Preface to the Focus Theme Section: 'E-Business Impacts Revisited'

Only a few years ago, the emergence of online markets and electronic business was expected to revolutionize market structures, supply chains and company performance. The fact that the cost of information and communication would become very low led to the assumption that markets would show increased transparency and reaction speeds would reach hitherto unknown levels. Ebusiness and its sub-category ecommerce were forecast to facilitate communication between potential market participants and dissolve the geographical boundaries between markets. Productivity was expected to rise dramatically as a result of the plummeting transaction costs. All of these assumptions were based on extrapolations of a few spectacular cases or on purely theoretical considerations. However, the widely expected market development either did not occur or did not have the impact that was somewhat rashly forecast in the early stages of electronic market developments. After a massive shake-up and a period of sobering expectations, more empirical evidence is now available on different e-commerce applications. Data have been generated on the diffusion and (expected) impact of online selling and procurement schemes, and studies have dealt with e-business strategies that have actually been observed empirically. This focus theme section on ebusiness impacts builds on recent empirical research that contributes to a revision of theoretical predictions. While some theses can be confirmed, others clearly have to be rejected or at least reformulated. The main merit of this collection lies in the presentation and analysis of empirical results which make it possible to put the discussion on ebusiness impacts on more solid ground. Although the results are often not spectacular, they can be used to enhance our understanding of processes. A wide range of methodological approaches, from extensive international company surveys and comprehensive content analyses of web pages to in-depth case studies and qualitative interviews with consumers were applied to generate reliable data on business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce applications and strategies. The papers show that deviations from what theoretical considerations might suggest are quite frequent. The main strands in which theories might need revision refer to the strategic aims of e-business adoptions on the one hand and to the benefits to be derived from it on the other. It can be shown that companies shape the strategies pursued C op yr ig h t 2 0 0 5 El ec tr on ic M ar ke ts