Competition in E-Commerce: A Competitive Dynamics Perspective

• Main Authors: Thomas Jesse Harrison Allen, 艾力洋
• Other Authors: Wei-Lun Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/rbkh8v

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 國際經營管理碩士學程 === 103 === This paper is an investigation into the dynamic nature of the e-commerce industry and the competitive relationships derived from the determination of a focal firm’s market commonality and resource similarity with a given rival firm. This theoretical investigation is prefaced through a critical analysis of the factors that impacted the birth of the digital revolution and its subsequent effect(s) on commerce as a whole. This is then followed by a breakdown of the competitive forces at work in the industry presented in an attempt to provide a preliminary understanding of the nature of e-commerce and its determining factors. The methodological process used is called competitor mapping, and is an extension of the awareness-motivation-capability framework. This approach provides a visualization of a given competitive relationship, plot-able on a grid. Based on this plot-able position certain behaviours and assumptions about competitive relationships can be made. This study found that companies that are characterized by having low market commonality and low resource similarity tend to engage in competition at a moderate level. Strategic decisions or actions taken are typically in the form of trying to enter into new markets or increasing current market shares. In this study, each firm’s respective counterpart dominates a valued market, which elicits opportunity for simultaneous cooperation and competition (coopetition).