Exploring the Conceptual Nature of e-Business Projects

E-business projects (eBPs) can be described as endeavors which transform traditional business functions into digital and mostly automated, inter-organizational e-business functions. Although studies exist which already increased the understanding of such endeavors, there is still no conceptualization that defines eBPs as their own kind of project, summarizing and categorizing all of their characteristic topics, problem areas, and tasks. This study attempts to close this gap by exploring the conceptual nature of eBPs. A large number of practical project reports was evaluated, using a latent semantic analysis for the exploratory summarization of the textual database. As a result, the study provides a comprehensive theoretical conceptualization including 12 core concepts and 74 specific sub-concepts, structured within the context of a system development life cycle. Such a project conceptualization provides a contribution to the practical management of eBPs, as well as a theoretical framework for further establishing eBPs as a unique project type.