Asian Industrial Internet Strategies: Building Blocks for E-Commerce

Abstract

The advent of the Industrial Internet technologies in Asia has altered the dynamics of the manufacturing sector requirements for competitive success. In examining many of the fundamental building block concepts deemed the ’required knowledge’ of e-commerce, be it production-related or market-related information (Glazer, 1999), the paper focuses on the development of an Industrial-focused strategic Internet initiative. In an industry where the consulting dollars may be as high as the software dollars, the key concept of an industrial Internet strategy is in viewing information as an enterprise-wide, multi-tier communications asset (Hoske, 1999). The Industrial Internet reaches not only from the front office to the factory floor, but from the factory floor to an authorized lap top anywhere in the world. Although there is an abundance of importance being placed in recent literature on sales force automation (SFA) and customer relationship management (CRM) software, advances in factory supply chain management software and systems offerings may prove to be of a more highly critical value. For reemerging Asian industrialists, too much importance cannot be placed upon their propensity for assimilating vital industrial Internet technologies, and transforming the vicissitudes of e-commerce markets toward the fulfillment of their own competitive advantage.