Sandvik Steel's E-Business

1. Summarize Sandvik Steel's e-business strategy as described in the article.

Sandvik utilize the Internet as a feedback tool to maintain a bond with customers and suppliers. Sandvik provides considerable cost savings for customers. It considers the relationship with the customer as the most important factor of its e-business strategy.

Sandvik has made the transition from serving the company to benefiting customers by IT. There was an attention to details such as attitudes, insights and getting people to understand and accept the company's products and thoughts as its major challenges.

Its e-business activities are mainly directed enhancing relations with customers. The company's approach was to work with the traditional sales channels.

Sandvik Steel applies the values of the web fully and extranet to strengthen and expand relationships with customers. It enhances its online service to customer to offer new products, materials and advice on productivity improvement. Sandvik Steel also expanded market share with using extranet by adjusting the structure.

The Sandvik group intends to penetrate deeply into the minds and ambitions of its customers by putting the internet at the heart of its business.

2. Suggest why the proportion of online purchase varies in the different countries in which Sandvik trade.

* Due to the different levels and stages of development of e-business in different countries, different proportion can ensure the continuity of successful e-business. It is also benefit to avoid channel conflict and effective to save cost.

* Most business goes through distributors and is conducted by EDI, which was prevalent prior to the internet, means of e-commerce.

* The products purchasing of different proportion of customers in different areas is different. Sandvik Steel's approach was to work with the traditional sales channels.

Works Cited

Chaffey, D. (2010). E-business and e-commerce managment, strategy, implementation and practice. Prentice Hall.