The role of influencing variables of e-business in timely delivery to customers

Dissertation for receiving the master degree "M.A."

Abstract

E-business is a phenomenon that requires comprehensive transformation in all aspects of business activities of companies to achieve business facilitation. This, in addition to micro-developments that happen at the company level, strongly requires changes in the environment governing commercial companies and countries, which can effectively provide the necessary platform for the national development of electronic business. Electronic business has a significant impact on all business functions. With the emergence of new information technologies in the last decade, the role of technology itself can no longer be regarded as a factor in facilitating company processes, but rather it should be considered as one of the key factors of the company's strategy. Facilitating business processes through electronic business technologies is considered as a sensitive and fundamental challenge for all industries and companies. This study seeks the effect of e-business on the timely delivery of customers, for this purpose, 7 components were extracted by exploratory factor analysis, and 400 questionnaires were distributed and collected among the employees of Iran Khodro Company for their opinions. The collected data were measured using structural equation method using Emus Graphics software and finally the results showed that the relationships of all components were confirmed with timely delivery to customers. Cronbach's alpha calculated for this research is 0.881, which shows its high reliability.

Keywords: e-business, on-time delivery of Iran Khodro. 

1-1- Statement of the problem

Electronic business as one of the subcategories of information and communication technology has experienced high growth in the last decade. So that the policy approach of most commercial institutions is to accept and apply e-business in order to enter the global markets and attract new, effective and efficient customers in this direction. The impact of the expansion and growth of communication and information technologies and their entry into the field of organizational systems on the development of economic strategies causes transformation and revision in the traditional approach to the subject of trade and market. In the meantime, the increasing development of the Internet in countries and the expansion of electronic communication between people and different organizations through the virtual world of the Internet has provided a suitable and favorable platform for conducting commercial and economic transactions. Electronic business has a significant impact on all business functions. In fact, the main question is not whether companies should use e-business or not, but the way to implement e-business is more important in gaining a competitive advantage. E-business activities now operate in a wide network of digitally connected partners to provide the possibility of optimizing demand/capacity/price while providing a service relationship between the individual and the service in various channels with significant communication speed.  (George Xirogiannis et al. 2010). Obviously, one of the most important indicators of evaluating customers in the field of providing services is receiving services on time and the time of access to them, which has been the focus of many researchers. However, the impact of new technologies on providing services faster has not been investigated as it should and perhaps in surveys and researches. The internal research conducted in the field of e-business is often related to the ways of promoting e-business in companies and institutions, and so far, the components of e-business and its impact on other aspects of organizational culture and activities have not been given due attention. Regarding on-time delivery to customers, less research has considered this component as its main topic, so our investigations in the field of internal research have not yielded significant results, and we need additional investigations on this issue. Many companies accept participation due to the low cost. Internet makes access to information and global markets cheap. This factor increases the speed of operation in multi-purpose markets that are used to produce goods and information. It potentially reshapes the organization of existing business infrastructure and opens the way for business transactions by revaluing them.. It potentially reshapes the organization of existing business infrastructure and, by revaluing it, opens the way to business transactions, and by reengineering commerce, it releases the constraints that traditionally separate producers from customers. On the other hand, disparate activities such as ordering, payment and after-sales service may be integrated into a single process and reduce credit costs. The result of such a process leads to increased efficiency and competitiveness among export companies. According to the content of e-business, to increase commercial motivation, especially for export, it can be said that entering the World Trade Organization and being in a competitive situation is inevitable. Therefore, the use of new commercial technologies in export companies is emphasized. Since success in e-business requires attention to the external factors that influence it, therefore, knowing the local variables that influence it can be a guide and express the necessity of this research to a large extent. The effective components of e-business are on timely delivery to customers, which are listed separately below the goals: 1. Find the influencing variables on e-business. 2. Find critical and effective components of e-business. 3. Present the structural model of e-business components on on-time delivery to customers. 4. Provide suggested solutions for managers. 

1-4 research questions

1 What are the influencing variables of e-business?

2 What are the influencing components of e-business?

3 What is the structural model of e-business components on on-time delivery to customers?

1-5 Research scope

Research scope according to The scope of the research is defined in three thematic, temporal and spatial dimensions: 1-5-1 Subject area The subject area of ??this research, which seeks to identify and rank the influencing factors of e-business on timely delivery to customers, is in the field of international trade. 1-5-2 Time area The duration of this research is 6 months. was, which only preliminary stages, theoretical studies and fieldwork have been done. 1-5-3 Spatial area The research area of ??Iran Khodro Company is in Tehran city, which is a suitable case for the implementation of the research. 1-6 Assumptions The assumptions of this study are: 1. Variables of electronic business and timely delivery of customers can be identified and measured.

2. The research tool can measure the variables of electronic business and timely delivery of customers.

3. The questionnaire of this research has a valid and reliable measurement pattern.

4. Sample answers are for expressing personal opinions, unrelated.

5. The study provides useful information for the researcher, professional business owners, labor organizations, future researchers, and others.

1-7 operational terms and definitions:

Business:

Petersen and Plowman believe that every exchange in which buying and selling takes place is not a business, but a business, any kind of exchange that is repeated and renewed. It is buying and selling. (Rakabi, Hamid 1389).

Electronic business:

Using integrated information technology in activities and redesigning business processes and complete innovation in business models by a company in internal processes.  (Amit Vozu, 2001)

Customer concept:

Customers are people or operations that consume or need and benefit from the product or results of a function. Because every function in an organization definitely has a purpose, therefore, it has customers. (Bernikerhoff and Dressler, 2017, p. 33)

On-time delivery and customer satisfaction:

Today, production or service organizations consider customer satisfaction as an important criterion for measuring the quality of their work, and this trend is still increasing. The importance of the customer and his satisfaction is what goes back to the competition at the global level.