Strategy development processes as determinants of B2B e-commerce performance: A comparative model in a supply chain management context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between the use of business to business (B2B) e-commerce enabling technologies and infrastructure, cooperative partnerships between trading partners, firm performance, and a “systems” view of strategy formulation processes. Design/methodology/approach – A structural model has been developed from a survey of Australian companies. This survey covered a broad range of issues relating to the strategic and operational aspects of the use and implementation of B2B e-commerce technologies. Findings – The data indicate that the process by which organisations formulate their strategic logic is an important determinant of both how resources are selected and deployed, and of business performance. At the same time, it is evident that these same resources are not likely to yield significant benefits without such a process, and in fact that their effectiveness is very much a function of the nature of this process. Research limitations/implications – This study has been limited to organizations operating in the Australian fast-moving consumer goods sector. The results therefore need to be read in this context, and it would be useful if these findings could be compared with those from other countries and different industry sectors. Practical implications – A practical implication of this study is that the nature and strength of the influence of this process are situational, in the case of this research due to the extent of implementation across the supply chain, and to the nature of business activity (or in other words – position in the supply chain). Originality/value – The importance of these findings for organisations looking to implement e-commerce related methodologies for the improved management of supply chains is that focusing on developing effective methods for developing strategy can be expected to yield better ultimate performance. This highlights the need to focus on strategy rather than concentrating on the technologies, supporting infrastructures, and trading partner relationships themselves.