Powerful External Influences Such As the Internet and Globalization Make Companies Aware

Powerful external influences such as the Internet and globalization make companies aware of the fact that major changes in their everyday business is necessary to survive on the various markets. Changing a Brick-&-Mortar company into a fully Brick-&-Click company asks for extreme measures. Change is a complex and time-consuming process but if planned right it could turn out to be very successful. The entire company culture needs to be changed and with that the short and long-term goals and objectives of the company. In this the company needs to understand how electronic commerce is changing the business.

The growing use of the Internet by customers, companies and governmental institutes demands for any business a presence on the net. But having you own dot-com address is not enough to serve the customer in its demand for on-line utilities. The company needs to understand that the desired service for a customer changes rapidly to error-free on-line services. The best example for this is the very successful site of Amazon.com. Amazon.com recognized the need for on-line book selling and delivery. They noticed that customers did not want to go into a bookstore and spend two hours there to find the right book. Customers’ needs and wants change rapidly and radically therefore it is necessary for a company to recognize that and act upon it by changing its own offered service.

Also globalization is a huge driver for changes in business’ actions. Large multinationals such as Unilever can no longer use a focus on different markets as globalization directs these markets into one world market. Due to globalization not only large multinationals but also small companies have to change their business. The time to change your company’s business because of the internet and globalization is now. After the change of focus companies should be aware that this is an ongoing process that is time consuming and complex and that it requires a continuous focus on the customer needs and wants.

Now that I have wrote about what encourages companies to change and when they should change, lets take a look on what they have to change precisely. As stated before it is not enough just to have your own website. The entire company culture needs to change starting by developing new goals and objectives. The objectives in that should indicate more and more focus on the Internet. Everybody knows that an overnight change is not good for the company. Set a budget and timeframe to change from a Brick-&-Mortar company into a fully Brick-&-Click company. Do a scan of the external and internal environment. With this information, decide which of the processes would be the best to begin with and the degree of the change you need. All these would form the vision that could be shared with your business partners in order to gain their support.

While the website or technical solution is being developed, the business operations must be adjusted to fit the new e-commerce strategy. Efficiency is the key. Warehousing, delivery, and prompt customer support must all be in place. This leads me into another aspect of change. The employees change of focus. How should the company change its employees? Surely by instructing them of the new company strategy. But again this is not enough. First of all companies should recognize that the profile for new employees has changed. This is a job for the human resource department. Employees that are being hired should live up to different standards. Second old employees should be given adequate training or re-schooling to change their working standards. Only when this is done the entire company culture is ready to change into a Brick-&-Click culture.

Internet and globalization demand a radical change in conducting conventional business. But companies cannot change overnight they are big and restraint by a company culture. To change a vision / strategy / culture within a company, every aspect of that company needs to be prepared for this change. Not only the implementation of new strategies, goals and objectives is important. Even important is the human resource element within the company. Every nose should point in the right direction. After this is done the company is ready to change from a Brick-&-Mortar company into a Brick-&-Click company. But this is not the end of the line. A continuous focus on the customers’ needs and wants is needed as they change rapidly and radically. The answer is to anticipate that and change your company not after the change of wants and needs of customers but just before.