Question

Q91

Write an essay of 1000+ words on the topic ‘Strategy and the Internet. [8 Mark]

Answer 1

Internet is a world wide network of computers and other configurable and network enabled device which has brought disruption in the way that humans communicate with each other and share or collaborate. The amount of data being generated by humans have increased also drastically and almost all of this data is today shareable with fellow humans through using Internet. It has also led to the growth of a new channel for enabling sales and marketing and for certain industries such as e-commerce, video on demand and other web enabled services, internet is the medium for advertising as well as product and service delivery. The rise of interconnected and intelligent consumers has also resulted in internet being used more pervasively by marketers and it being used for focussed content marketing and providing customized solutions for the new age customers. Thus internet is allowing marketers to segment the market at an individual level and provide better and more suited solutions which increases the customer satisfaction and also lead to customer loyalty and better interaction between the seller and buyer.

All the above items have a profound impact on the way firms are approaching or remodelling their strategy keeping in mind the realities of the internet age. While strategy is about making choices and making trade offs with regards to the choices and deciding the market in which to compete and how to compete as well as on deciding on the kind of alliances and partnerships to undertake to enable a sustainable growth, the traditional form of devising strategies is likely to get disrupted because of the rise of the internet and digital medium. The digital medium has led to rise in new era business models and new way of collaborating with partners which has the potential to create more synergy and hence aid the organization in a greater manner.

The internet and the digital medium has allowed sellers and buyers to get in touch even when they are situated a great distance away thus opening up new possibilities of partnerships and hence restructuring the procurement and marketing strategy which can lead to significant efficiency for the whole ecosystem. Also internet allows the computers to track and have a visibility of the entire supply chain and thus gives a possibility of optimizing the network and hence plays a great role in cost saving strategies that the company may like to deploy in its quest for value creation. In the space of differentiation and premium offerings also, internet can play a significant role wherein it can allow companies to understand the behaviours of its customers and then use that understanding to target its consumers in a better manner thus increasing the effectiveness of its marketing strategies.

Internet also allows a company to procure and acquire resources – both fixed and human capital in the most cost efficient manner. Through the digital medium it can access the large database of human capital without incurring much costs and apply filtering based on relevant criterions become more efficient in its procurement programs.

Overall it can be concluded that internet has the scope of disrupting every single business process that the corporation operates either by making it more efficient or through ensuring that process is more targeted and adds value to its customers. Thus corporations are starting to use internet and the digital medium in most business transformation initiatives and it forms a crucial part of corporate and business strategy which ensures sustainable development and growth for the company in the long term.