Craig Standing

1
Session 10 E-Business Analysis Via the Web

• Environmental scanning is defined as the
  acquisition and use of information external to an
  organisation, the knowledge of which would assist
  management in planning future courses of action.

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Rationale for E. S.

• To stay ahead of competition
• To take into account environmental challenges
• Web has a vast amount of info and can be used for
  E. S.
• They can scan more frequently
• Web works across borders

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• The Web can be used for business analysis
  purposes by contributing to knowledge about
  trends and opportunities
• It can help in making the decision on the right
  course of action to take

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History of Environmental Scanning

• Initially carried out as informal, unstructured
  activities
• It has evolved to become more organised using
  more sophisticated techniques
• It can be internal or outsourced
• Information is gathered from personal and
  impersonal sources

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Information from Personal sources

• Information from personal sources is rich in
  content and facilitates understanding
• It is preferred when dealing with ambiguous or
  uncertain situations
• A wide personal network is necessary

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Information from Impersonal Sources

• The source of this information includes
  newspapers, magazines, reports, media, online
  databases etc
• Collecting and synthesizing this data can be
  laborious
• Less experienced users find databases difficult
  to access

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Information from the Internet

• The future tool of competitive intelligence
• Promises the ability to build personal networks
  and access information resources worldwide from
  one point of access
• Personal sources - email, chat functions etc
• Electronic versions of impersonal information

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Size of the Organisation

• Larger organisations use more resources and more
  sophisticated techniques for environmental
  scanning
• This is done frequently and widely
• Size tends to be positively correlated with
  scanning frequency when using traditional sources
  of information

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• Smaller organisation should scan as much if not
  more than larger organisations
• Missing critical environmental factors can be
  fatal for smaller organisations
• The Internet is likely to be attractive for
  organisations of this size

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• Tan et al found that
• organisational size
• use of exernal consultants and
• volatility of competitor sector
• had a significant impact on Internet scanning
  frequency
• External consultants and scanning frequency led
  to greater Internet scanning effectiveness

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Organisational views

• Smaller organisations lead larger organisations
  in environmental scanning using the Internet
• Larger organisations do not believe information
  available on the Internet is of the same quality
  as that they pay for
• Smaller organisations see the Internet as an
  affordable means to obtain valuable information

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• Established marketing channels inhibit larger
  organisations from using the Internet
• Effectiveness of ES depends on the ability to
  harvest information not sophisticated mechanisms

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External consultants

• Direct and indirect impact on the effectiveness
  of ES
• Direct impact by
• helping organisations search for info
• interpreting environmental indicators
• Indirect impact by
• providing skills and knowledge
• promoting greater use of the Internet

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Competitor Sectors

• When customer and competitor sectors are volatile
  organisations engage in more frequent ES scanning
  via traditional sources of information
• Volatility in only the competitor sector has
  motivated organisations to increase the frequency
  of ES using the Internet
• Little access to competitor information through
  traditional means

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Questions

• What role can environmental scanning play in
  business analysis.
• How can environmental scanning be carried out?
• How effective is the Web for conducting
  environmental scanning?
• What are the key lessons from the paper?

16
Question

• Many travel agencies do not use the Web in their
  day to day operations. Analyse the operations of
  a traditional travel agency and explain where the
  Internet and the Web can be of use!

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Exercise

• The Automobile Club (AC) have 15 offices which
  operate as travel agencies throughout Australia.
  At present they have a Web site to promote
  special offers but they have no transaction
  facilities. You have been called in to act as an
  e-commerce consultant. Provide an industry
  overview, competitor analysis, and broad
  recommendations or options for the company to
  consider.
• As a business analyst what information would you
  require?

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Business-to-Business E-Commerce

• You are expected to do some research for this
  session. The topics are
• Business-to-business e-commerce including virtual
  supply chain, e-bidding, e-trading hubs,
  e-marketplaces.
• There is plenty of material on the Web on these
  topics.
• Try
• http//www.brint.com
• http//www.gartner.com
• http//www.cio.com/
• http//www.byte.com/
• http//www.informationweek.com/751/portal.htm

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Questions

• Explain what is meant by virtual supply chain
  management (VSCM)?
• How do you expect VSCM to impact on an
  organisation?
• Explain the following
• e-bidding
• e-marketplaces
• e-trading hubs
• How do these forms of business to business
  e-commerce differ from VSCM?

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Questions

• What are the implications of these changes in
  business for business analysis?