The European e-Business Report 2004 - Berlecon Research GmbH

The European E-Business Report 2004strategic point of view, Voltimum does not alter existing trading relationships in the industry, butamplifies the overall market value by making the supply chain more effective.SpecialChem (Chemicals) is a gateway for portals active in the chemical sector. Online services aredelivered free of charge to the communities of chemical products users. The company then sellstargeted marketing and sales services on behalf of its clients.The interest of this case study lies in the underlying business model. Although with differentapproaches, each of the firms featured in these cases uses the net firstly for building trust andreputation about their “brand” and only subsequently (or through a different activity) makes moneydirectly out of it.SMEs joining forces in successful e-commerce initiativesInteresting examples of e-commerce initiatives have been analysed in the Tourism sector. This sectorhas been a pioneer in exploring the new possibilities provided by the Internet to improve customerrelations, marketing and sales. The Sector Report on tourism presents three case studies whichprovide examples of successful initiatives in e-commerce.The London Eye (UK), one of London’s main attractions, is perceived by customers as a once-offattraction: Customers rarely go back after experiencing it once. To break this reaction, the Eye hasjoined forces with various partners in the area to provide customers with a wider range of products andintroduced e-partnering as a part of their strategy to improve sales and optimise revenues.Trysilfjellet (NO) is a consortium organisation that created an “umbrella” brand for managing andpromoting a ski area in Norway. The brand is communicated to the market as a single entity for thewhole area. The players find it more beneficial to be represented as one large enterprise instead ofindividual partners, and this approach makes it easier to reach customers in an effective way.Accor Hotels (F) have implemented an electronic revenue management system tying their hotelchain’s operations into a common network.In the Retail sector, the Centralia (I) initiative highlights the advantages that a commonly shared e-procurement system may bring to independent small retailers. The latter can, in fact, take advantageof an integrated supply chain system without having to plan the implementation and relatedinvestments themselves.These diverse experiences lead to a common conclusion: It is important for SMEs to join forces innetwork partnerships in order to make best use of their available resources, and to invest in ICT ande-business solutions which would otherwise be inaccessible to them. A collective strategy isundoubtedly a major challenge for players who normally control their own business. The requisite forsuch a strategy is the agreement upon a common approach for objectives, communication and pricing.ConclusionsCase studies proved to be a valuable addition to the quantitative analysis. Their validity rests on theirproviding “flesh” to the statistical picture by illustrating real life experiences. Some of the lessonslearned, moreover, can be considered of general interest for enterprises or other institutions that maycarry out similar initiatives. Issues such as the users’acceptance in determining the success of e-business initiatives, the importance of a commonly shared vision whenever initiatives involve variousplayers, or problems related to the standardisation and the establishment of a common vocabulary forinteractions, go beyond the specific experience and can be taken as general recommendations.65