www.sharexxx.net - free books & magazines
www.sharexxx.net - free books & magazines
www.sharexxx.net - free books & magazines
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
84 Lubbe<br />
Pay special attention to users with special needs and make sure that everybody<br />
receives the same amount of help. Make sure that the e-commerce department<br />
understand what applications people are using and why do they prefer to install their<br />
own software. All of these help with better alignment and overall functionality.<br />
Gibson et al. (1998) note that with the onset of the 1990s came an unstable<br />
economic environment and businesses started to realize that the strategic vision of<br />
the business required a dramatic change in their economic and social environment<br />
in order to at least maintain their competitive advantage. This meant that everyone<br />
had to realign their strategies to stay competitive. According to them, the companies<br />
they investigated exhibited a change in strategic vision, but these changes were<br />
unreflected in their e-commerce. This could create a problem, because if ecommerce<br />
cannot reflect the changes in the economic strategic vision, it would<br />
affect the alignment of instruments that could be used to determine if the organization’s<br />
strategies are aligned. It could be because certain economic and social changes<br />
could prevent the advent of developments such as e-commerce. Therefore, a gap<br />
exists which could create a misalignment between the organization’s strategic vision<br />
and the route it follows. . Business and e-commerce create the gap, in this instance.<br />
Many of the organizations they investigated acknowledged that e-commerce was<br />
not a good fit for their organization. The companies that they investigated used a<br />
variety of approaches to realign the economic model and e-commerce with their<br />
strategic vision. Gibson et al. (1998) argued that these approaches have gone<br />
beyond technical solutions. Although they would eliminate the technical problems,<br />
they would probably not address the business issues, so realignment would not<br />
occur. New technology such as ERP software, combined with business process<br />
creates the need to realign the business model and e-commerce with their strategic<br />
vision.<br />
The aim of management should be to try to provide insights into identifying<br />
areas that help or hinder the alignment of the strategy for the organization with the<br />
e-commerce. Alignment focuses on the activities that management performs to<br />
achieve cohesive goals across the organization. Certain activities can also assist in<br />
the achievement of the alignment while others are clearly barriers. Achieving this<br />
alignment is a dynamic and evolutionary process. The alignment requires strong<br />
support from management at all levels, good relationships within the organization,<br />
strong leadership. These points must be emphasized, heeded, and communicated<br />
well, so that all people understand the organization’s business environment, at the<br />
same time ensuring a successful alignment. All enablers and inhibitors should be<br />
focused on ensuring successful alignment and therefore all inhibitors should be<br />
minimized.<br />
Copyright © 2003, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written<br />
permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.