An empirical study on decision roadmap for right mix of clicks & mortars: The case of Korean traditional companies

The wide use of Information Technology (IT), especially the rapid diffusion of the internet, brings us a new paradigm, called ‘Electronic Commerce’, or ‘Digital Economy’. The paradigm is regarded as a business strategy essential to organizations' competitive advantages. Because few studies have been shown in the area of e-strategies, especially in the combined strategies of clicks and mortars, a study of this area is required. The main questions of this study are empirically to validate the usefulness and applicability of a decision roadmap and to analyze the situation of Korean firms in the view of the decision roadmap. Major results of this study are as follows: First, there is an evidence that the roadmap can be applied to Korean firms regardless of their industry and size. Second, the usefulness of the roadmap is proved because companies following the directions of the roadmap show high degree of satisfaction with online scales. Third, Korean companies in general do not achieve an ideal integration (or separation), especially in terms of management and operation. In conclusion, this study provides an e-business strategy planner some guidelines about how to achieve right mix of on-line and off-line business.