Comparative Analysis on E-Business and Non E-Business Competitive Advantage
1.0 Background and overview
Virtually, globalization affects all industries and sectors in the world especially since economists believe that global integrationism is now possible, making possible the transfer of information via technology from geographically dispersed locations. Technology had played a pivotal role in the growth of business and their competitive edge. As commerce and trade became more complex and convoluted, the marketplace necessitates the implementation of strategies to make the trading process more effective and efficient. Industrial age was perceived to be the most innovative era of the entire business history as it open for a more technical and less manual systems that are used in overall manufacturing of an industry (Duray and Vering 2001). Today, the majority of the manufacturing and production process of the company was made more convenient by machines.
The application of information technology (IT) and other new e-business solutions helped transformed the operation of supply chain from production to customization. Innovation and such implementations assisted in improving productivity that helped to generate strong growth of many economies and helped to create much higher standards of living (Basu and Siems 2004). Although most of the businesses are focusing on their technological advancement for them to improve their processes of design and manufacturing, the focus now is on the needs of many organizations and businesses in improving the process of transferring raw materials, machinery and the finished product throughout the entire supply chain of a firm. Further, the application of new technologies with their transportation, telecommunications as well as applications of computerized systems and the Internet had helped several companies to improve the ability of their organization to plan, organize, supervise and assess their overall processes.
As such, the use of IT and other computerized system, continuous innovations and the use of the Internet are considered as the most valuable and useful tool or weapon that can be used in order to maintain their competitive advantage as well as to absorb and adapt to the continuous growing market. Electronic business, or e-business as Lou Gerstner (former CEO of IBM) puts it, refers to the application of IT and other automated system in different aspects of the overall business processes of an organization. The key advantage of e-business is the enablement for various organizations to obtain competitive advantage by serving the customers any time and any place that they want, whether in a store, over the phone, online and even offline.
There are two common types of e-business model: business-to-business (B2B) and the business-to-consumer (B2C). The former focuses on the relationships, connections and links of one company or organization to another. B2B is the application and implementation of different information system that links, connects and relate to or more trading partners in order for them to exchange information, products and services as well as payments with the use of the computer and network technology. B2B is considered to be more popular than B2C because it focuses on targeting a larger market than focusing on individual customers. B2C, on the other hand, deals with the transactions between the business and their customers whereby all of their products or services will be delivered and served directly to their customers.
If e-business models have promoted and actually provided companies with competitive advantage, the question now is: how non-e-business companies acquire competitive advantage? Competitive advantage refers to the position that a company occupies against its competitors. Competitive advantage is delivered by core competencies that provides benefits to the consumers, are not easy to imitate and can be leveraged widely across products and markets. Non-e-business implementers are equally particular with their value chain as e-business implementers. Value chains are activities that an organization undertakes in order to add value to the product or services. However, unlike e-business, knowledge on gaining competitive advantage for non-e-business companies is very limited.
The rationale behind this research is that non-e-business companies have different demands from business models to value-adding activities from the point of origin to point of distribution or consumption. There is the necessity to understand what occurs within the domain of e-business and non-e-business which impacts competitive advantage and what happens within the schema of competitive advantage that influence the conduct of e-business and non-e-business. As such, the completion of this dissertation will provide understanding of the concepts presented so as to generate data and information that every organization could use in order to come up with plans and designs that will strategically position them in the highly competitive, diverse, and complex business environment that is experienced at present.
2.0 Statement of issue and research objectives
The key question that this thesis will seek to address is: How e-business differs with non-e-business in aspect of competitive advantage? In lieu with this, the following research questions will be given answer to:
1) How e-business and non-e-business differs in adapting and implementing strategic plans?
2) How e-business and non-e-business provides value to the consumers?
3) To what extent does cost differentiation provide competitive edge to e-business implementers and non-e-business implementers?
4) Under what circumstances does product differentiation could provide e-business and non-e-business implementers with the competitive edge?
5) How e-business and non-e-business implementers strategize for sustainable competitive advantage?
In addressing the research questions, the researcher will be guide by the general aim to conduct a comprehensive analysis of e-business competitive advantage in comparison with non-e-business competitive advantage. The following specific objectives will be accomplished.
- To evaluate the similarities and differences in terms of strategic planning and transforming strategies into action
- To analyze the manner of providing value to the products and services for end-consumption especially in aspects of customization, convenience, price reduction, efficiency and giving more control to the consumers
- To assess the similarities and differences in acquiring cost and differentiation advantages
- To investigate various strategies adapted and implemented towards achieving sustainable competitive advantage
3.0 Methodology
Interpretivism is the necessary research philosophy for this study because it allows searching the ‘details of the situation to understand the reality or perhaps a reality working behind them’ (Remenyi et al, 1998). The research strategy to be used is exploratory research because it aims to know more about the phenomenon of competitive advantage with respect to e-business and non-e-business strategies. Exploratory research will enable the study to look at the problem in both descriptive and exploratory manner. This approach is a preferred mean of finding out “what is happening to seek new insights” or “to ask questions or to assess phenomena in a new light” (Saunders et al, 2003; Robson, 2002). This study will use the principal ways of conducting exploratory research, which include: literature search; talking to experts about the subject and conducting interview.
My research will operate within the cross-sectional design, as I will be collecting data on more than one case, using semi-structured interviews, structured observation, and document analysis. The benefit of this would be that Ì would be able to focus on the breath and depth of the research. Moreover, by exploring the breath of the topic, I am increasing my validity and the truthfulness of my research, and thereby minimize the confounding variables. In the second part of the research, a comparative design will be also utilized to compare competitive advantage achieved through e-business and non-e-business strategies.
The research will utilise both primary and secondary research. In primary research, the study will survey companies which are implementing e-business and non-e-business business models in acquiring competitive advantage. The researcher will survey 10 companies with e-business models and 10 companies with non-e-business models. A semi-structured questionnaire will be used as the survey tool for the study. Accordingly, semi-structured interview questions will be developed to provide the researcher the opportunity to ‘probe’ answers, which can be done in instances where there is a need or want for the interviewees to explain further or build on their responses. It is planned that the questionnaire will have open-ended, probing, hypothetical and reflective questions aside from the 5-point Likert scale ranking questions.
A secondary research will also be conducted in the study. Sources in secondary research will include previous research reports, newspaper, magazine and journal content. Existing findings on journals and existing knowledge on books will be used as secondary research. The interpretation will be conducted which can account as qualitative in nature.
4.0 Analysis
Data gathered using these instruments will be collated for analysis. Data analysis will primarily be characterized by comparative and statistical approach. Initially, after gathering empirical data, comparative contextual analysis of the literature will be adopted. Comparative contextual analysis refers to the method of comparative research whereby contextual analysis of similarities and differences is possible. Qualitative data analysis will be used to collect relevant themes from the interview responses and categorize them accordingly. From those themes, the study will develop insights regarding the subject. The following statistical formula will be used in thematic content analysis.
1. Percentage – to determine the magnitude of the responses to the questionnaire.
n
% = ——– x 100 ; n – number of responses
N N – total number of respondents
2. Weighted Mean
f1x1 + f2x2 + f3x3 + f4x4 + f5x5
x= ——————————————— ;
xt
where: f – weight given to each response
x – number of responses
xt – total number of responses
5.0 Structure of final project
The dissertation shall be divided into five chapters in order to provide clarity and coherence on the discussion of the comparisons of acquiring competitive advantage through e-business and non e-business. The first part of the dissertation will be discussing the problem uncovered by the researcher and provide ample background of the topic. The chapter shall constitute an introduction to the whole dissertation, and the statement of the problem in order to present the basis of the study. Moreover, the chapter shall also have a discussion on the scope of its study as well as the significance of the study to society in general.
The second chapter shall be discussing the relevance of the study in the existing literature. It shall provide studies on investing in new technologies such as B2B and B2C, customer value and e-marketplaces. After the presentation of the existing related literature, the researcher shall provide a synthesis of the whole chapter in relation to the study.
The third part of the study shall be discussing the methods and procedures used in the study. The chapter shall comprise of the presentation of the utilized techniques for data collection and research methodology. Similarly, it shall also contain a discussion on the used techniques in data analysis as well as the tools used to acquire the said data.
The fourth chapter shall be an analysis on the tabulated data. After the said tabulation, the data are statistically treated in order to uncover the relationship of the variable involved in the study. With the said data, the chapter seeks to address the statement of the problem noted in the first chapter.
The last chapter shall comprise of three sections, the summary of the findings, the conclusions of the study, and the recommendations. With the three portions, the chapter shall be able to address the problem stated in the initial chapters of the study.
The thesis will be presented in written form with the addition of data charts which will present the project’s results. Pie charts and network charts will be needed to illustrate some of the analyzed data. This cannot be confirmed, however, until the research data have been analyzed.
6.0 References
Basu, A. and Siems, T. (2004). The Impact of E-Business Technologies on Supply Chain Operations: A Macroeconomic Perspective, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Research Department Working Paper 0404.
Duray, D. and Vering, M. (2001). The E-Business Workplace: Discovering the Power of Enterprise Portals, Wiley, New York
Remenyi, D., Williams, B., and Swartz, E. (1998). Doing Research in Business Management: An Introduction to Process and Method. London: Sage.
Robson, C. (2002). Real World Research, 2nd Edition. Oxford, Blackwell.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003). Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd Ed. London: Prentice Hall Financial Times.
7.0 Time schedule
Weeks
TASK
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
Tutor’s approval
Read Literature
Finalize Objectives
Draft Literature Review
Devise Research Approach
Review Secondary Data
Organize Interviews
Develop Interview questions
Conduct Interviews
Analyze secondary & primary data
Evaluate data
Draft Findings Chapter
Complete remaining chapters
Submit to tutor and await feedback
Revise draft and format for submission
Print, Bind
Submit
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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