Factors separating winners and losers in e-business

The rapid growth and integration of the Internet as a communication and commercial medium into our society and economy has changed both in many ways. This dissertation is an exploratory study of factors deemed significant in the context of e-business success or failure. A survey instrument is used in addition to qualitative data was gathered from in-depth interviews. Drawing upon the literature from the area of new business in brick and mortar (B&M) firms, an examination of the factors that lead to the success or failure of new brick and mortar businesses are examined in terms of new e business companies. Also examined in this study are the business strategies that an e-commerce site should be addressing to avoid failure factors and the types of e-business models that have been employed and have proven to be successful or destructive to an e-business. In an attempt to understand the marketing and managerial implications for the success or failure of an e-business, seven factors are included in the study which have been selected from a group of factors found to be significant in several studies on the factors leading to the success or failure of small businesses in the brick and mortar world and factors which may be considered relevant to an e-business. These are; management factors, entrepreneur factors, product/service factors, marketing factors, market factors, financial factors, and Web site design and efficiency factors.