A Resource-Based Model For E-Commerce In Developing Countries

Previous efforts in electronic commerce (e-commerce) research in developing countries shows that there is an acute lack of theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence to understand how developing country firms realize electronic commerce benefits amidst their national constraints. This paper sets out to develop a theoretically abstracted but contextually grounded model of how developing country firms can orient their resources and realize these benefits amidst their national constraints. A review of e-commerce and strategy management literature to develop a resource – based model for e-commerce benefits was undertaken. The process-based model provides an understanding of how to identify, integrate, and reconfigure resources to achieve electronic commerce benefits; provides propositions that serves as theoretical platforms for future empirically grounded research on electronic commerce in developing country contexts and brings organizations closer to identifying and categorizing the strategic value of resources and the role managerial capabilities and intangible resources play in sustaining e-commerce benefits. Finally, our findings provides organizations the strategic options to address resources which have lost their value or have become less valuable to their strategic orientation in e-commerce adoption thereby serving as a starting point of examining e-commerce in developing countries through the theoretical lens of information systems and strategic management.