Students: Dissertation: Hyung J. Lim

Hyung J. Lim

ABSTRACT
Although the size and growth of the Internet and Web is phenomenal, only a small portion of the power of the Internet has been harnessed. In order to benefit from its true potential, companies need to formulate a sound Internet strategy and incorporate it into their long-range plan. This dissertation performed empirical research to: 1) explore how the Web is used by various companies to market their products, 2) identify the key factors that influence the marketing performance, 3) examine the impacts of various Web strategic and operational factors on marketing performance, and 4) investigate the dynamic inter-relationships among Web operational, strategic and performance variables.

Executives in charge of marketing or Internet strategies in manufacturing companies were surveyed to obtain data on their companies' Web strategies, Web operational efforts and two key performance metrics: Web operational effectiveness and online marketing performance. To ensure objective assessment of the responding companies' Website quality, a panel of twenty Internet users was selected to evaluate various aspects of each Website. Two statistical models were developed. One model focused on operational factors; the other on strategic factors.

The operational model revealed that there are three key factors--"Reliability", "Accessibility", and "Glitz"--that have a significant effect on Web operational effectiveness. Curiously, the Accessibility factor had a small, negative effect on online marketing performance, marketing productivity in particular. The Glitz factor, which is defined by the entertainment and multimedia experiences the web, had a strong positive effect on Web operational effectiveness and a modest positive effect on online marketing performance.

The strategic model indicated that from the independent strategic variables one factor is significant. This factor, "Message", had a positive effect on the Web operational effectiveness. Also, two of the strategic independent variables, “how the message is targeted and communicated” and “online customer service” had a significant positive effect on the company's Web operational effectiveness. Finally, Web operational effectiveness had a strong positive effect on the online marketing performance measure

A system dynamics model was also built to examine the dynamic environment associated with the Web and its impact on company performance. The result from this model augmented the insights gained from the statistical analysis.

Wednesday, June 13, 2001
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
L.P. Douglas Tseng, Chairman
David W. Gerbing
Mary S. Taylor
Wayne W. Wakeland
Timothy R. Anderson, Graduate Studies Rep.