Strategic Alignment for Electronic Commerce

Abstract

The dynamic nature and flexibility of electronic commerce increases the importance of the alignment of business strategy and information technology further. This chapter presents an extension of the strategic alignment model with an integration of the external domains of business and information technology strategy, thus keeping the focus on the competitive environment and shifting the responsibility for information technology to top management level. The application of the proposed hypothesis through a framework of the competitive environment is demonstrated within the context of the retail banking industry.