Strategies employed by e-commerce firms in Portugal : an empirical investigation

• Autor(a) principal: Torres, Pedro Marcelo
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Lisboa, João Veríssimo, Yasin, Mahmoud M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/10077
• topic: E-commerce; strategy; value creation; virtual markets

A survey integrating different theoretical views of value creation was developed, then sent to Portuguese e-ommerce firms to assess the underlying dimensions and the most important characteristics of their e-Commerce strategies. The survey was sent to 188 firms in 2007 and repeated in 2010 to validate the results, obtaining a total sample of 62 e-Commerce firms. Through factorial analysis, three e-Commerce strategy dimensions were identified: one relates to differentiation via marketing based on reputation and brand identification, in which advertising and innovation in marketing techniques and methods are important; a second differentiation dimension focuses on product development and is supported by technical capabilities; and a cost leadership dimension which uses strategic networks to obtain economies of scale and scope, and exploits technological advancements to reduce transaction costs.