Foundations of social theory

As firms move toward a more disciplined approach to e-business strategic planning, managers are seeking metrics that will help them analyze the success of their e-business investments. Likewise, researchers require metrics to build analytical models of the impact of managerial strategy on firm performance and to validate empirical field research on specific managerial tactics. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive framework for identifying e-business applications associated with activities upstream in the value chain, that complements an existing framework for applications further down the value chain. We propose that the real value proposition in e-business applications can be found in functionality interaction where one application enables the successful functionality in another application. The framework provides a methodology for mapping e-business applications within the proposed frameworks, which then can be used to generate three different types of metrics that should be considered for evaluating e-business strategic initiatives. Further, a classification of e-businesses provides the basis for selecting those metrics that are important to the strategic thrusts of the organization. The methodology allows the e-business strategist to map the organization’s e-business objectives into a coherent, easily understood visual representation. The framework is based on an extensive literature review of several reference disciplines. 2