Companies invest in e-business and its supporting technology for their e-business initiatives. E-Business applications such as supply chain management and customer relationship management improve transaction efficiency and scope economies as well as promoting new product and service offerings and close customer relationships. However, it is difficult for companies to capture these benefits as economic value or profits. Many companies launching e-business have not been successful at creating economic value from their e-business. A survey done by AMR Research Inc (2001) showed that companies would increase their e-business spending even during economic downturn. However, the return on these investments has been mixed at best. According to DMR Consulting Group Inc. (2002), 62 percent of companies that have implemented CRM products are not getting much benefit from their deployments, which can run into millions of dollars. To justify continued investments, it may be necessary for IT managers to move beyond simply demonstrating the benefits of technology and objectively demonstrate the increase in economic value these technologies can produce. To create value from e-business, companies may have to develop appropriate strategies or unique value propositions to complement their e-business investments. Strategies for Generating e-Business Returns on Investment presents significant new insights into the creation of e-business value.
About the Editor
Namchul Shin is Associate Professor of Information Systems at Pace University (USA). He received his PhD in MIS from the University of California at Irvine, an MBA from the University of Toledo, and a BA from Seoul National University. His current research interests focus on the areas of IT business value, organizational and strategic impacts of IT, electronic commerce/electronic business, and business process management. His work has been published in journals such as European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Logistics Information Management, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, International Journal of Services Technology and Management, International Journal of Electronic Business, and Business Process Management Journal. He is currently a member of the Editorial Boards of Journal of Electronic Commerce Research and Business Process Management Journal.