Abstract

Why is it that two firms can use the Internet in the same way (e.g., to reach new customers) and achieve very different outcomes? How can firms better allocate and subsequently leverage the investments they make in Internet technologies? This article shows that e-commerce technologies cannot be successfully leveraged without considering the organizational relationships in which the technologies are being embedded. By properly matching the B2B context with Internet technologies, firms can be in a better position not only to achieve significant economic outcomes, but also to attain sustainable competitive advantages, improve coordination and collaboration processes, and decrease channel resistance.