Human Resources Management of E-Commerce
Introduction
The increase in use of Internet among people all over the world has caused a major shift in lifestyle and buying pattern of consumers. In order to succeed, businesses’ should be able to plan and adapt to rapid changes in the marketplace. An example of a company that failed to understand the digital revolution is Borders Bookstore. Borders filed bankruptcy because they did not plan for change and they struggled to create and maintain its online business. It lagged behind from establishing a viable online book business, and over expanded its brick and mortar stores while other book business such as amazon continued to read current trends in e-books and began scaling back. Borders also made a mistake by not investing enough in research and development to compete with other popular counterparts such as Amazon’s kindle and other electronic books and devices (Boshman, Merced).
We can learn from Borders of the importance of forecasting future demand, based on current trends in the market. The bookstore industry is changing drastically and trends show increasing Internet sales. Bookstores such as the Bojangles’ Book and Music Company struggle for market share in the e-business while trying to sustain traditional brick and mortar stores. Some industry trends according to a 2005 study done by the Book Industry Study Group say that trade book business will decline because people are spending less time reading and more time using other media such as the Internet (Rodriguez).
It is a good strategic move on the part of the CEO of Bojangles Book and Music Company (BBMC) to take the business onto the World Wide Web. This paper will provide an HR Strategy for the BBMC to shift their existing storefront business into an e-commerce operation.
The following is a SWOT Analysis of the current situation of BBMC.
Strengths
The company currently has a large range of books and services. BBMC has been able to expand to different states successfully by sticking to
The increase in use of Internet among people all over the world has caused a major shift in lifestyle and buying pattern of consumers. In order to succeed, businesses’ should be able to plan and adapt to rapid changes in the marketplace. An example of a company that failed to understand the digital revolution is Borders Bookstore. Borders filed bankruptcy because they did not plan for change and they struggled to create and maintain its online business. It lagged behind from establishing a viable online book business, and over expanded its brick and mortar stores while other book business such as amazon continued to read current trends in e-books and began scaling back. Borders also made a mistake by not investing enough in research and development to compete with other popular counterparts such as Amazon’s kindle and other electronic books and devices (Boshman, Merced).
We can learn from Borders of the importance of forecasting future demand, based on current trends in the market. The bookstore industry is changing drastically and trends show increasing Internet sales. Bookstores such as the Bojangles’ Book and Music Company struggle for market share in the e-business while trying to sustain traditional brick and mortar stores. Some industry trends according to a 2005 study done by the Book Industry Study Group say that trade book business will decline because people are spending less time reading and more time using other media such as the Internet (Rodriguez).
It is a good strategic move on the part of the CEO of Bojangles Book and Music Company (BBMC) to take the business onto the World Wide Web. This paper will provide an HR Strategy for the BBMC to shift their existing storefront business into an e-commerce operation.
The following is a SWOT Analysis of the current situation of BBMC.
Strengths
The company currently has a large range of books and services. BBMC has been able to expand to different states successfully by sticking to
Cited: Boshman, Merced, Julie, Michael. "Borders ' Bankruptcy Shakes Industry ." Media and Advertising . New York Times, 16.02.2011. Web. 15 Feb 2012. . Fisher,Schoenfeldt,Shaw, First. Human Resource Management. 6. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. 89. Hr Spectrum. "CAHRS New Partner Profile:Amazon.com Hiring People Who Want to Build." Centre for Advanced Human Recourses Studies. CAHRS, n.d. Web. 15 Feb 2012. . Rodriguez, Veronica. "BookStores." Research Reports. SBDC Net, 2006. Web. 16 Feb 2012. .