E-communication

The New Challenges of Digital World:
Consumer Engagement in
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
for
Efficient Consumer Response
© SCM 4 ECR Conference 2015
1
E-COMMUNICATION AND
E-DEVELOPMENT- EFFICIENT
RESPONSES FOR CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS ALONG E-SUPPLY CHAIN
Dorina Antoneta Tanasescu
Nicoleta Valentina Florea
Irina Antoaneta Tanasescu
Valahia University of Targoviste
TÂRGOVIŞTE
2015
Abstract
The success of any organization depends on identifying and
satisfaying customer needs and obtaining performance. To
attract, to retain and to satisfy customers, has become a
difficult and challenging task for any organization. Due to the
appearance of globalization and the use of new technologies,
organizations must know how to communicate with customers
and how to develop their employees in order to respond
efficiently to consumer needs along supply chain.
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This article aims to analyze communication processes with
customers and development of employees through the use of
new technologies. We also will analyze the processes of ecommunication and e-development, detailing their advantages
and disadvantages in attracting and retaining customers along
e-suplly chain, by implementing a simulation model .
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Key words: e-communication, e-development, e-supply
chain, customer expectations, simulation, performance.
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 E-communication- conceptual approach
 Effective communication process:
 • is an important element of every organization success,
 • must take into account the stakeholders and especially the employees
(Florea N.V., 2014, p.20),
 • supposes a better active listening, a better monitoring of on-time
deliveries of products, better reports about monthly sales and budget
updates, better meetings and information (Mcintosh P., Luecke R.A., 2008),
but also better relationships along supply chain, according to the priciple
„better, faster, cheaper”.
 In terms of technology, we live in a golden age of communication. A percent
of 70,5 from the European population use Internet (internetworldstats, 30
iun. 2014), 95,7% from global population have cell phones (ITU,
www.ziare.com, 2013), recruitment is 100% on-line (Krishnamurthy S., 2006,
p.63) reducing recruitment costs by 85% (Bach S., 2005), at office people use
every day e-mail. In fact e-communication is not yet a substitute for face-toface communication, but a new mean to communicate faster and costeffective.
 Effective e-communication process along e-supply chain:
 • The challenge is not how to implement the technology but how to
combine it with other channels of communication and to get to the
target.
 • Now, after 2000, the enterprises are in the fifth stage of the supply
chain management evolution, that of e-supply chain management
(Ross D.F., 2002, p.6). This means that using internet along supply
chain, enterprises and its employees will improve relationships with
customers and suppliers, will reduce costs, will improve internal
processes (like communication and development), will share new
information, will gain new skills, will share rapidly databases, will use
them to simulate and model business and will obtain supply chain
synchronization.
 • E-supply chain make organizations more flexible and responsive, link
employees with suppliers and customers, virtually, offering them
more advantages such as: sharing information, improve operations,
better collaboration, faster planing and delivering (Qingyu Z., 2007,
p.ix).
. The best practices in the e-communication field
 • The company website is a way to reach customers, to build
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relationships, to improve effectiveness of their digital strategy and to
use indicators to see how performance is ,
• Online catalogues are used to make known their products/ services
on the Internet, allowing customers to browse them, or to see them
immediately (Frater G., 2003, p.184).
• E-mail. Many organizations have accepted e-mail as the best eletronic
method of communication (Fielding M., 2005, p.345).
• Chat it can appear in real time and use graphs (Schachtebeck T., 2005,
p.3). Message is transmitted through web, YouTube, FaceBook and
MySpace, helping receiving instantly the message (Samovar L. et al.,
2012, p.9), and make disapear any barrier.
• Videocoferencing offers great opportunities to promote organization
products, allow conducting activities (Stabryla A., 2012, p.111) and nonverbal elemwnts ar not loosed (Lehman C.M., DuFrane D.D., 2011,
p.30).
• Web cameras is another way to communicate with customers, and
are used for videoconferencing or to have a direct and live connection.
 E-development in human resources field
 Business and managers are facing an increasingly dynamic
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and complex environment. To face these challenges,
organizations must know how to develop its employees in
order to provide an effective response for customers
(Martin M., Jackson T., 2008, p.203).
About human capital development:
• Emphasizes good progress through the acquisition of a
varied intellectual skills (Martin M., Jackson T., 2008,
p.199).
• Helps employees and organizations to gain new skills
and knowledge necessary to achieve performance.
About e-development:
•When organizations use and implement e-systems it is
important to focus not only on ICT infratrsucture, but also
on the whole surrounding system, which needs to be
adapted to meet the requirements (Giurgiu A. in Gasco
M., 2012, p.298).
 E-mentoring:
 • the two involved parts must not. work together in the same building,
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organization or be on the same continent (Horton W.K., 2001, p.57),
• It is a tool to improve the innovation process and organization development
(Burri M., Cottier T., 2012, 445.),
• Eliminate any barriers to gender, age, or race,
• It is flexible, easy to access, and cost-effective (Burri M., Cottier T., 2012, 445).
E-coaching:
• use new technologies, such as video coaching, coaching through skype,
• reduce travel costs and time, grow accessibility (Western S., 2012, p.64).
• Is focusing on the same objectives as the classical method (Geissler H., 2008,
p.8 in Taranovych Y., 2011, p.111).
• Social and visual impact is eliminated (Hamilton B.A., Planks T.A., 2003),
• Employee focus more on the message, not on the person,
• Allows coaches to correspond with their customers independent of time and
location, can access knowledge immediately (Taranovych Y., 2011, p.111).
• Access is whenever needed to new technologies (Goldsmith M. et al., 2012).
.  Case study- simulating data regarding the efficiency of
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using e-communication and CRM in Romanian business
Research methodologySample size: The reasearch was made using data and information
on Romania from the site of www.eurostat.com.
Tools for data collection: observation and data analysis.
Tools for analysis: simulation, linear regression function, Excel
program, and Plotter function.
Research objectives
Our main objective is to measure the impact could have two
independent variables: individuals’ level of internet skills-X1
(called individual e-communication) and entreprises sharing
electronically information on sales and purchasing-X2 (called
organizational e-communication) on the dependent variable
(enterprises using software solutions- like CRM to analyse
clients-Y) using simulation and regression function using data at
Romanian level between 2008-2012.
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 From calculations, using the linear regression we obtain the following parameters:
 Y=0 - 0,157xX1 + 0,563xX2
 Multiple R is the multiple coefficient of correlation between X1, X2 and Y. Between
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the value X1, X2 and y recorded in the analyzed organization in 2008-2012 there is a
direct and strong connection due to the amount obtained by Multiple R (0.9999).
R2 means that 99,99% of the variance in the dependent variable Y is predicted or
explained by the independent variables X1 and X2.
The strength of the linear relationship between variables is measured by the simple
correlation coefficient (Araghinejad S., 2013, p.51), so the R2 show a value of 0,9999,
which is very closer to 1 indicating that the the variance in the dependent variables
originate in the variation of the regressors, as propagated through the model.
ANOVA reprezents the analysis table of tha variance. For the variance due to factor
x, Regression, Residual due to the others unregistred factors, and Total due to the
all factors:
df- degrees freedom: k – number of explivative variables x (simple regression k=1),
n-k-1 for residuals (5-1-1=3 degree freedom) and n-1 for total variance (5-1=4); The
sum df for Regression and Residual is equal with df / Total: k + (n – k – 1) = n – 1.
Intercept is for the free term (constant) of the model and has the value „0”.
Coefficients- contain the estimated values of coefficients b1 (-0,157) and b2 (0,563).
Lower 95%, Upper 95% – upper and lower limits of the confidence interval for the
parameter. The limits for 0.05 are calculated automatically, regardless of the
initialization procedure Regression. It could be said that the linear model
parameters are within the following ranges:
-0,4551< b1 < 0,1404;
0,3324< b2 < 0,7942.
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 Concluzions
 • For as long as commerce business and industry have existed,
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technology has always had an effect on the way business is conducted
(Lowe N., du Plessis N., 2007, p.70). In the modern age of technology,
due to the global acces, storage, manage of information via the
Internet, the organizations improved the productivity of their business.
• In today’s increasingly electronic world, the Internet is an important
tool for employees and for organization to interact in an e-business era
with customers.
• Supply chain means using electronic tools in order to improve
relationships between organization and suppliers/ customers/
employees, to share knowledge, to coordinate better, to become more
flexible, rapid, responsive, efficient, to manage upstream and
downstream value chain, and to reduce cycle time of communication.
• E-communication is a cheap, fast and easy to use tool to reach
customers and e-development is a rapid, continuous tool to develop
employees in order to know how to satisfy customers needs.
• So, e-communication and e-development are important tools used to
achieve objectives, awareness building, recognition building, or to
change attitudes.
Thank you!
Thank you for your attention!
© SCM 4 ECR Conference 2015
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