New tools for the determination of e-commerce inhibitors

摘要

Decisions on electronic commerce (EC) participation are of importance not only to the firms involved but also increasingly for national economic progress. Such decisions involve simultaneous analysis of the intra- and inter-organizational systems, adoption of new business models and often the wholesale restructuring of existing business models. Firms' ability to progress in the EC domain is dependent in part on the inhibitors that restrict their forward movement. The complexity of these relationships combined with the relative immaturity of EC warrant careful selection of analytical tools for the analysis of EC participation and investment decisions. This research into EC inhibitor appraisal is conducted in Singapore, an appropriate environment for this purpose being both an island state and an active IT participant on the international stage. An integrated suite of research techniques is presented, combining a survey, focus group discussions with group decision support systems, and computer-assisted qualitative analysis of the Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)-facilitated focus groups (Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis, CAQDAS). The paper evaluates the results and methodology within a framework of grounded theory, and in the process of building a foundation for further research, presents a rich and far-reaching set of conjectures about the EC inhibitor process.