Designing mature internet business strategies: The ICDT model

Abstract

This paper illustrates a systematic approach to the analysis and classification of business-related Internet strategies, as well as a framework to guide the strategy-building process of companies aiming at redesigning or innovating their products and services in the light of new opportunities and competitive pressures generated by the spread of the Internet. First, the paper shows that current strategies adopted by large and small companies worldwide have been generally based on a narrow, unidimensional interpretation of the Internet, as either an Information, a Communication, a Distribution or a Transaction channel (ICDT Model). The model is then used as a systematic framework guiding (1) the analysis of how traditional products and services are redesigned in the light of the Internet, and (2) the identification of organisational adjustments companies need to undergo in order to fully exploit the business opportunities created by the Internet.