Management issues regarding e-commerce and the Internet: 20 critical questions managers should ask before plunging into e-commerce!

The drivers for electronic commerce are both technological (under the tremendous pressure of innovation) and business oriented. The authors have found technological issues drive most industrialists, with the business drivers being vague. However both technology and business drivers should play an important part. According to Cathy Benko (Deloitte consulting) (see Business International Journal, vol.1, p.25, 2000), the model of predict-design-implement is no longer viable-in fact, it is dead. This paper identifies managerial issues regarding e-commerce and the Internet. Chan and Swatmann (see Journal of Organisational COmputing and Electronic Commerce, vol.6, no.1, p.1010, 1996) noted that management involvement is imperative for the success of electronic commerce implementation. The size and popularity of the Internet have grown enormously and continue to grow at phenomenal rates. The risks of entering e-commerce are many and it is important that the issues are understood. This paper has identified the issues, which need to be considered and 20 key questions, which need to be addressed before entering into e-commerce.