Citation
Seow, C. (2003), "Guest editorial", The TQM Journal, Vol. 15 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM.10615caa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Guest editorial
Article Type: Guest editorial From: The TQM Magazine, Volume 15, Issue 3.
This collection of papers discusses quality of operations management in dot.com businesses as a contributing factor to their long-term sustainability. The premise considered is that the recent spate of dot.com failures is due not to a lack of information technologies (IT) competencies, or marketing flair, but to a lack of quality management - and the management of quality - in these businesses. Indeed, the essence encapsulated in these papers is that there has been a marginalisation of quality in the management of key business processes.
As is the case in the "old economy" of "bricks and mortar" businesses, quality can be a differentiator and order qualifier in the e-business arena. New technologies and work practices must blend with traditional values to ensure success. Consumers continue to look for quality in both products and services and a lack of it in either or both of these elements is likely to inhibit online purchasing.
An over simplistic and incomplete view of the process has also been a stumbling block. A deal does not end once an on-line purchase has been made. Products do not just flow throughthe Internet. Dot.comcompanies must ensure delivery to complete the transaction and provide customer satisfaction. The ability to integrate the supply and distribution chains with the technology that initiates the sale therefore separates a successful dot.com from one which fails.
E-commerce offers the customer a uniquely user centred experience that requires an equally focussed outcome, hence the term, e-fulfilment. Where traditional business models were not adopted to complement the e-business approach to a market, strategic vision has not been translated into operational reality.
The sequence of articles begins with a paper from Chris Madu and Assumpta Madu entitled "E-quality in an integrated enterprise" . They argue that developing quality management procedures to enhance data and information management systems in an integrated organisation can enhance the overall efficiency and productivity of an integrated enterprise. Chris and Assumpta's message is reinforced through a paper by Angeliki Poulymenakou and Loukas Tsironis entitled "Quality and electronic commerce: a partnership for growth" . They attempt to identify quality within new forms of entrepreneurial activity and how such practices contribute to e-businesses.
Robert Lowson and Nicola Burgess explore issues surrounding alignment between business environment, operations strategy and information strategic orientation in their paper "The building blocks of an e-operations strategy for e-business". In addition to operationalising the business strategy, managers should assess a company's operations by looking at both traditional and e-business measures. Tan Kay Chuan, Min Xie and Yanni Li put forward one option through their paper "A service quality framework for Web-based information systems". Dawei Lu and Jiju Antony illustrate developments in the B2B marketplace and its impact on the changing business environment through their paper "Implications of B2B marketplace to supply chain development." Patricia Janenko author of E-operations Management provides a candid practitioner perspective of e-business with her paper entitled "E-business: the illusion of automated success".
This collection of papers concludes with the discussion of managing quality in e-operations in two context-based environments: grocery shopping and the construction sector. Kelly Delaney-Klinger, Kenneth Boyer and Mark Frohlich provide an insight of the former and propose a profiling method to compare the operating characteristics of the two e-commerce ventures to traditional business operations through their paper. "The return of online grocery shopping: a comparative analysis of Webvan and Tescos operational methods". Kirti Ruikar, Chimay Anumba and Patricia Carrillo provide a set of maps of the business processes involved in "Reengineering construction business processes for electronic commerce" to illustrate how the current construction business process could be improved through the use of e-commerce applications.
The collection of papers here is intended to show where to focus organizational resources by highlighting specific areas of opportunity. In particular, this special issue emphasizes that to achieve operational excellence and subsequent financial gains, managers must evaluate how processes align with e-business transformation, while encouraging the participation of all the stakeholders. In the absence of such complementary investments in process, technology and readiness, managers risk the failure of their companies' technological transformation.
This editorial concludes with my thanks to the editors of The TQM Magazine for enabling me to initiate such a call for papers and to the authors and reviewers for enriching this body of knowledge.
The guest editor
Christopher Seow is a Senior Lecturer in Operations and Quality Management at the University of East London Business School. He has worked in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the UK and has over 14 years of hands-on experience. This covers all phases of operations and quality management in major organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors - and in culturally diverse metropolitan areas. He is also on the committees of international conferences such as IEEE,ICMIT (International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology),ICIE (International Conference on Industrial Engineering) and ICQRIT (International Conference on Quality, Reliability and Information Technology). Christopher reviews papers for the Journal of Operations Management,the International Journal of Electronic Business and for the Academy of Management Conference (Operations Management Division). His current research pursuits are in business process in e-enterprises and the evolution of sustainable development. (URL: http://www.uel.ac.uk/elbs/seow)