The impacts of electronic commerce in the automobile industry: an empirical study in Western Australia

While the hype surrounding the promise of electronic commerce seems all pervasive currently, as academics there is a need to conduct empirical studies to establish balanced and credible reviews of the impacts of the Internet and associated technologies on business practice and performance. Also, while the USA is clearly a leader in the uptake of such technologies, it is a moot point as to whether industry trends identified there translate into forecasts for similar industries in different countries and regions. This paper reports findings of a qualitative study of car retailing in Western Australia, aimed at finding out about the impacts of the Internet and electronic commerce from the perspective of senior executives in car retail outlets. Generally speaking, the executives interviewed are experiencing great uncertainty with respect to electronic commerce and its effect on their businesses: they are uncertain about its likely impacts long term (although not much is currently happening), they are uncertain about the ultimate magnitude of electronic commerce in their industry, they are uncertain about the costs and benefits of electronic commerce investments, but they are unwilling not to be involved at all. There appear to be few articulated and carefully thought out business strategies driving their electronic commerce activities at this stage, nor is there much evidence of internal business processes being reengineered to accommodate the requirements of an electronic commerce presence