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270 Part 2 Strategy and applications

1
Strategic analysis

External Internal
environment resources

Techniques (Ch 4) Techniques (Chs 5, 8)
• Social • Resource analysis
• Legal and ethical • Portfolio analysis
• Economic • SWOT analysis
• Political • Demand analysis
• Technological • Competitor analysis

E-business specific techniques
• Stage models of e-business development
• Assessing sell-side, buy-side and value-network opportunities and threats

Figure 5.6 Elements of strategic situation analysis for the e-business

Jelassi and Enders (2008) distinguish between analysis of resources and capabilities:
Resources are the tangible and intangible assets which can be used in value creation.
Tangible resources include the IT infrastructure, bricks and mortar and financial capital.
Intangible resources include a company’s brand and credibility, employee knowledge,
licences and patents.
Capabilities represent the ability of a firm to use resources effectively to support value
creation. They are dependent on the structure and processes used to manage e-business,
for example, the process to plan, review and enhance e-channel performance through web

analytics (Chapter 12).

Stage models of e-business development
Stage models are helpful in reviewing how advanced a company is in its use of information
and communications technology (ICT) resources to support its processes. Stage models
have traditionally been popular in the analysis of the current application of business infor-
mation systems (BIS) within an organization. For example, the six-stage model of Nolan
(1979) refers to the development of use of information systems within an organization from
initiation with simple data processing through to a mature adoption of BIS with controlled,
integrated systems. A simple example of a stage model was introduced in Figure 1.13.
When assessing the current use of ICT within a company it is instructive to analyse the
extent to which an organization has implemented the technological infrastructure and support
structure to achieve e-business. In an early model focusing on sell-side web site development,
Quelch and Klein (1996) developed a five-stage model referring to the development of sell-side
e-commerce. The stages remain relevant today, particularly for small and medium businesses
to benchmark their adoption of the Internet compared to other companies. For existing com-
panies the stages are: