One Simple Strategy to Organize your Online Business

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One Simple Strategy to Organize your Online Business

By Abe Cherian

Copyright ? 2005







Recently a survey showed that most online businesses are

not organized. In fact many organizations throw up an

expensive web site using all the latest "bells and

whistles" only to find it a generally unsatisfying

experience.



Apart from the technical vs. sales and marketing issues of

the web site itself many organizations both in terms of

appropriate organizational behaviors as well as of

effective organizational designs has been sadly neglected

by many established retailers.



You may have a business site with dedicated staff and

webmaster, yet it is poorly integrated within your parent

organization and tasked with ill defined roles. A simple

question needs to be asked. Do you have a central internet

group (CIG) directed by a chief Web officer and composed of

dedicated staff for each business function?



If not then depending upon your organizations size and

abilities you need to implement a CIG or outsource those

functions. Typically, many conventional retailers have

acquired organizational habits that are not well aligned to

the needs of eCommerce. It should be noted that four

undesirable traits or behaviors found in many organizations

must be guarded against.



You might find that increasing complexity in your company

has resulted in inflexibility and slow decision making

processes. There is also a tendency towards internal

conflict and stratification as well as a leadership that

would tend to emphasize capital investment as a solution to

all problems.



The movement towards centralized control, which

characterizes a typical consumer goods business, will carry

with it limited coordination among your departments and

divisions resulting in a weakened sense of market trends

and increased dissatisfaction.



These features are in direct conflict with what you should

know about the cultural characteristics of pure successful

e-businesses. An e-business is predominantly a flat

organization with quick decision making where risk taking

is encouraged and failure is merely education.



Employees tend to work long hours at the office by choice

and are very self disciplined. Typically such companies use

guiding principles rather than procedures and tend to lead

by example.



When these two types of cultural environment are brought

together, unexpected and perhaps dysfunctional behaviors

must be expected to emerge. Given the cultural and

organizational differences between "new" and "old" economy

businesses, the way in which you as an established retailer

should set up and manage Internet operations is therefore

extremely important.



One factor to consider is that small businesses are more

flexible organizationally. You should consider that

e-commerce has provided greater "e-quality" for smaller

businesses in relation to their larger competitors.



You will need an increased willingness to seek appropriate

alliances and partnerships, plus consider organizational

designs, company spin-offs, etc., that will provide

convergence to the integrated business model required to

overcome these mismatches in culture and outlook.



The many advantages derived from the Internet must be

exploited both within and between existing sectors of your

bricks and mortar business. With the ways in which

networked organizations are evolving, it should be realized

that only those retaining an Internet culture in a parallel

or centralized Internet group (CIG) style of operation

closely identified with the eCommerce aspects of a

business's overall objectives will be successful.