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Companies operating on the internet need appropriate metrics to make strategic marketing decisions. This paper applies established qualitative research methods to the online environment to evaluate how web managers generate and incorporate web metrics to inform strategic marketing decisions.

Initial theories were developed using a comprehensive literature review as well as exploratory interviews with New Zealand companies. Applying a mixed methodology, the exploratory research used interviews to assess current practice within the industry, refine the research questions and set up the research design. An in‐depth case study in the USA evaluated best practices and highlighted issues that affect the use of web metrics. The main data collection utilized case studies to generate the in‐depth information necessary for theory building.

The exploratory results showed that companies currently measure web site performance and consumer behaviour online but are still uncertain how best to use those metrics to inform strategic marketing decisions. The in‐depth case study showed how web metrics can be used when sufficient resources are available and measuring performance is a priority. Owing to the initially recognized low level of web metrics use, the main research was expanded purposively to selected participants who make greater use of web metrics.

This paper applies traditional qualitative research methods to the online environment. Analysis of the case studies and continued research will address the research gap and provide recommendations to web managers as well as attempt to illustrate best practices, solutions to issues and industry benchmarks.

Government initiatives are continuously being designed to create stable and supportive environments for developing new industries. Presents a conceptual model for use by governments in creating and sustaining an appropriate climate that facilitates the national adoption of e‐business. It focuses specifically on the needs of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Also suggests six categories of e‐business readiness metrics and measures to be used for assessing how a country is performing in terms of providing a positive e‐business readiness climate. Examples of innovative initiatives are provided from Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, and Singapore. Concludes that a balance among attention to infrastructure components has not yet been achieved in these countries.

The aim of this study is to examine the trend over time of the demand for .it domain names.This study first assesses whether there is a phase of growth and expansion or at a point of saturation. Second, this research can be useful also to compare researches that have considered other internet metrics and other models.

This paper describes the forecasting methods used to analyze the internet diffusion in Italy. The domain names under the country code top-level domain “.it” have used as metrics. To predict domain names .it the seasonal auto regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model and the Holt-Winters (H-W) methods have been used.

The results show that, to predict domain names .it the SARIMA model is better than the H-W methods. According to the findings, notwithstanding the forecast of a growth in domain names, the increase is however limited (about 3%), tending to reach a phase of saturation of the market of domain names .it.

In general many authors have studied internet diffusion applying statistical models that follow an S-shaped behavior. On the other hand, the more used diffusion models that follow an S-shape not always provide an adequate description of the Internet growth pattern. To achieve this goal, this paper demonstrates how the time series models, in particular SARIMA model and H-W models, fit well in explaining the spread of the internet.

Although this article's objectives include providing a primer on internet business strategy and a design guide for future management development efforts, the motivating objective is to expose traditional business leaders to the need to shock the legacy mindset of their organizations so that they will remain competitive in the twenty‐first century.

Uses Lewin's three‐step change model – unfreeze, change, and refreeze, involving the IMPACT internet business simulation.

Just as information technology progress has been slowed by the need to integrate with legacy systems, the new business opportunities available on the internet have been slowed by the legacy mindsets of traditionally trained managers. These legacy mindsets have become systemic in the conversations and cultures of most traditional organizations. Thus, an established company's successful venture into the internet space will likely depend on a significant change in organizational culture.

Although this article was not developed to empirically explore the link between changed mindsets and organization success, some anecdotal evidence is offered that may motivate significant future research.

Through the use of business simulations new conversations can be introduced and the organization change process can be started. By detailing some of the design considerations in the development of the IMPACT internet business simulation, this article exposes management development professionals to the benefits of business simulations and the educational challenges presented by the internet.

The article challenges business leaders and management development professionals to look at the internet as a threat to their organizational culture. If managers want to prepare their organizations for the future, they are going to need tools such as business simulations to shock their organization's legacy mindsets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of the use of performance management metrics by UK theatre companies, the levels of importance attached to various types of measures, and possible determinants of managerial perceptions of the importance of each category.

A model was constructed which hypothesised that the types of metrics regarded as most important by theatre managements depended on organisational identity, financial situation, environmental volatility, production diversity and visitor orientation. This was tested via a survey of 195 UK theatres.

A theatre's financial situation greatly influenced the categories of metrics that its management deemed to be important, exerting both a direct effect and indirect impacts. An organisation's “artistic identity” also affected the dimensions of the operations that its management sought to measure.

The data were self‐reported; less than a majority of the sampling frame participated in the study; and managers in theatres that used few or no metrics may have been less likely to respond to the invitation to take part in the study. It was not possible within the confines of an already crowded questionnaire to explore the influences of various stakeholders on a theatre management's choice of metrics.

Environmental circumstances and managerial inclinations seemingly determined the metrics that were considered important, but the metrics involved were not necessarily those that should have been applied.

This is the first empirical study to determine the factors that cause theatre managements to prioritise the use of specific types of performance metrics and to explain variations in organisational behaviour in this regard.

Constantly expanding chemical and environmental information sources increase the need for descriptive statistical analysis. This paper gives a comparative evaluation of data sources, i.e. online databases, databases on CD‐ROM and Internet resources in the field of environmental chemicals. The evaluation is based on information in three metadatabases for environmental chemicals: DADB‐Metadatabase of Online Databases, DACD‐Metadatabase of CD‐ROMs, DAIN‐Metadatabase of Internet Resources. A data matrix of 50 environmental and chemical descriptors found in DADB, DACD and DAIN is analysed and a technique is applied to transform the data set into a data matrix of a more homogeneous structure. This method is based on algorithms for solving the so‐called travelling salesman problem. Two different ways of analysing the data set are applied and the results are compared. Also, media combination patterns are identified and discussed. For most descriptors the information depth is higher in commercial online databases and databases on CD‐ROM than in free Internet resources. Exceptions, e.g. some health‐related parameters which have a higher percentage in Internet resources, are identified and explained.

This study looks at the value-relevance of accounting data and measures of web-traffic for Internet firms listed on the Neuer Markt. We show that earnings and cash flows cannot explain the valuation of Internet companies, while we report a positive association between total sales and market capitalisation. In addition, sales and marketing as well as research and development expenses are relevant value-drivers. Furthermore, we find a positive relation between market values and a number of web-metrics such as customer loyalty, reach, page impressions, and unique visitors. We conclude that during the Internet bubble, measures of web-traffic provided at least as much explanatory power for market values as financial statement information.

The key purpose of the present research is to learn whether businesses use web site metrics to support business strategies and how web site metrics used differ by web site categories.

A combination of a preliminary telephone survey and an e‐mail questionnaire survey was used to gather data. Potential respondents were contacted by phone to find firms measuring web site success. An e‐mail survey was conducted to learn how metrics were used to measure the success of a corporate web site. Responses were examined to study not only purposes and net benefits of measurement but also metrics measured.

Findings of the study indicated that a majority of businesses which took part in this survey were using the metrics more for operational than for strategic purposes. This observation is to some extent consistent with the normative view highlighted by the literature that organizations should measure how successfully their web sites support business objectives and, therefore, the web metrics to measure web site success should differ by web site categories.

This explorative research is not based on a large sample, thereby limiting its academic contribution. Since the data analysis is over eight web site categories, future research will need to employ a sample large enough to eliminate any potential bias.

A key managerial implication is that businesses need to measure the success of their web site using web metrics tied to their business objectives, if they want their web site to effectively support business strategies.

This paper is the first attempt to explore the way that Internet‐dependent businesses measure the success of their web site via web metrics, for the purpose not only of observing some patterns between web metrics measured and site categories, but also of examining whether metrics were used for strategic or merely for operational purposes.

The purpose of this exploratory, data-driven study is to identify the optimal banner advertising strategies for achieving different business metric goals, such as effective cost per activity, via unique predictive modelling methods.

The k-fold cross-validation method is used to build predictive models to analyze 18,956 online banner advertising records.

Banner ads with high visual complexity and attractive offers tend to draw users to participate in online activities, whereas voluntary banner ads with low visual complexity tend to draw user clicks. Further, banner ads with lower visual complexity tend to have lower costs. Finally, the third quarter of a year is the most important period for online advertising campaigns in terms of achieving the optimal effectiveness and cost for running internet banner ads.

As only visual and temporal characteristics of internet banner ads are covered in this study, future research should concentrate on the specific language within each banner ad message. Further, this study does not specifically tie internet-specific metrics, such as activities, costs and clicks to business metrics, such as revenue and profit.

Advertisers can use the findings from this study to create an effective and cost-efficient banner advertising strategy. Specifically, firms should use larger banner ads with features and offers, advertise at the end of the year and use caution with rich media expandable banners and banner ad videos as they can significantly increase costs.

This is one of the first exploratory studies to use the k-fold cross-validation method to build predictive models to identify visual and temporal factors that significantly impact the effectiveness and cost of internet banner ads.