Stifling online expansion will prove fatal to the continued vigour of many businesses warned Gartner’s new research service arm, GartnerG2.
“It’s a serious growth trap to dismiss the dot-com experience without learning from it,” said a recent G2 report. Those who shy away from e-business initiatives because of the dot-com shakeout are making a “potentially fatal mistake,” it continued.
The report furthermore advised that the Net represents a treasure house of “new tools” that businesses can apply to cement their growth.
According to G2, online economies present a hive of innovations that businesses would do well to heed.
“Failure to keep abreast of these innovations, as well as new market entrants, substitute products and industry shifts can sound the death knell for a business,” the report cautioned.
Nevertheless, the report acknowledged that many e-players had run afoul in their rush for the ever-elusive Net gold.
“It is true that some companies misapplied the Internet, focusing only on price, while others rushed into ill-advised partnerships and some had no business value at all,” the report noted.
As a countermeasure to the continuing shakeout, G2 lauded the emergence of mutually beneficial e-business alliances — calling them the e-success story of the near future. The report mentioned e-alliances between the likes of Amazon, Toys ‘R’ Us, and Borders as noteworthy illustrations of the advantages entailed. Through their collaborative online efforts, G2 said, these three firms have extended their respective brands and increased their market penetration both online and off.
“E-business alliances will allow companies to gain competitive advantages through the mutual exploitation of core competencies and through the sidestepping of local ownership rules in an age of increased trade regulation,” advised G2. “Successful collaborations can help businesses share the risk of new ventures and satisfy increasingly complex customer demands whilst helping to integrate supply chains for speed and efficiency.”
The report concluded by advising business to shift their focus away from competitors and onto customers, innovating their products, services, and deliveries whilst continuously endeavouring to improve productivity.
