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Competitive environment analysis

External factors are also assessed as part of strategic analysis. We have already considered 

how marketplace analysis can be undertaken to identify external opportunities and threats 

Table 5.4

Capability maturity model of the adoption of e‑business

Carnegie Mellon 

software development 

maturity process

Atos Consulting e‑business capability framework

Level 1 Initial

E-business unplanned. E‑business initiatives are ad hoc, unplanned and even chaotic. The 

organisation lacks the capability to meet commitments consistently.

Level 2 Repeatable

E-business aware. Basic e‑business processes established necessary to repeat earlier 

successes but not yet part of planning process. The focus is on developing the capabilities 

of the organisation.

Level 3 Defined

E-business enabled. Central e‑business strategy and planning process towards a centralised 

model (IT and competencies).

Level 4 Managed

E-business integrated. E‑business part of departmental and business unit planning. Detailed 

performance measures of e‑business process and applications collected and used for control.

Level 5 Optimised

Extended enterprise. E‑business core part of corporate strategy, with continuous evaluation 

of digital business improvements enabled by quantitative feedback, piloting innovative ideas 

and technologies.

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Chapter 5  Digital business strategy

for a business in Chapter 2, but here we consider demand analysis and look at competitive 

threats in more detail.

Demand analysis

A key factor driving digital business strategy objectives is the current level and future projec-

tions of customer, partner and internal access and usage of different types of digital technol-

ogy platforms and e-commerce services, This is 

demand analysis

. Using demand analysis is 

a key activity in producing a digital marketing plan (described in more detail in Chapter 8).

For  buy-  side e-commerce a company also needs to consider the e-commerce services 

its suppliers offer: how many offer services for e-commerce and where they are located 

(Chapter 7, p. 302).