TABLE OF CONTENTS Cragg (1998) identified four components of Internet strategy that may be useful for SMEs to consider when engaging in online commerce (see Table 6.5). The four components are goals, content, process and functional.
| Goal | Example |
|---|---|
| primary secondary | to reach an international market to market site to potential customers |
| Content | |
| started with major use WWW site for future plans | e-mail, catalogue, order form marketing/promotion product distribution introduce new functions |
| Process | |
| led by whose initiative built | owner/manager internal external |
| Function | |
| functions of site | business-to-business, business-to-consumer |
The goals component of an Internet strategy is sub-categorized into primary and secondary goals. An SME should incorporate both primary and secondary goals within the overall Internet strategy, in order to identify exactly what they expect from an online presence. The benefit of incorporating primary and secondary goals is a method for SMEs to recognize potential economic benefits, and to indicate that increased sales can only be considered as one indicator of success.
The content dimension of an Internet strategy identifies the main uses of an SME website. This component enables an SME to clarify what the site started with; its current major uses, what the site is for and future plans for the site.
The process component is basically a method to identify whether the initiation and leadership of the strategy was from the CEO level or further down the chain of command and whether the...
