A Methodology for Creating E-Business Strategy

In the “now” economy, knowledge, trust, technology, and the relationships among stakeholders are the keys to success. Although for almost eighty years, strategy literature stated that these concepts are important, we were not in a position to effectively leverage and/or effectively execute knowledge and relationship management in real time until the turn of the twenty first century. Many companies have not yet adjusted the way they work to the capabilities of the present-day knowledge management and technology enablers. Also widespread is that companies have not yet developed methodologies or models to create e-Business strategy to support corporate strategies, or to monitor the success of an e-Business strategy. This paper develops a methodology to create e-Business strategy based on a simple e-Business model for eBusiness. The primary stakeholders are the customer, operational partner, strategic partner, governance, and community. The value propositions for each stakeholder is outlined, and questions that business should ask are provided to guide in developing the e-Business strategy. A sample mini-case study is developed to illustrate application of the methodology. This methodology supports the eBizReadiness! framework which details infrastructure requirements for e-Business.