B2B e-commerce stages of growth; the strategic imperatives

Stages-of-growth has been the most popular approach used for strategy development and implementation. The major stages of growth models such as C. F. Gibson and R. F. Nolan (1974) have been widely discussed and are particularly useful in understanding the implementation of IS in organisations. These models might be more representative of e-commerce implementation, however, if they took into account more recent IS developments such as B2B e-commerce. Using a case study research undertaken in Australia, this study proposes a model of stages of growth based on the use of B2B e-commerce technologies and applications in Australian organisations. Four stages of growth proposed for B2B e-commerce implementation are (i) initial e-commerce; (ii) centralised e-commerce; (iii) looking inward for benefits; and (iv) global e-commerce.