SUCCESS FACTORS IN THE E-COMMERCE: THE BARRABES CASE STUDY

摘要

In the last years, the analysis of the main factors that explain the failure or success of the Internet businesses has been one of the most popular topics in the information systems literature. Most of the studies attempt to reach some general conclusions about the key success factors in any Internet business. In order to do that, they try to directly relate some behaviour and investment measures to the results of the firm, reaching to some limited consequences. In this paper, we attempt to study internet retailers' way to success. Internet retailers are companies that use web technology to receive orders from their customers and develop a logistic network to accomplish that orders. This business model is clearly different from, for instance, market makers, which main business is to contact the offer and the demand sides, building an Internet market where all the counterparts are present. Our main objective is to study the best way in which this kind of companies can acquire a competitive advantage, the amount of resources and capabilities needed, and how Internet retailers can develop this valuable stock of specific resources.