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Managing the Strategic Alignment of Organizations 83
should be to create business opportunities (via e-commerce) and not merely to
ensure that e-commerce exists for the whole organization. Their role would thus be
to ensure that e-commerce strategy and organizational strategy align all of the time,
while creating new opportunities.
White & Manning (1998) argued that the percentage of individuals on the
Internet using the medium for shopping had increased by about 70 percent between
1995 and 1996. It is important to note that users expect to get something of value
free and this type of marketing could affect the alignment of e-commerce strategy
with the corporate strategy. Personal opinion should affect the alignment of the
strategies. Gender appears to be important in e-commerce, which would have to
be kept in mind during alignment of strategies. Consumer demographics on the
Internet could differ from normal demographics (if ever); this deserves further
research. The likelihood of purchasing from an online storefront would help with
alignment on a new frontier and should be something that executives should keep
in mind.
Everybody should row along, otherwise the technology would not be used to
the best economic advantage of the organization. Everybody should thus use and
learn about economic goals and this would make the alignment of corporate
strategies easier. They would all sing along if everybody understands core business
concerns. Everybody should also learn all topics or at least read about it - think
about BPR, TQM, etc. The explosion of the Internet as an economic resource for
business for business information in all countries have taken off and has made
business people aware of how easily data can be stored in different locations and
in different formats that all these topics can use. All this can cause growth and can
affect strategic alignment. Some of the pitfalls are the following aspects:
• Cost can be very high, and unaffordable to organizations
• Capacity development lacks strategic capacities
• Visibility and security use other providers?
• Inconsistency of telecommunications access a problem in some areas
since the Internet is not always available.
Executives should communicate the mission of e-commerce to the consumers,
employees and other managers - this could win half their battle during alignment. It
is also important to show other people how the E-commerce department operates
so they understand problem handling. They can get feedback on the e-commerce
economic role and services they render. They can check on end-users from time
to time - even if they have no problems - just to make sure that everybody knows
that your department exists. It is important that usable communication channels
exist. The inclusion of users during and when a big project starts is also important.
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