Are there still a lot of consumers out there that research online but convert offline?
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All organizations operate within an environment that influences the way in which they con- duct business. Strategy development should be strongly influenced by considering the
environment the business operates in, as illustrated in Figure 2.1. To inform e-commerce strategy, the most significant influences are those of the immediate marketplace of the
micro-environment that is shaped by the needs of customers and how services are provided to them through competitors and intermediaries and via upstream suppliers. Wider influ-
ences are provided by local and international economic conditions and legislation together with whatever business practices are acceptable to society. Finally, technological innovations
are vital in providing opportunities to provide superior services to competitors or through changing the shape of the marketplace.
Strategic agility
The capacity to respond to these environmental opportunities and threats is commonly referred to as
strategic agility
. Strategic agility is a concept strongly associated with knowl- edge management theory and is based on developing a sound process for reviewing
marketplace opportunities and threats and then selecting the appropriate strategy options. See Mini Case Study 2.1 for an excellent video introduction to the principles of strategic agility.
The e-commerce environment
Strategic agility
The capability to innovate and so gain competitive
advantage within a marketplace by
monitoring changes within an organization’s
marketplace and then to efficiently evaluate
alternative strategies and then select, review and
implement appropriate candidate strategies.
from MORE THN and have complete editorial control, freed the content by using a non-restrictive Creative Commons licence throughout the site and allowed it to
become part of the fabric of social networking by providing countless ways to share, bookmark, recommend, rate and comment.
We also made sure the site was easy to use, accessible and effective at interacting with search engines. And of course we give it daily in-depth, engaging, original content
so our audience will always find a new topic to add to their online conversations. We launched the site just a couple of weeks before the big flood events last year.
When the floods hit we published an article on how to best prevent flood damage and make a successful claim. It shot up to position one on Google for the search ‘flood
advice’. Even now, over a year later, it sits comfortably at position three, just below the entries from the environment agency and direct.gov.
The site is clearly delivering its stated goals of being eminently useful and creating long-term engagement with the brand. It’s constantly developing as a result of user
feedback, broadening the topics covered and providing the types of content and serv- ices its increasingly numerous audience find useful. It is really taking on a life of its own.
And all the while, it is delivering a branded experience to the thousands of people who decide to spend the time of the day in conversation with MORE THN.
Source: Econsultancy 2008 QA: MORE THN’s Roberto Hortal Munoz on comparison sites, 8 August. www.Econsultancy.comnews-blog366073q-a-more-th-n-s-roberto-hortal-munoz-on-comparison-sites.html