Digital business and E-commerce management strategy, implementation and practice

In 1849, a group of settlers travelling west towards the promised land, California, entered a then unnamed valley. The valley presented a harsh environment with a barrier of mountains to the west making the way forward unclear. Some of the settlers lost their lives as they sought to find a route west before eventually reaching California and what was to become one of the most prosperous places on earth. As the group left the valley, one of the women in the group turned and said, ‘Goodbye, Death Valley’, and hence the valley got its name. Today, flagship digital businesses with headquarters in California, such as eBay, Facebook and Google, are now leading global brands with turnovers of billions of dollars, yet this has happened in a few short years, less than 300 years after the first modern settlers arrived. Likewise for other businesses, the road to digital business success is not straightforward and fraught with difficulties of selecting the correct strategic direction and surviving in an increasingly harsh competitive environment. Not all who follow the route survive. But whether it’s the start-up businesses or an existing business, what they have in common is that those who prosper learn to optimise to take the right strategic decisions about digital technology, digital marketing and supply chain management. This book is intended to equip current and future managers with some of the knowledge and practical skills to help them navigate their organisation towards digital business. A key aim of this book is to identify and review the key management decisions required by organisations moving to digital business and consider the process by which these decisions can be taken. Key questions include: What approach to digital business strategy do we follow? How much do we need to invest in digital business? Which processes should be our digital business priorities? Should we adopt new business and revenue models? What are the main changes that need to be made to the organisation to facilitate digital business? Given the broad scope of digital business, this book takes an integrative approach drawing on new and existing approaches and models from many disciplines, including information systems, strategy, marketing, supply chain management, operations and human resources management.