The Benefits of an E-Business Performance Measurement System

Background

E-business is defined as the use of Internet-based information and communication technologies (ICTs) to conduct business (including sharing information, maintaining relationships and conducting transactions) within and between organizations (Poon & Swatman, 1999). Its introduction can be seen as the catalyst for disruptive change in business organizations (Lyytinen & Rose, 2003). It has heralded some fundamental changes in the way that existing businesses operate (Hammer & Champy, 2001; Gates & Hemingway, 2000). In some industries entirely new business models have emerged (Laudon & Traver, 2008). E-business offers significant scope for reshaping supply chains (Sen & King, 2003; Shunk et al., 2007), transforming established value chains and information flows (Evans & Wurster, 2000) and facilitating co-production and innovation (Tapscott & Williams, 2008). Over the last decade, organizations of all kinds have rushed to join the online business community. By 2005 firms employing nearly 98% of British workers had some kind of online presence and e-business accounted for 14% of business turnover (E-business watch, 2005) with 40.4 million users in the UK population (Internet World Stats, 2008). It is believed that 90% of UK firms have incorporated e-business into their internal business processes, whilst 65% are using e-business to integrate their supply chains, make purchases from suppliers and sell to their customers (E-business watch, 2007).