Ebook: Managing Quality In E-operations

This collection of papers discusses quality ofoperations management in dot.combusinesses as a contributing factor to theirlong-term sustainability. The premiseconsidered is that the recent spate of dot.comfailures is due not to a lack of informationtechnologies (IT) competencies, or marketingflair, but to a lack of quality management –and the management of quality – in thesebusinesses. Indeed, the essence encapsulatedin these papers is that there has been amarginalisation of quality in the managementof key business processes. As is the case in the ‘‘old economy’’ of‘‘bricks and mortar’’ businesses, quality canbe a differentiator and order qualifier in thee-business arena. New technologies and workpractices must blend with traditional values toensure success. Consumers continue to lookfor quality in both products and services and alack of it in either or both of these elements islikely to inhibit online purchasing. An over simplistic and incomplete view ofthe process has also been a stumbling block. Adeal does not end once an on-line purchasehas been made. Products do not just flowthrough the Internet. Dot.com companiesmust ensure delivery to complete thetransaction and provide customer satisfaction.The ability to integrate the supply anddistribution chains with the technology thatinitiates the sale therefore separates asuccessful dot.com from one which fails.E-commerce offers the customer a uniquelyuser centred experience that requires anequally focussed outcome, hence the term,e-fulfilment. Where traditional businessmodels were not adopted to complement thee-business approach to a market, strategicvision has not been translated into operationalreality. The sequence of articles begins with a paperfrom Chris Madu and Assumpta Maduentitled ‘‘E-quality in an integratedenterprise’’. They argue that developingquality management procedures to enhancedata and information management systems inan integrated organisation can enhance theoverall efficiency and productivity of anintegrated enterprise. Chris and Assumpta’smessage is reinforced through a paper byAngeliki Poulymenakou and Loukas Tsironisentitled ‘‘Quality and electronic commerce: apartnership for growth’’. They attempt toidentify quality within new forms of entrepreneurial activity and how suchpractices contribute to e-businesses.Robert Lowson and Nicola Burgess exploreissues surrounding alignment betweenbusiness environment, operations strategyand information strategic orientation in theirpaper ‘‘The building blocks of ane-operations strategy for e-business’’. Inaddition to operationalising the businessstrategy, managers should assess a company’soperations by looking at both traditional ande-business measures. Tan Kay Chuan,Min Xie and Yanni Li put forward one optionthrough their paper ‘‘A service qualityframework for Web-based informationsystems’’. Dawei Lu and Jiju Antony illustratedevelopments in the B2B marketplace and itsimpact on the changing business environmentthrough their paper ‘‘Implications of B2Bmarketplace to supply chain development.’’Patricia Janenko author of E-operationsManagement provides a candid practitionerperspective of e-business with her paperentitled ‘‘E-business: the illusion ofautomated success.’’ This collection of papers concludes with thediscussion of managing quality ine-operations in two context-basedenvironments: grocery shopping and theconstruction sector. Kelly Delaney-Klinger,Kenneth Boyer and Mark Frohlich provide aninsight of the former and propose a profilingmethod to compare the operatingcharacteristics of the two e-commerceventures to traditional business operationsthrough their paper ‘‘The return of onlinegrocery shopping: a comparative analysis ofWebvan and Tesco’s operational methods’’.Kirti Ruikar, Chimay Anumba andPatricia Carrillo provide a set of maps of thebusiness processes involved in‘‘Reengineering construction businessprocesses for electronic commerce’’ toillustrate how the current constructionbusiness process could be improved throughthe use of e-commerce applications. The collection of papers here is intended toshow where to focus organizational resourcesby highlighting specific areas of opportunity.In particular, this special issue emphasizesthat to achieve operational excellence andsubsequent financial gains, managers mustevaluate how processes align with e-businesstransformation, while encouraging theparticipation of all the stakeholders. In theabsence of such complementary investmentsin process, technology and readiness,managers risk the failure of their companies’technological transformation.This editorial concludes with my thanks tothe editors of The TQM Magazine forenabling me to initiate such a call for papersand to the authors and reviewers for enrichingthis body of knowledge. Christopher Seow Previously published in: Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives, Volume 15, Number 3, 2003