Benchmarking sustainable E-commerce enterprises based on evolving customer expectations amidst COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has seriously impacted the performance of all types of businesses. It has given a tremendous structural boost to e-commerce enterprises by forcing customers to online shopping over visiting physical stores. Moreover, customer expectations of the digital and operational capabilities of e-commerce firms are also increasing globally. Thus, it has become crucial for an e-commerce enterprise to reassess and realign its business practices to meet evolving customer needs and remain sustainable. This paper presents a comprehensive performance evaluation framework for e-commerce enterprises based on evolving customer expectations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework comprises seven primary criteria, which are further divided into 25 sub-criteria, including two sustainability factors, namely, environmental sustainability and carbon emissions. The evaluation approach is then practically demonstrated by analyzing the case of three Indian e-commerce firms. The results are obtained using a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, namely, Fuzzy VIKOR, to capture the fuzziness of the inherent decision-making problem. Further, numerical analysis is conducted to evaluate and rank various e-commerce enterprises based on customer expectations and satisfaction benchmarks. The findings explain the most important criteria and sub-criteria for e-commerce businesses to ensure customer expectations along with their economic and environmental sustainability.

Supplier selection and evaluation in e-commerce enterprises: a data envelopment analysis approach

PurposeE-commerce refers to the facilitation and delivery of goods and services to the customers employing an electronic arrangement. For an e-commerce firm, the customer service level provided by its suppliers can make or break the firm. The purpose of this research is to help e-commerce enterprises in addressing the vast challenge of complex supplier selection and evaluation process that must be performed vigilantly.Design/methodology/approachThe present study utilizes a three-pronged approach that integrates supplier management practices with the operational business practices of an e-commerce enterprise. In the first step, key performance factors for e-commerce capable suppliers are identified through an expert opinion and existing supplier management literature. Further, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is employed to obtain the efficiency score for each supplier that enables their ranking on various performance parameters. Lastly, the suppliers are classified into different categories based on their performance and efficiency.FindingsUnder the proposed classification scheme, top five suppliers, i.e. supplier 1, 7, 9, 11 and 17 are categorized as HE (High Performance and Efficient). It is suggested that e-commerce enterprises must build long-term relationship with the identified top performing suppliers. The study also provides real insights into supplier's performance on a number of objective criteria. Further, the present study enhances the overall performance and productivity of an e-commerce firm by achieving input cost minimization and output quality maximization, simultaneously.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are valid for e-commerce enterprises in general. However, the present DEA model can be further evolved when applied in case of any particular e-commerce enterprise depending upon the internal capabilities of that firm. The nuances related to a firm's own supply capability development can be further explored by practitioners and researchers.Practical implicationsThe proposed approach is expected to motivate decision-makers to consider using more sophisticated approached like DEA in supplier evaluation processes. Also, as a benchmarking technique, the proposed supplier classification approach is expected to be highly useful for practitioners in real-life settings.Originality/valueThe novel contribution of this study includes the supplier evaluation, ranking and classification for e-commerce enterprises based on the real-life data. The insights would help the practitioners to formulate novel strategies for appropriately investing in supplier relationships.

Perceived outcomes of e-learning: identifying key attributes affecting user satisfaction in higher education institutes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper was to examine the perceived outcomes of e-learning by identifying key attributes affecting user (learner) satisfaction in higher education institutes.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model considering user satisfaction as a key construct was developed through critical literature review and expert opinion. The model is empirically validated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model in the context of higher education institutions. A sample of 802 users comprising of engineering and management students has been used for the analysis.FindingsCourse attributes, system attributes, interactive attributes and instructor attributes were found to have an influence significantly on user satisfaction. Instructor attributes were the topmost significant contributor followed by the course attributes.Social implicationsDelivery of educational programs through e-learning platforms has increasingly gained traction throughout the world owing to its locational, time and convenience-related facets. Further, the ongoing global pandemic has catalysed acceptance of e-learning platforms thus attracting large number of learners and teachers for facilitating the teaching-learning process. This paper is a novel attempt to identify the existing gaps in teaching-learning process in the context of e-learning.Originality/valueThis study is original and provides new insights into how e-learning platforms and higher education institutions can ensure higher user satisfaction and learning in current challenging times. This paper will also be of interest to policymakers.