Strategic positioning for real-estate management in Australia: implementing e-business for competitive advantage

Abstract

Many initiatives that create additional value in real estate transactions, derive from effective web presence and virtual searching facilities. Recent research takes a strategic view, and utilises a structured approach of translating the impact of the internet as an enabling technology on business strategy, business model development and business infrastructure, stating that companies need to tailor their deployment of internet technology to their particular strategies. This research describes such deployment from a strategic positioning perspective and via a competitive positioning matrix. Dimensions of interactiveness with customers, and the flexibility/complexity and innovation of the website environment/infrastructure that supports and complements the real estate interaction and/or transaction are considered, and a preferred competitive positioning model is derived, along with a preferred expansion path. An e-business model for a regional real estate organisation in Australia demonstrates how the competitive positioning model may be deployed as the driver for building competitive advantage.