Application capability of e-business and enterprise competitiveness: A case study of the iron and steel industry in China

With the aim of identifying a mechanism that enables e-business technology to improve enterprise competitiveness, the authors conducted a case study of three large iron and steel manufacturing enterprises in China. This paper proposes the concept of application capability of e-business from a process-oriented perspective, and investigates the impact of the application capability of e-business on the relationship between e-business resources and enterprise competitiveness. The results show that e-business resources are necessary, rather than sufficient, to enhance enterprise competitiveness. We also found that an enterprise can use e-business technology to significantly enhance its competitiveness only when its e-business resources and application capability of e-business (particularly the core application capability) are efficiently and effectively synthesized. We conclude that differences in the enterprise application capability of an e-business eventually determine the effectiveness of an e-business technology.