A Country-Level Decision Support Framework for Self-Assessment of E-Commerce Maturity

Countries need to be aware of the stage of their current e-Commerce maturity for choosing the right strategy to move forward. For this purpose, we develop a country-level decision support framework to determine maturation stage of e-Commerce in a country. At first, e-Commerce maturity scores of local e-Markets in each regional e-Market are calculated using a fuzzy bi-level Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. Then, e-Commerce maturity scores of regional e-Markets in the country are determined based on a fuzzy bi-level fishbone diagram. After that, national e-Commerce maturity level is assessed using a three-level decision making model. The contribution of the proposed decision support framework is four folds: 1) it develops a fishbone diagram to a fuzzy bi-level environment; 2) it presents a country-level decision making model with three levels of local, regional, international e-Markets to assess country’s e-Commerce maturity level; 3) it considers interdependencies between local, regional and international e-Markets; and 4) it synthesizes qualitative judgments and quantitative data of maturity criteria and sub-criteria. The results of this self-assessment can be used to analyze national e-Commerce strengths, weaknesses in e-Commerce development and move to the next level of e-Commerce maturity. Furthermore, it can be used as a device to transfer knowledge to developing countries. We present a case study to determine US e-Commerce maturity level.