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The purpose of this study is a comparative analysis of two electronic grocers, one success and one failure, in order to attempt to identify the critical success factors that contributed to their different performances.

Four aspects of each company's operations are explored and compared in this side‐by‐side case study. The foci of this study are strategic management, logistical infrastructure, information technology deployments, and marketing strategies.

The success of Peapod was the result, in general, of application of good strategy and knowledge about the opportunities provided in e‐commerce. Webvan's failure, in general, was attributable to the design of its logistics system, the misunderstanding of the capabilities of information technology, and ineffective marketing.

This study investigates only two online grocers, and the lessons learned in this comparative case study may not be applicable to other types of online business.

This paper provides insights into successful retail e‐commerce operations through the comparison of successful and unsuccessful firms in a specific business. From the analysis, businesses and individuals who are considering the future of e‐commerce for their enterprise should better understand the factors that contribute to success and failure in a pure‐play environment.

Several studies have investigated how internet businesses function, and how the customers of online businesses differ from traditional business customers. Some studies have offered comparisons of differing levels of performance within a specific e‐business; however, this report investigates the reasons for the success and failure through its comparative analysis of specific managerial activities.

This paper presents the results of a study that investigates the sophistication of the information technology (IT) employed by maquiladoras. The maquiladoras are Mexican manufacturing and assembly plants that have been established by non‐Mexican, primarily US, companies to take advantage of several economic factors that should increase the profitability of these non‐Mexican firms. This research is designed to allow the research team to: (1) develop an understanding of the technologies found in the maquiladoras, and (2) assist in the development of an adequate model of IT architectures employed such that comparisons can be made of the architectures used by manufacturing firms located in the USA, Canada, and Mexico (the signatories of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement). In general, the results of this survey indicate the use of significantly more sophisticated IT than might otherwise be expected as a result of the general perception that maquiladoras should be organized to capitalize on the relatively low skill levels and wages of the hourly Mexican worker.

What is an expert, and how is expertise attained?

Reports the results of a preliminary study of a new work environment, the home office (HO). This study was designed to develop a test instrument that would facilitate the investigation of a set of variables that might influence the corporate decision to relocate employees from the employer’s office space to the employees’ homes. Additionally, the paper seeks to identify the variables that will affect both the employer and the employee, for example, employee productivity and costs of employment. This report does not attempt to generalize concerning the population of home office employees, nor does it attempt to generalize the current employer perspective of the telecommuting employee, but rather it attempts to identify numerous variables that should be investigated in more detail.