Comparison of Online and Offline Retail Environment of Car...

The offline retail environment of the automobile industry is that of manufacture to intermediary to consumer. The process from which the product (car) proceeds from manufacturer to consumer is that of through the automobile dealer. This intermediary batch purchases a number of models from the manufacturer and sells them from the ‘lot’ or storefront. This placement and presentation of the product has proved largely successful. The tangible product is viewed, test driven and purchased from the intermediary. An advantage of the offline retail environment is that of the face to face (F2F) transaction environment. The purchase of a car requires high involvement between the supplier and consumer and can be argued demands a customer†¦show more content†¦Rather than solely online companies, who may only offer ghost storefronts with no inventory and little reputation to defend. (Pitta, Franzak Fowler 2006) Value creation has been described as the difference between the amount that the consumer is willing to pay for a product and the costs of providing the product. Value can also be added to the product through outside or support (Porter, 1985) activities such as brand awareness, speed of delivery, after sales service. Resource Based View (RBV) theorists argue that information technology (IT) resources can be used today in an online environment to enable a firm to improve efficiency regardless of whether mimicked by competitors, or may yield performance impacts unique to a firm relative to its’ competitors.† (Melville, Kraemer Gurbaxani 2004) A major factor in RBV and enhancing value creation better than a company’s competitors is that of competitive heterogeneity. This refers to enduring and systematic performance differences among relatively close rivals. (Hoopes, Madsen Walker, 2003) Resources are the tangible and intangible assets of a firm that can be used in the value creation process and the RBV consists of six conditions necessary for a firm to confer a sustainable competitive advantage (Melville, Kraemer Gurbaxani 2004) and are as follows. A valuable resource can be tangible and intangible; it is aShow MoreRelatedBarnes and Noble Strategic Audit6762 Words   |  28 PagesAnalysis: Barnes Noble Executive Summary Barnes Noble is a key player in the Book Retail Industry. This mature industry has been experiencing slow growth over the last several years, much slower than overall retail sales. Barriers to entry into this industry are quite high, and suppliers have modest influence over booksellers. The introduction of the Internet has brought about many changes to this industry. It has increased rivalry, buyer power, and substitutes. 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