Commerce as a Service Solution Accelerates Transition to E-commerce for Traditional Manufacturing Enterprises and Retailers

Using internet to operate business has become very important for traditional manufacturing enterprises and retailers. These enterprises are facing great risk when entering e-commerce due to lack of experiences and large volume of initial IT investment. This study analyzed the Commerce as a Service (CaaS) solution which can perfectly solve these problems. The solution is based on leading e-commerce platform and cloud computing technology, which provides small to medium sized clients with a low cost alternative e-commerce. Clients will be relieved of the responsibility of managing an IT shop while still maintaining full control over their site through business user tools

Opportunities, Challenges and Countermeasures proposed for the new retail industry in The COVID-19

It has been four years since the concept of “new retail” was proposed, and the layout of “new retail” of several major domestic enterprises has been intensified, which has a “unique landscape” compared to the foreign retail landscape. The trend, however, the sudden outbreak and continued spread of the COVID-19 has dealt a serious blow to the global economic development, from the domestic point of view, the epidemic caused by the decline in GDP, leading to a negative year-on-year growth in the total retail sales of consumer goods, the new retail industry is still in the development stage suffered a blow. On the other hand, however, the sinking of the new retail market driven by the consumer economy, the surge of private domain traffic on platforms and the rise of the “house economy” prompted the new retail industry to create new development opportunities during the epidemic, clarifying the development of the new retail industry in the post-epidemic era and pointing out the direction

Strategic Implications of eCommerce for Papermakers

It is expected that the paper and office products supply chain will move online in the very near future. The hubris of new eBusiness models has ended in a fragmented picture of a multitude of personal views relating to future developments on the eEconomy, eIndustry and eEnterprise levels. This paper endeavors to compile the currently existing knowledge in this field and to identify the basic drivers and inhibitors of the new economy that are of relevance to the forest industry. On the eEconomy level, acceleration in macro-economic growth can be expected due to efficiency and productivity improvements that are triggered by the elimination of information barriers thereby creating more efficient markets. On the eIndustry level, globally operating and more adaptive industry networks will improve economic performance by reaping economies of scale. Less volatile markets will result from improved planning and coordination thereby eliminating redundant capacities. An overly horizontally concentrated market structure might bear the danger of locking the paper industry in an underdevelopment trap of innovation exhaustion and organizational inertia. Business entities on the eEnterprise level will have to adopt the principles of openness, connectivity and strategic integration to fully benefit from networking and integration effects along the entire value chain. However a number of issues, such as sharing critical data in a networked economy, will increase demands for newly adapted business culture and management models

Digital transformation and internationalization: how digital transformation affects internationalization strategies of SMEs

The aim of this research is to investigate the role of digital transformation in the internationalization strategy of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In order to accomplish this task, it has been developed a conceptual model connecting digital transformation to every internationalization stage, with the consequent imapct on time, scale, and scope of international expansion

Smart supply chain management in Industry 4.0

The emerging information and communication technologies (ICT) related to Industry 4.0 play a critical role to enhance supply chain performance. Employing the smart technologies has led to so-called smart supply chains. Understanding how Industry 4.0 and related ICT affect smart supply chains and how smart supply chains evolve with the support of the advanced technologies are vital to practical and academic communities. Existing review works on smart supply chains with ICT mainly rely on the academic literature alone. This paper presents an integrated approach to explore the effects of Industry 4.0 and related ICT on smart supply chains, by combining introduction of the current national strategies in North America, the research status analysis on ICT assisted supply chains from the major North American national research councils, and a systematic literature review of the subject. Besides, we introduce a smart supply chain hierarchical framework with multi-level intelligence. Furthermore, the challenges faced by supply chains under Industry 4.0 and future research directions are discussed as well

Ecosystem synergies, change and orchestration

This thesis investigates ecosystem synergies, change, and orchestration. The research topics are motivated by my curiosity, a fragmented research landscape, theoretical gaps, and new phenomena that challenge extant theories. To address these motivators, I conduct literature reviews to organise existing studies and identify their limited assumptions in light of new phenomena. Empirically, I adopt a case study method with abductive reasoning for a longitudinal analysis of the Alibaba ecosystem from 1999 to 2020. My findings provide an integrated and updated conceptualisation of ecosystem synergies that comprises three distinctive but interrelated components: 1) stack and integrate generic resources for efficiency and optimisation, 2) empower generative changes for variety and evolvability, and 3) govern tensions for sustainable growth. Theoretically grounded and empirically refined, this new conceptualisation helps us better understand the unique synergies of ecosystems that differ from those of alternative collective organisations and explain the forces that drive voluntary participation for value co-creation. Regarding ecosystem change, I find a duality relationship between intentionality and emergence and develop a phasic model of ecosystem sustainable growth with internal and external drivers. This new understanding challenges and extends prior discussions on their dominant dualism view, focus on partial drivers, and taken-for-granted lifecycle model. I propose that ecosystem orchestration involves systematic coordination of technological, adoption, internal, and institutional activities and is driven by long-term visions and adjusted by re-visioning. My analysis reveals internal orchestration's important role (re-envisioning, piloting, and organisation architectural reconfiguring), the synergy and system principles in designing adoption activities, and the expanding arena of institutional activities. Finally, building on the above findings, I reconceptualise ecosystems and ecosystem sustainable growth to highlight multi-stakeholder value creation, inclusivity, long-term orientation and interpretative approach. The thesis ends with discussing the implications for practice, policy, and future research.Open Acces

Retail Distribution Within the New York City Organic Cacao Market

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small physical commodities firm owners need to establish a distribution channel within the commodities market to enhance profits. The general business problem was that importing physical commodities from emerging markets was not profitable. The specific business problem was some small physical wholesale commodities firm managers lacked strategies to establish distribution channels for imported commodities. The information presented in this study is important to suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of organic cacao products to identify strategies to enhance their distribution channels. Disruptive innovation and the theory of constraints grounded the conceptual framework to relate ideas presented in this study. The central research question guiding the study concerned strategies small physical wholesale commodities firm owners used to establish distribution channels within the commodities market. Participants included 6 small business owners who gave recorded responses during in-depth, face-to-face interviews. The 6 interview recordings were transcribed, then coded and interpreted. Data analysis revealed 6 themes, which included price point strategy, B2B relationships, differentiation, strategic locations, sufficient operating capital, and customer relationships. Enhancing profits in the distribution channels of small organic cacao companies requires a holistic approach in the New York City area. The social implications of this study may draw attention to organic cacao, which is a healthy alternative to confectionery chocolate. Strategies introduced to enhance profits may increase economic growth in the local communities in the New York Tri-State area