The days when South African businesses could enjoy the luxury of following the lead of early adopters and learning from their mistakes are over.
Today, according to Joanne Cradock - executive for e-business and CRM at Dimension Data subsidiary, IS (The Internet Solution), and co-author the first South African-written book to explore the New Economy from a SA perspective - e-business is changing SA`s commerce rules.
In her book, `e or b e@ten , Redefining the Corporate Landscape in South Africa`, (published by Butterworths), Cradock and co-author Kurt April, Senior Lecturer at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town, seek to help South Africa`s senior executives "distinguish between the business imperative and the hype of e-business".
"We wanted to produce a book relevant to SA business people," she says. "Many of the accepted `truths` about e-business are based on research and trends in North America and Europe. But it can`t be assumed that SA, as an emerging economy, will automatically follow international trends.
"Our findings are based on both local and global research. I believe one of the most powerful messages in the book is that SA business must get into `first-mover` rather than `me-too` mode."
The book examines the merits of being an early adopter as opposed to a fast follower and concludes that a first-mover advantage could hold the key to getting ahead, learning new lessons, embedding knowledge and learning into business processes - and then staying ahead.
SA business, however, still needs a better understanding of what constitutes e-business.
"One of the findings to emerge from our local research is that e-business is being confused with e-commerce. Companies still don`t have a complete picture what the e-business concept is about. This could threaten the viability of their transition to an e-business model," Craddock explains.
One common mistake being made by SA managers is to view e-business as a static instead of a continually evolving concept which is maturing over a number of phases.
"They don`t realise that each phase presents a different set of opportunities and threats, and that each business decision will have far-reaching implications.
"SA organisations must develop a set of e-business strategies which allow them to exploit the potential opportunities and counter the threats of each e-business maturity phase. This, together with close attention to leadership, organisational culture and leadership issues will determine the success and sustainability of transformation initiatives," Craddock concludes.
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