E-commerce and the value chain

Many companies are now using Internet to place orders with each other, to exchange plans and share data. If a screenful of data has to be re-keyed to be processed, or cross-reference tables have to be maintained, the electronic revolution will fail to reach anything like its full potential benefit. The solution to these problems is to implement best business and administrative practice first via value-chain management. The essence of value-chain management is improving the total performance of the entire chain by examining each link and process in a systematic, standard way to see how overall speed, certainty and cost-effectiveness can best be enhanced. The author explains why Internet commerce should be developed alongside a new approach to value-chain management, not independently