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84 Lubbe
Pay special attention to users with special needs and make sure that everybody
receives the same amount of help. Make sure that the e-commerce department
understand what applications people are using and why do they prefer to install their
own software. All of these help with better alignment and overall functionality.
Gibson et al. (1998) note that with the onset of the 1990s came an unstable
economic environment and businesses started to realize that the strategic vision of
the business required a dramatic change in their economic and social environment
in order to at least maintain their competitive advantage. This meant that everyone
had to realign their strategies to stay competitive. According to them, the companies
they investigated exhibited a change in strategic vision, but these changes were
unreflected in their e-commerce. This could create a problem, because if ecommerce
cannot reflect the changes in the economic strategic vision, it would
affect the alignment of instruments that could be used to determine if the organization’s
strategies are aligned. It could be because certain economic and social changes
could prevent the advent of developments such as e-commerce. Therefore, a gap
exists which could create a misalignment between the organization’s strategic vision
and the route it follows. . Business and e-commerce create the gap, in this instance.
Many of the organizations they investigated acknowledged that e-commerce was
not a good fit for their organization. The companies that they investigated used a
variety of approaches to realign the economic model and e-commerce with their
strategic vision. Gibson et al. (1998) argued that these approaches have gone
beyond technical solutions. Although they would eliminate the technical problems,
they would probably not address the business issues, so realignment would not
occur. New technology such as ERP software, combined with business process
creates the need to realign the business model and e-commerce with their strategic
vision.
The aim of management should be to try to provide insights into identifying
areas that help or hinder the alignment of the strategy for the organization with the
e-commerce. Alignment focuses on the activities that management performs to
achieve cohesive goals across the organization. Certain activities can also assist in
the achievement of the alignment while others are clearly barriers. Achieving this
alignment is a dynamic and evolutionary process. The alignment requires strong
support from management at all levels, good relationships within the organization,
strong leadership. These points must be emphasized, heeded, and communicated
well, so that all people understand the organization’s business environment, at the
same time ensuring a successful alignment. All enablers and inhibitors should be
focused on ensuring successful alignment and therefore all inhibitors should be
minimized.
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