CCE Theses and Dissertations

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Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems (DISS)

Department

Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences

Advisor

Easwar Nyshadham

Committee Member

Ling Wang

Committee Member

Utako Tanigawa

Keywords

e-commerce, management, small business, small firms, strategy, strategy-making

Abstract

At least five decades of business strategy-making research strongly suggests that how a firm goes about strategy-making, or its strategy-making mode, is a significant determiner of firm performance. A mode can be simply described as the manner in which something happens, occurs, or gets done. Accepting the notion that strategy-making modes are determinants of firm performance, this study contends that how a firm goes about its e-commerce strategy-making, or its e-commerce strategy-making mode, can be a significant determinant of e-commerce performance.

Given the paucity of work in the topic, an exploratory study to identify and characterize e-commerce strategy-making modes among small firms was conducted. The study asked three questions: (1) What e-commerce strategy-making attributes characterize e-commerce strategy making modes in small firms? (2) How can e-commerce strategy-making attributes be grouped to form e-commerce strategy-making modes in small firms? and (3) What e-commerce strategy-making modes are in use in small firms?

This study combined findings from non-e-commerce domains along with findings from e-commerce practitioner interviews in order to develop a comprehensive set of attributes for classifying e-commerce strategy-making modes. A pilot study followed by a final study was conducted to collect responses to the instrument. Analysis of the data suggests that e-commerce strategy-making modes in firms with fewer than twenty-six employees can be categorized as: inclusive e-commerce strategy-making, (2) open e-commerce strategy-making, (3) clear e-commerce strategy-making, and (4) controlled e-commerce strategy-making

The identification of e-commerce strategy-making modes provides the perquisite first step towards future research investigating links between these modes and e-commerce performance.

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