A Framework for Identifying Web-Based Electronic Commerce Opportunities

Companies are finding that the development of World Wide Web presence sites is becoming a competitive necessity, particularly the need to establish online storefronts. Even so, there are few useful frameworks in the electronic commerce (EC) literature to help managers identify online opportunities and what types of applications can add business value to the user. I expand on an existing framework originally developed by Hammer and Mangurian [1] to identify opportunities from Web-based EC applications. I argue that firms compete along 5 dimensions of commerce: By using various modes of interaction, firms compete over both time and distance to provide some product or service to their customers through a chain of relations. In addition, new investments in information technology are typically justified using 3 different criteria—generating efficiency, effectiveness, and/or strategic benefits. These 2 perspectives can be combined to create the Electronic Commerce Value Grid, which identifies 15 areas in which managers can use Web-based electronic storefronts to add value for their customers.