BSC-Based Framework for E-Business Strategy

Abstract

E-business is far more about strategy than technology (Raisinghani & Schkade, 2001). An effective e-business strategy is concerned with e-business multidimensional characteristics associated with different levels, parties, elements, and growth pattern features (Bakry & Bakry, 2001). In the process, the strategy must incorporate the effects of the instant and global Internet communication mechanism on the company’s business management architecture. The global reach and interconnectivity of the Internet have spawned new models of e-business strategy and radically transformed existing ones (Pant & Ravichandran, 2001). Indeed, what distinguishes many of the dot-coms is not their new technical power, but the radical new business models (Hamel, 2000). Aided by such innovative e-business models, managers will be able to identify the major decision factors involved in their business strategies and generate strategies that would improve their overall performance and profitability. In the current context, four essential perspectives are identified to be associated with an e-business strategy: financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth. These four perspectives were first introduced in early 1990s as the balanced scorecard concept (BSC) (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). Because the BSC methodology explicitly focuses on links among business decisions and outcomes, it is intended to guide strategy development, implementation, and provide reliable feedback for management control and performance evaluation. This BSC rationale is thereby appealing to managers who face new challenges in the current turbulent e-business climate. The real challenge is to determine how the BSC can be successfully applied in the context of e-business’s constantly changing environment of interdependencies (Hasan & Tibbits, 2000). E-business introduces new business objectives and strategies and the old measures of success may no longer apply. It is anticipated that the departure from the original BSC for a strategic e-business management framework would be more radical than the existing BSC adaptations (e.g., Martinson’s balanced IS scorecard; Martinsons, Davison, & Tse, 1999).