced in e-business adoption across several companies. In Section 2 a review of existing literature is presented on which this study is based. The literature review is followed by an outline of qualitative research design, case study research strategy, sample selection, and interviews. Section 4 outlines major findings and discusses (a) expected and derived benefits, (b) major impediments experienced by the B2C case study companies investigated and (c) the critical success factors. Finally, Section 5 presents a summary of the findings that are believed to be of considerable benefit to organizations currently involved in e-business activities, as well as those considering the adoption of e-business solutions.

This study aimed to explore and compare between expected and derived benefits from B2C adoption, investigate major impediments organizations confront when adopting consumer specific e-business initiatives and determine the critical factors that are associated with successful e-business adoption. The conclusions drawn from this research are three-fold. First, the research findings indicate that the majority of companies derived benefits that were oriented on satisfying customers, improving process effectiveness, increasing company growth in terms of income, increased learning by customers, and enhancing value generation. Second, in adoption of B2C initiatives, organizations operating entirely online faced greater impediments in their e-business adoption than their offline counterparts. In particular, absence of clearly defined performance measures for online organizations requires attention, as well as technical issues relating to systems capacity, and development of customer knowledge. Small offline organizations that are increasingly trying to establish online presence have to overcome impediments related to investment, technical skills, and understanding of solution suitability and overall relevance to their core business activities. It is recommended that obstacles need to be identified, and then minimized through active learning and collaboration with customers, management, and internal business units. Third, organizations that have successfully adopted business-to-consumer initiatives demonstrate that a combination of strong customer focus, clearly defined performance measures for e-business activity and incorporation of those measures in decision making process, a clear link between value proposition and measures, and incremental development process of e-business present the critical success factors. These factors suggest that organizations likely to succeed in B2C e-business adoption concentrate on developing e-business knowledge relevant to their core business, and they consider changes that may occur in customer relationships and create response to those through adjustment of value proposition. Finally, such organizations are able to measure how well they are delivering their value proposition to the customer. From a management perspective, an important implication of this research is that e-business adoption requires consideration from a long-term perspective, and in congruence with organizational strategic direction. Only by approaching e-business from such a perspective can managers ensure that e-business adoption is appropriate, relevant, value adding, and operationally as well as strategically viable for an organization instead of being a result of apprehensive compliance.