[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

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Globalization and e-business strategies for SMEs infrastructure has resulted in a remarkable transformation of the business scope and led to increased profitability. The company, established since 1965, has been growing anthuriums and other tropical flowers and foliage and shipping them worldwide. Traditionally it has thrived on growing large crops and selling to a small group of wholesale customers who in turn market them worldwide. The effects of globalization and intensifying competition from many other growers in the region have prompted the company to rethink its business logic. Focusing on retailing as a more lucrative sales channel, the company set out in 1997 to exploit the capabilities of the Internet to increase its sales volume and expand its customer base, while keeping its operational costs to a minimum. It started by automating its order fulfilment, accounting and customer-tracking functions with an IBM e-business solution based on Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino application environments. Since then, the company has developed a fully functional web-enabled shopfront based on the Lotus Domino.Merchant. There has been a complete transformation of core business processes. As recalled by the manager of the company: ‘When we first started, we were manually doing all the work orders, message cards, labels and so on . . . At present, the online infrastructure supports a simplified and fully automated sales and distribution process.’ In less than a year of building the virtual shopfront, Hawaiian Greenhouse’s e-business had grown tremendously. Currently, over 1400 customers visit its site each month, generating 10–15% of the company’s new orders. The company now makes three times as much from its retail business compared to the operating value as a wholesale business. Also it expects to double retail sales within another year. Other performance improvements include: 100% annual growth in retail sales, 100% ROI in 18 months, 10–15% revenue from online orders, 50% reduction in processing time, and improved customer services. The business plans to add new products to its portfolio including the possibility of marketing products of their competitors on its site – www.hawaiian-greenhouse.com 6.8.3 Harris Technology (HT) Harris Technology is another Australian SME, which has transformed its scope of operations from a metropolitan base in Sydney to cover the entire Australian market through its online business. HT is a computer technology reseller established over 11 years ago and listed as one of Australia’s top 100 fastest growing private companies for five consecutive years. The 123
e-Business Strategies for Virtual Organizations 124 company online shopfront has yielded significant benefits and increased sales and its share of the computer equipment retail market. In its first year of going online the company made AU$1 million in e-business and another AU$3 million in its second year. HT currently employs about 80 staff all of whom are actively involved in the use of the online infrastructure. The online site was designed, built and managed by an in-house team. The company considers its website to be a great success: ‘Our Web-presence has been so successful for us that we believe almost any business would benefit from a well presented Website.’ The website is designed around the QUIDS (Quotations Inventory, Distribution, and Sales) database. The QUIDS database was written in Microsoft FoxPro and contains over 30,000 products and 6000 customer entities. It enables tracking all aspects of HT business including sales, serial numbers and bills of material and profitability. The interesting feature of HT’s online system is that the QUIDS database is common to all its key stakeholders. Suppliers and customers see the same information (pricing, stock availability, images and text) as seen by HT staff. For example, Tech Pacific, the company’s main supplier, shares its stock availability and pricing with QUIDS each day via the Internet. Customers also interact with the database’s inventory in the same way as employees make queries to the system. Web pages are generated upon request by assembling data elements associated with each product (e.g. images, texts, downloadable drivers and site links). Using the integrated environment of the website, HT’s employees can manage electronic transfer of stock and ordering information from all key stakeholders of the company (i.e. manufacturers, distributors, resellers, and end users). The facility also enable clients to scan product information, make orders, as well as track the process of delivery. Bank cheques, telegraphic transfer, and major credit cards can be used to make payment. Another interesting feature of the website is the ‘live show room’ which provides real-time snapshots of HT’s physical showroom – www.ht.com.au 6.8.4 Scotland’s Craft Brewers Co-operative (SCB Co-op) SCB Co-op is an online SME made up of six Scottish SMEs and a bottling plant. The co-op was formed to deliver global sales and marketing functions for the participant enterprises that
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e-Business Strategies for Virtual O
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e-Business Strategies for Virtual O
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Contents Computer Weekly Profession
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Contents 6 Globalization and e-busi
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Contents 11.6 The increasing power
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Computer Weekly Professional Series
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Authors’ Preface There are dozens
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Authors’ Preface model will there
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Authors’ Preface alliances, bette
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1 e-business and the virtual organi
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e-business and the virtual organiza
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Figure 1.2 e-business and the virtu
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1.5 e-business e-business and the v
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Figure 1.3 e-business and the virtu
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Figure 1.4 Virtual objects, Scholz
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Characteristics of the virtual orga
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Figure 2.1 Formation of business al
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� empowerment of staff; Character
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e-business models for virtual organ
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3.4 Models of efficient response e-
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Figure 3.4 Star alliance model e-bu
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Figure 3.6 Market alliance model Fi
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Figure 3.10 Virtual alliance framew
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Figure 3.11 Virtual organizational
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References e-business models for vi
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IS planning strategies for emerging
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Figure 4.1 The evolution of IS/IT p
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Figure 4.3 A framework for SISP (Wa
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Figure 4.4 Planning adopts a busine
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Figure 4.5 Interconnected ecologies
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Figure 4.6 The interrelationships b
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Table 8.1 Information economics - v
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Customer view Whatisour image? Eval
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Evaluating strategies for e-busines
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Table 8.6 Matrix for preparing to m
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9 Outsourcing, partnering and the v
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Outsourcing, partnering and the vir
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Figure 9.2 Outsourcing, partnering
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9.9 Summary Outsourcing, partnering
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References Outsourcing, partnering
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e-business strategies in the virtua
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10.10 Summary e-business strategies
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11 Creating virtual cultures for gl
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Creating virtual cultures for globa
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Four stages of market evolution Mar
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Figure 11.4 The four paths of evolu
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References Creating virtual culture
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Advanced knowledge, see Knowledge A
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[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

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