Abstract
Recent trends influence the e-commerce surrounding as the current marketplace is consolidating, and appropriate business principles do not guarantee success. However, the traditional economy principles, such as turnover, cost-competence, and revenue maximization using the current asset, such as innovation, business process management, and partnerships, are being considered. E-commerce needs appropriate handling of business management procedures since vital developments are directly associated with consumers. Companies can realize technological innovation through novel retail methods that are concise, thus more effective than conservative trade. Moreover, an association founded on affiliated business developments enables incorporated commodities and services with an individual interface. The market is currently competitive with shrinking margins, thus to achieve profit and income maximization, it is vital to increase the number of transactions and realize effective business processes efficiency. Therefore, individualization requires modification of client offers integrated with the number of transactions needed for mass customization. The paper attempts to introduce supply chain management starting with its logistics processes and explaining the aspects of the e-supply chain, and how it can be integrated with e-commerce. Finally, the paper will present recommendations that directors should adopt to realize a successful integration of corporate processes and management with e-business.
Introduction
Currently, organizations operate in global commerce surrounding that is described by increasing competitiveness and instability. Consequently, companies are compelled to establish quality products and services to satisfy customers’ needs and at lower costs than rival firms. Businesses are also focusing on enhancing their input on their fundamental operations and outsourcing non-core events (Chandra & Kumar, 2018). The move establishes that principles linked to delivery, quality, and product pricing are dependent on both a firm’s capabilities and its provider network. Conversely, the increasing competition has driven organizations to incorporate their consumers and suppliers into the general value-chain procedures. Therefore, the integration between logistics institutions is vital to achieving a competitive advantage, especially when the business environment is full of uncertainties and competition (Chandra & Kumar, 2018). Furthermore, sharing appropriate data among components of the supply chain will help companies achieve integration. This paper attempts to introduce supply chain management and e-commerce, and how they can be integrated with business processes to achieve success and productivity
Supply Chain Processes
The supply chain management processes of a company are vital in achieving success and consumer satisfaction. Consumer relationship involves the structure necessary for the establishment and maintenance of the consumer relationship. The process is critical in identifying clients, categorizing them, developing a framework for metrics, and providing guidelines necessary for sharing procedure enhancement significance with the customers (Zhu et al., 2020). Conversely, customer service handling involves a firm being on the frontline for its target market and relying on a single source of its buyers’ information. The process helps companies create infrastructure and coordination methods to implement product and service activities and present a vital point of contact to the client.
Additionally, the demand management principle provides the technique for balancing consumer needs with supply chain abilities. It further establishes and implements emergency plans when events interrupt the stability of supply and demand. However, the supplier association handling principle helps in building a connection between companies and their providers. At this point, a firm should establish a transparent network it can maintain and the necessary processes for segmenting dealers and working with them to create relevant product and service agreements that will be beneficial to both parties (Zhu et al., 2020). Therefore, the principles play a significant role in developing a reliable supply chain network for companies.
However, to realize a successful integration and management of e-business in the supply chain, managers should understand the business processes required. For instance, the plan is a procedure that attempts to stabilize aggregate demand and supply to develop a suitable course of action ideal for production, sourcing, management returns, and delivery. It aims at providing access to supply sources, plan inventories, calculating medium-term capacities, and adding demand requirements (Zhu et al., 2020). Conversely, the source is the procedure that involves events related to purchasing commodities and services to satisfy premeditated and actual demand. The method comprises characteristics linked to perception, inspection, obtaining, and storage.
The production process involves operations linked to transforming commodities into finished products to satisfy actual and planned demands. It handles the manufacture and evaluation of goods, request and receipt materials, packaging, storage, and product shipment (Hitpass & Astudillo, 2019). Furthermore, it deals with equipment and resources control changes, control quality supervision, manufacturing scheduling, and short-term capacity handling. Delivery is the method that presents finished products and services to satisfy predetermined and actual demand (Hitpass & Astudillo, 2019). Similarly, the return process involves receipt of returned commodities and extends into post-supply consumer support.
The sharing of relevant data among parties in the supply chain is an essential factor for productivity. When retailers do not share sales and inventory information with other logistics associates, supply chain handling is linked to inventory supervision. Consequently, organizations will experience inefficiencies in the supply chain, particularly in inventory control, manufacture scheduling, and delivery plans (Kasemsap, 2018). Therefore, associates should share information regarding inventory level, sales data and forecasts, production schedule, and order status.
E-commerce Integration in Supply Chain
When e-commerce is integrated with supply chain management in the modern global marketplaces, organizations are compelled to satisfy more demanding consumers to realize competitive advantage and positioning. Therefore, businesses are expected to change their traditional commerce techniques into a flexible and integrated supply chain approach. The creation of ICT and the World Wide Web (WWW) have escalated and enhanced data flow amongst corporations and clients, thus establishing e-commerce associates (Kasemsap, 2018). The integration of technological innovation in logistics led to e-procurement using the internet for purchasing indirect and direct materials and value-added services. Therefore, the internet’s primary influence on supply chain management is to allow the possibility of sharing an enormous amount of data and logistics in real-time, including operations and approach planning information.
Categories of E-Commerce and their Influence
Researchers have focused on differentiating the various categories of e-business to make managers and other stakeholders fully understand its influence on their organizations’ success. For instance, e-procurement refers to using the internet for purchasing direct and indirect products from suppliers and manufacturers. It involves dealing with organizations in the market with several consumers and dealers in virtual marketplaces who seek information to purchase and sell products and services (Sullivan & Kim, 2018). Furthermore, it minimizes operational costs, enhances process efficiency, presents improved centralized handling over purchasing, and increases the negotiation power with the dealers through merging (Sullivan & Kim, 2018). Therefore, managers should adopt technological innovation as it helps them evaluate their suppliers and present solutions to challenges regarding warehousing.
Similarly, e-collaboration refers to the supply chain’s coordination through the internet, which includes actions, such as data sharing and integration, process, decision, and resource sharing. It enhances consumer service, minimizes inventory levels, and increases flexibility and agility, and lowers bullwhip (Leung et al., 2019). However, parties in the logistics process are expected to share information based on mutual trust between them. Conversely, e-fulfillment ensures efficiency for product order placement and delivery. It entails information batches, such as inventory levels and consumer’s orders, and online production levels to gain from sort order cycle timeline, cost-saving, and inventory reduction.
Recommendations
Considering the influence of technology in the business environment, a manager should focus on adopting business processes aligned to e-commerce. For instance, they should focus on the practical implication of supply chain management in e-business. It will ensure the delivery of products to consumers in real-time and maximize the logistics function productivity (Leung et al., 2019). The adoption of enterprise systems will also enable the managers to collect data from numerous trade processes in production and manufacturing, sales and marketing, finance and accounting, and human resource (Leung et al., 2019). The system then stores the data in a single comprehensive information respiratory where they can be used later by other departments of the organization. Consequently, managers will be able to emerge with timely and precise information required to coordinate the business’s daily activities and organizational view of business procedures.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the report’s aim was based on an extensive and comprehensive review of the business concepts, processes, and information technology influence in business. Therefore, managers should understand the importance of integration among organizations considering supply chain management integration as a component of competitiveness and differentiation. Concepts like the quality of data, availability, and coordination have also become essential tools for supply chain success. They should be assessed by companies who intend to achieve long-term success in the changing market environment. E-commerce will be the way to conduct business globally, and corporations that want to participate in such a globalized marketplace should integrate their supply chain handling procedures. Therefore, e-business is a vital issue that should be investigated further by commerce professionals to determine its benefits and demerits.
References
Chandra, S., & Kumar, K. N. (2018). Exploring factors influencing organizational adoption of augmented reality in e-commerce: an empirical analysis using the technology-organization-environment model. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 19(3).
Hitpass, B., & Astudillo, H. (2019). Industry 4.0 challenges for business process management and electronic commerce. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 14(1), (pp 1-3).
Kasemsap, K. (2018). Advocating electronic business and electronic commerce in the global marketplace. In Mobile Commerce: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1139–1162). IGI Global.
Leung, K. H., Luk, C. C., Choy, K. L., Lam, H. Y., & Lee, C. K. (2019). A B2B flexible pricing decision support system for managing the request for quotation process under an e-commerce business environment. International Journal of Production Research, 57(20), 6528–6551.
Sullivan, Y. W., & Kim, D. J. (2018). Assessing the effects of consumers’ product evaluations and trust on repurchase intention in e-commerce environments. International Journal of Information Management, 39, 199–219.
Zhu, Z., Zhao, J., & Bush, A. A. (2020). The effects of e-business processes in supply chain operations: Process component and value creation mechanisms. International Journal of Information Management, 50, 273–285.