Flexibility in e-Business strategies: A requirement for success

The complex and transient nature of the environment faced by e-Business ventures poses a challenge to organizations trying to formulate and implement strategies that are flexible enough to anticipate and react to the rapidly unfolding changes in this environment. In this paper, we outline the main areas of flexibility requirements for organizations in the emerging economy. Traditional and more recent approaches to strategy are reviewed in terms of their characteristics and flexibility. Strategic imperatives and flexibility requirements are then derived for e-Business firms at different stages of maturity and linked to appropriate approaches to strategy setting. Creative exercises, such as experimentation and scenario planning, are then presented as being essential tools for expanding the knowledge base of firms yielding them more strategic options leading to more flexibility.