Abstract
Now that the Internet bubble has seemingly burst, the days are gone when anyone with Internet and IT knowledge can run a successful e-business. Like other businesses, e-business also needs strategic management skills and traditional business sense. This author argues that the success of e-business requires a well-defined and well-formulated e-partnering strategy. A good e-partnering strategy can make a significant impact on business operations, customer relations and competitive market position of an organization, if it is implemented and executed successfully. E-managers must be able to think forward and strategically. Business partnership, in whatever form, has gone from being a peripheral tool of management to a centerpiece of corporate strategy and competitive advantage over the past decade (Bamford, Gomes-Casseres, & Robinson, 2003). This chapter studies e-partnership from a strategic management perspective because e-partnership has become an important component of the strategy of many successful companies. From a strategic management perspective, e-partnerships should be strategic e-business alliances. Strategic management focuses on the process whereby managers develop and implement strategies for achieving strategic goals within existing conditions, in turn, helping organizations identify and achieve a competitive advantage. By resorting to a strategic management approach, this chapter helps in understanding the complex nature of e-partnering strategy formulation and implementation, which involves changes to existing business models and procedures. The chapter focuses on the strategy of e-partnering and its matching structures and delineates various worked examples of e-partnerships in today’s e-business world, thereby providing a practical guide to e-partnering strategy formation and implementation.