Towards a manager's model for e-business strategy decisions

There is a high level of interest and debate among academics and the business communityregarding the future of electronic business. In recent times there has been considerabledisillusionment with the losses and negative returns associated with many e-business investments.However, the move towards e-business enablement seems inevitable for reasons ofefficiency and effectiveness. Developments in e-business should be of considerable interest tomarketing strategists, as they impact on business networks and affect the nature of relationshipsbetween organisations and between an organisation and its customers.Business and marketing strategists would benefit from a better understanding of theincentives and inhibitors accruing at each stage of the evolutionary path to an e-businessenabled future. Based on recent research, this paper proposes the use of two frameworks thatmay be used to stimulate management discussion, aid management decision-making and planprogressive moves into e-business.