ICT and e-Business Impact in the Furniture Industry - empirica

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ICT and e-business impact in the furniture industrybut it requires the agreement between the participants on electronic standards andprocesses for data exchange. The latter definition of e-business and automation herebydescribed have been adopted and used in the present report about the furniture industry.GlossaryDefinition of key terms for this studye-Transactions: commercial exchanges between a company and itssuppliers or customers which are conducted electronically. Participantscan be other companies ('B2B' – business-to-business), consumers('B2C'), or governments ('B2G'). This includes processes during the presaleor pre-purchase phase, the sale or purchase phase, and the aftersale/ purchase phase.e-Commerce: the sale or purchase of goods or services, whetherbetween businesses, households, individuals, governments, and otherpublic or private organisations, conducted over computer-mediatednetworks. (OECD)e-Business: automated business processes (both intra- and inter-firm)over computer mediated networks. (OECD)e-Interactions: covers the full range of e-transactions as well ascollaborative business processes,. such as collaborative online designprocesses which are not directly transaction focused.e-Business and a company's value chainsIn some contexts, the term c-commerce (collaborative commerce) is used. Although thisconcept was mostly abandoned when the 'new economy' bubble burst in 2001, it had themerit of pointing towards the role of ICT in co-operations between enterprises and theincreasing digital integration of supply chains. These developments go beyond simplepoint-to-point exchanges between two companies.Despite dating back 20 years to the pre-e-business era, Michael Porter's framework ofthe company value chain and value system between companies 14 remains useful tounderstand the relevance of e-business in this context. A value chain logically presentsthe main functional areas ('value activities') of a company and differentiates betweenprimary and support activities. However, these are "not a collection of independentactivities but a system of interdependent activities", which are "related by linkages withinthe value chain". 15 These linkages can lead to competitive advantage throughoptimisation and coordination. This is where ICT can have a major impact, in the key roleof optimising linkages and increasing the efficiency of processes.The value system expands this concept by extending its scale beyond the singlecompany. The firm's value chain is linked to the value chains of (upstream) suppliers and(downstream) buyers; the resulting larger set of processes is referred to as the valuesystem. All e-commerce and therefore electronic transactions occur within this valuesystem.1415Porter, Michael E. (1985). Competitive Advantage. New York: Free Press. Page references inquotations refer to the Free Press Export Edition 2004.Ibid., p. 48.17
ICT and e-business impact in the furniture industryKey dimensions of Porter’s framework (notably inbound and outbound logistics,operations, and the value system) are reflected in the Supply Chain Management(SCM) concept. Here, the focus is on optimising the procurement-production-deliveryprocesses, not only between a company and its direct suppliers and customers, but alsoaiming at a full vertical integration of the entire supply chain (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier nsuppliers). In this concept, each basic supply chain is a chain of sourcing, production, anddelivery processes with the respective process interfaces within and betweencompanies. 16 Analysing the digital integration of supply chains in various industries hasbeen an important theme in most sector studies by the SeBW. The analysis of the digitalintegration of supply chains is of utmost relevance in the furniture industry, as illustratedin Chapter 3.2 of this report.1.4 Study methodologyThe methodological framework of the SeBW builds upon the methodology established forthe previous implementation of the e-Business W@tch. However, the methodology hasbeen adapted to the new focus of activity, supporting the progress from monitoring "ereadiness"and "e-activity" to the evidence-based analysis of "e-impact".Data and information sourcesThe Sectoral e-Business Watch approach is based on a mix of data collectioninstruments, including the use of existing sources (e.g. the Eurostat Community Surveyon ICT usage in enterprises) as well as primary research (notably the SeBW Survey andcase studies). The main sources of information used for this study are:SeBW Survey on Manufacturing (2007): The furniture industry was covered asone of three sectors in the SeBW Survey on manufacturing industries, besides thechemical and the steel industries. About 760 interviews have been conducted (inseven European countries and the USA) with companies from the furniture sector.Detailed information about the survey methodology is provided in Annex 1.Eurostat Community survey on ICT usage in enterprises (2006): Results of theEurostat survey are used as a complementary source for the analysis of ICTadoption in companies from the sector.Case studies: 10 case studies on e-business adoption in companies from thefurniture sector have been conducted specifically for this study. The selection wasmade with a view to achieve a balanced mix of cases in terms of countries,business activities, and company size-bands. Cases include best practices,innovative e-business approaches, as well as typical examples of e-businessactivity (state-of-the-art) in the sector.In-depth interviews: In addition to the interviews conducted with firmrepresentatives as part of the case study work, in-depth interviews with industry ande-business experts, notably with members of the Advisory Board, were conducted.Information from industry federations: Annual reports and position papers ofindustry federations were a further source: UEA (the European furniture16cf. SCOR Supply-Chain Council: Supply-Chain Operations Reference-model. SCOR Version7.0. Available at www.supply-chain.org (accessed in March 2006).18
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ICT and e-Business Impact in the Furniture Industry - empirica

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