Case study 6.2 

This case illustrates the evolution of a typical digital business application for supply chain management within one company. Shell Chemicals originally introduced SIMON, a bespoke system to manage its customers’ inventory based on  data  shared  by  its  customers  about  their  usage  and forecast  demand  for  chemicals.  SIMON  was  then  used for upstream  supply chain management. Ultimately, Shell Chemicals switched to using the Elemica marketplace portal for supply chain management since this was thought to be more cost-effective than maintaining an in-house system.

The introduction of SIMON Shell  Chemicals  ( www.shell.com/chemicals )  manufactures the chemicals used by other manufacturers of many industrial and consumer products. Shell’s customers use detergents, solvents, plastics and epoxy resins to produce everything from automotive paints and aircraft structures to diapers and plastic bottles.

According to IBM (1998), who developed the SIMON system for Shell, their shared vision for creating SIMON was to: Use customer production schedules so that we could maintain an adequate supply of on-site inventory and provide  seamless  product  availability  at  the  lowest possible cost, and achieve customer-driven service levels if a customer wants product today or next week, we can fulfil that request.

Source : IBM (1998) Shell Chemical re-defines supply chain management with notes. A customer case study. Within such an organisation, supply chain management  has  a  dramatic  impact  on  customer  satisfaction and profitability. Shell Chemicals has invested in SIMON, which stands for ‘Shell Inventory Managed Order Network’,  for  managing  both  upstream  and  downstream relationships.

SIMON was originally launched in 1995 using the IBM Lotus Notes Domino application server and is one of the earliest examples of a digital business application. This represented a change from the industry-standard practice of using electronic data interchange (EDI) forms, telephone orders and paper invoices. EDI didn’t give Shell the flexibility it needed to accommodate data on exceptions and up-to-date information about dynamic processes.

The benefits of SIMON Initially, Shell used SIMON to manage its downstream supply  chain  processes,  which  involve  distribution  of chemical products for use by its customers. The system enabled Shell to assume the inventory management role on behalf of its customers. Once it was successful in this role it was then applied to the upstream processes of Shell acquiring raw materials from suppliers. For customers, the benefits of the SIMON system are that responsibility for inventory management is transferred from customer to supplier. A Shell Chemicals customer doesn’t need to place an order. Instead, SIMON manages the amount of inventory in stock at the customers’ manufacturing locations.

Before the introduction of SIMON, there were a lot of manual, time-consuming transactions, often initiated by the customer, that required a lot of phone calls and faxes. There was also the danger that Shell’s customers might run out of an essential chemical, so that plant time and then revenues would be lost. To avoid this, companies tend to maintain ‘safety stock’ levels.

Reordering then occurs when inventory gets too close to these safety stock levels. The problem was that a typical resupply order can take at least two weeks from the time the order is placed. This delay occurred since chemicals must be weighed at the plant, loaded onto railcars and then sent to the customer, who then weighs the materials at the other end before moving them into inventory.

Miscalculations and errors can also occur. For SIMON to enable a supplier to manage inventory, the customer needed to supply three types of information: the levels of current inventory; forecast demand for inventory; and the shipment details such as location, timing and quantities. In  addition  to  analysing  inventory  and  consumption, SIMON also generates demand forecasts, calculates stock, tracks shipment status and generates a resupply plan.

We can summarise the benefits of SIMON by considering the supply chain and logistics information about which it regularly extracts information. This includes: the amount of product consumed in the past 24 hours; the  amount  of  new  product  that  arrived  and  was unloaded in the same period; current and anticipated production schedules; and known changes to those schedules. Web-based communications are used to synchronise information at different locations.

So this information is replicated back to a customer service centre in Houston, Texas, where Shell then automatically reconciles it with its own SAP Material Requirement Planning (MRP) system. Shell Chemical customer service representatives then automatically present customers with a resupply plan. If the plan indicates that stocking levels at the customer site are low, the customer service representative completes an electronic purchase order and initiates a new shipment to the customer.

From  a  customer  perspective,  the  benefits  of  the enhanced supply chain management system include: elimination  of  expensive  excess  inventory,  which means an increase in working capital; facilitation of timely, low-cost ‘re-synching’ of supply chain; ensures product is on site whenever needed; ensures  quicker  response  times  to  changing conditions; reduces transaction costs (for example, invoices and data entry); eliminates erratic order patterns; reduces order processing overheads; streamlines  financial  statements  and  reconciliation processes.

The customer is able to access the status of orders and shipments, estimated dates of arrival, shipment weights, receipt and unloading dates and current stock and consumption levels. SIMON offers customers a ‘Reconciliation’  tab,  which  compares  metered  and  calculated consumption, and a ‘Site level agreements’ tab, which shows the mutually agreed-upon plan for the management of their inventory. Once a month (not once per railcar load), an invoice is generated. The invoice is based on consumption figures, not shipments.

Integration with the Elemica  marketplace portal By 2005, the Elemica chemical industry portal ( www.  elemica.com )  had  become  an  important  part  of  the digital  business  strategy  for  Shell  Chemical.  It  was reported in the Shell Chemicals Magazine  that 30% of Shell Chemical business was online, with an ambition to increase this to 50% by 2008. Elemica was originally founded in 1999 by 22 leaders of the global chemical industry and by 2005 had a network of 1,800 industry trading partners, so it offered benefits of standardisation.

Today, Elemica processes approximately $250 billion in annual transactions across more than 6,500 process industry  trading  partners.  Clients  include  BASF,  BP, Continental, The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, LANXESS, Michelin, Shell, Solvay, Sumitomo Chemical and Wacker. Elemica has a simple, focused vision, which is to: Give customers total control over their global supply chains. Their mission adds more detail to this: As  the  leading  Supply  Chain  Operating  Network provider for the process industries, we enable a market driven supply chain through integrated messaging, applications, and analytics.

Elemica  describes  the  principles  of  its  marketplace, now described as a Supply Chain Operating Network provider, as follows ( www.elemica.com/about ): Elemica  enables  companies  to  achieve  operational excellence  by  replacing  complex  approaches  with automated  systems  and  intelligent  business  processes.  

Utilizing  leading–edge  technology  and in-depth process expertise, Elemica integrates disparate enterprise business systems and processes into one unified  network across all customers, suppliers and third party service providers irrespective of company size or industry. Elemica’s innovative business process network (BPN) provides a fully connected operational framework that removes transactional and communication barriers and institutionalizes processes for integrating the information flow between global trading partners. With seamless access and visibility into the supply chain network, the enterprise can use fewer resources to do the same work more efficiently and release people, inventory, and assets that cover for these issues in the current process.

Elemica describes the benefits of their customer management suite, used by Shell and other customers, as: touchless order processing; improved  day-to-day  supply  chain  service  and reliability; increasing the ‘perfect order’ percentage; lowering the cost of errors; improved customer service; reduced invoice processing errors. These benefits are delivered across a series of  modules covering  a  range  of  business  processes  essential  for managing industrial processes like those of Shell Chemical.

In the customer management suite of applications, these include: Sales Order Management Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Terminal Managed Inventory Repeat Order Entry Rail Car Fulfillment Delivery Schedule Invoice Management. Other applications available in the other Elemica  modules are Logistics Management, Supplier Management and Sourcing Management.

Looking at Elemica in more detail, there are three key types of benefits: 1 2 3 Global reach and connectivity Our  founding  member  companies  are  among  the industry leaders and represent a significant proportion of the industry’s buy and sell transactions, creating substantial initial liquidity. This foundation provides financial stability and global reach for Elemica, and the proven ability to scale quickly. This  combination will continue to attract many additional buyers and sellers,  resulting  in  an  ever-growing  reservoir  of potential connections for new customers. Neutrality Elemica is an independent company with a dedicated management team.

Our network is designed as an open  network,  embracing  all  industry  buyers  and sellers  looking  for  a  robust  infrastructure,  network and e-commerce solutions to improve core business processes. Elemica is not an ‘aggregator’ of material purchasing, nor a ‘buyer’, ‘seller’, or ‘owner’ of products – it is a facilitator of transactions. Security Elemica  has  incorporated  state-of-the-art  security measures to safeguard the flow and accessibility of information so that participants’ individual transaction data is not shared with any other company.

We have state-of-the-art security features and  processes, including highly visible firewalls and strong data protection policies, a policy of confidentiality regarding handling of customer data, encryption technology to safeguard confidential data and secured information with access limited by individual user and regular independent auditing of these policies and procedures. Integration with marketplace portals such as Elemica, which  were  not  in  existence  earlier  in  the  lifecycle  of SIMON, became important to Shell.

Using an external, standardised supply chain management system meant that Shell did not have to create a bespoke approach through a systems developer and integrator such as IBM, but could use a more standardised approach at a lower cost with less specification of requirements. Elemica could offer similar benefits to SIMON, i.e. it could: reduce transaction costs through reduction of human input to transactions; standardise business processes; reduce error sources; improve response time; improve cash flow through faster payment; increase customer satisfaction. The article describes the following example of the practical benefits the new system could bring.

A company in Europe shipped products directly from a Shell Chemical plant to their customers. Shell Chemical make the product; the company markets it and manages pick-up from the plant and delivery to the customer. Before the application of Elemica, these additional process stages or ‘handoffs’ were required while each truck waited after loading: paperwork was developed at the plant; then faxed to the partner company; then entered manually into their system; then faxed back to the Shell company – where the truck had been all along.

A  further  complication  was  that  the  partner’s  offices closed earlier than the Shell traffic office. So, truck drivers could sit for hours waiting at the plant until the documents were faxed through! After switching to Elemica, paperwork was automatically processed 24 hours a day. Average truck-waiting times were cut from 2 hours to 15 minutes. In addition to the process benefits that would create better customer service, Shell Chemical switched from using SIMON to Elemica for supply chain management since  SIMON  would  require  continued  investment  in ongoing development and maintenance costs.  Elemica, as an outsourced solution, was more favourable in terms of ongoing costs and development.

Since Elemica is not company-specific it also helped exchange of data since formats could be standardised across companies. Global positioning systems also enable details on the railcar carrying the chemicals including current location nd estimated time of arrival. There are also links to road hauliers. For example, a link with Bertschi AG, one of the largest road transport logistics providers in Europe, enables thousands of transport instructions generated every month to be sent automatically, removing the need for manual faxing and reducing the potential for errors.

Bertschi transport planning manager, Stefan Bryner, explains the benefits as follows: It has reduced our paperwork and made the whole process more transparent. The potential for errors has been reduced and issues are easier to resolve.

Questions
1 The SIMON system supports both ‘upstream and downstream’ business relationships. Explain how this relates to Figure6.6 and whether you would consider  it  an  e-commerce  system  or  a  digital business system.
2 Draw a table summarising the before and after implementation roles for Shell and its customers (downstream side).
3 This description of SIMON is explained from the Shell perspective. Using your answer to Question 2, state whether you think the customer truly benefits, or is Shell transferring some of its workload to the customer?
4 Visit  the  Shell  Chemicals  website  ( www.shell  .com/chemicals ). How are the benefits of these facilities explained?

Case study 8.2

Context Tesco.com increases product range and uses triggered communications to support CRM Competitors Tesco, well known as Britain’s leading food retail group with a presence in Europe and Asia, has also been a pioneer online. Product ranges The Tesco.com site acts as a portal to most of Tesco’s products, including various non-food ranges, Tesco Personal Finance and the telecoms businesses, as well as services offered in partnership with specialist companies, such as clothing, dieting clubs, flights and holidays, music downloads, gas, electricity and DVD rentals. Tesco currently leads the UK’s other grocery retailers in terms of market share.

This pattern is repeated online. The compilation below is from Hitwise (2005) and the figures  in  brackets  show  market  share  for  traditional offline retail formats from the Taylor Nelson Sofres Super Panel (see www.tnsglobal.com). 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tesco Superstore, 27.28% (29% of retail trade) ASDA, 13.36% ASDA at Home, 10.13% (17.1%) Sainsbury’s, 8.42% Tesco Wine Warehouse, 8.19% Sainsbury’s to You, 5.86% (15.9%) 7 Waitrose.com, 3.42% (3.6%) 8 Ocado, 3.32% (owned by Waitrose, 3.6%) 9 Lidl, 2.49% (1.8%) 10 ALDI-UK, 2.10% (2.3%).

Some companies are repeated since their main site and the  online  shopping  site  are  reported  on  separately. Asda.com now seems to be performing in a consistent manner online to its offline presence. However, Sains- bury’s  online  performance  seems  to  be  significantly lower compared to its offline performance. Some pro- viders such as Ocado, which originally just operated within  the  London  area,  have  a  strong  local performance. Notably, some of Tesco.com’s competitors are absent from the Hitwise listing since their strategy has been to focus on retail formats.

These are Morrisons (12.5% retail share), Somerfield (5.5%) and Co-op (5.0%). Promotion of service As with other online retailers, Tesco.com relies on in- store  advertising  and  marketing  to  the  supermarket’s Clubcard loyalty scheme’s customer base to persuade customers to shop online. New Media Age  (2005) quotes Nigel Dodd, marketing director at Tesco.com, as saying: ‘These are invaluable sources as we have such a strong customer base’.

However, for non-food goods the super- market  does  advertise  online  using  keyword  targeted ads. For existing customers, email marketing and direct mail marketing to provide special offers and promotions to customers are important. According  to  Humby  and  Hunt  (2003),  e-retailer Tesco.com uses what they describe as a ‘commitment- based  segmentation’  or  ‘loyalty  ladder’,  which  is basedon recency of purchase, frequency of purchase and  value,  which  is  used  to  identify  six  lifecycle categories that  are  then  further  divided  to  target communications: ‘Logged-on’ ‘Cautionary’ ‘Developing’ ‘Established’ ‘Dedicated’ ‘Logged-off’ (the aim here is to win back). Tesco then uses automated event-triggered messaging to encourage continued purchase.

For example, Tesco. com has a touch strategy that includes a sequence of follow-up  communications  triggered  after  different events in the customer lifecycle. In the example given below,  communications  after  event  1  are  intended toachieve the objective of converting a website visitor to action;  communications  after  event  2  are  intended tomove the customer from a first-time purchaser to a regular purchaser and for event 3 to reactivate lapsed purchasers.

Trigger event 1: Customer first registers on site (but does not buy) Auto-response (AR) 1: 2 days after registration, email sent offering phone assistance and £5 discount off first purchase to encourage trial.
Trigger event 2: Customer first purchases online AR1: Immediate order confirmation. AR2: Five days after purchase, email sent with link to online  customer  satisfaction  survey  asking  about quality  of  service  from  driver  and  picker  (e.g.  item quality and substitutions).
AR3:  Two  weeks  after  first  purchase  –  direct  mail offering tips on how to use service and £5 discount on next purchases intended to encourage reuse of online services.
AR4: Generic monthly e-newsletter with online exclu- sive offers encouraging cross-selling. 
AR5:  Bi-weekly  alert  with  personalised  offers  for customer.
AR6: After two months – £5 discount for next shop. AR7:  Quarterly  mailing  of  coupons  encouraging repeat sales and cross-sales.

Trigger event 3: Customer does not purchase for an extended period AR1:  Dormancy  detected  –  reactivation  email  with survey of how the customer is finding the service (to identify any problems) and a £5 incentive.

AR2: A further discount incentive is used in order to encourage  continued  usage  to  shop  after  the  first shop after a break. Tesco’s online product strategy New Media Age  (2005) ran a profile of Laura Wade-Gery, CEO of Tesco.com since January 2004, which provides an interesting insight into how the business has run. In her first year, total sales were increased 24% to £719 million. Laura is 40 years old, a keen athlete and has fol- lowed a varied career developing through an MA in History  at  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  and  an  MBA  from Insead; manager and partner in Kleinwort Benson; man- ager and senior consultant, Gemini Consulting; targeted marketing director (Tesco Clubcard); and group strategy director, Tesco Stores. The growth overseen by Wade-Gery has been achieved through a combination of initiatives. Product range devel- opment is one key area. In early 2005, Tesco.com fulfilled 150,000 grocery orders a week but now also offers more intangible  offerings,  such  as  e-diets  and  music downloads. Wade-Gery has also focused on improving the customer experience online – the time it takes for a new customer  to  complete  their  first  order  has  been decreased from over an hour to 35 minutes through usability work culminating in a major site revision.

To  support  the  business  as  it  diversifies  into  new areas, Wade-Gery’s strategy was ‘to make home delivery part of the DNA of Tesco’, according to New Media Age  (2005). She continues: ‘What we offer is delivery to your home of a Tesco service – it’s an obvious extension of the home-delivered groceries concept’. By May 2005, Tesco. com had 30,000 customers signed up for DVD rental, through  partner  Video  Island  (which  runs  the  rival Screenselect service). Over the next year, Wade-Gery’s target is to treble this total, while also extending homedelivery  services  to  the  likes  of  bulk  wine  and  white goods.

Wade-Gery looks to achieve synergy between the range of services offered. For example, its partnership with eDiets can be promoted through the Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme, with mailings to 10 million customers a year. In July 2004, Tesco.com Limited paid £2million for the exclusive licence to eDiets.com in the UK and Ireland under the URLs www.eDietsUK. com and www.eDiets.ie. By promoting the services through the URLs, Tesco can use the dieting business to grow use of the Tesco.com service and in-store sales. To help keep focus on home retail delivery, WadeGery sold women’s portal iVillage back to its US owners for an undisclosed sum in March 2004.

She explained to New Media Age : It’s a very different sort of product to the other services that we’re embarking on. In my mind, we stand for providing services and products that you buy, which is slightly  different  to  the  world  of  providing information. The implication is that there was insufficient revenue from ad sales on iVillage and insufficient opportunities to promote Tesco.com sales.

However, iVillage was a useful learning experience in that there are some parallels with iVillage, such as message boards and community advisers. Wade-Gery is also director of Tesco Mobile, the joint ‘pay-as-you-go’ venture with O 2  that is mainly serviced online, although promoted in-store and via direct mail.

Tesco also offers broadband and dial-up ISP services, but believes the market for Internet telephony (provided through Skype and Vonage, for example) is not sufficiently developed. Tesco.com has concentrated on more traditional services that have the demand – for example, Tesco Telecom fixed-line services attracted over a million customers in their first year. However, this is not to say that Tesco.com will not invest  in  relatively  new  services.  

In  November  2004, Tesco introduced a music download service, and just six months  later  Wade-Gery  estimates  they  have  around 10% market share – one of the benefits of launching relatively early. Again, there is synergy, this time with hardware sales. New Media Age  (2005) reported that as MP3 players were unwrapped, sales went up – even on Christmas Day! She says:

The exciting thing about digital is where can you take it in the future. As the technology grows, we’ll be able to turn Tesco.com into a digital download store of all sorts,  rather  than  just  music.  Clearly,  film  [through video on demand] would be next. But it has to be based firmly on analysis of customer demand.

Wade-Gery says: ‘The number one thing for us is whether the product is something that customers are saying they want; has it reached a point where massmarket customers are interested?’. There also has to be scope for simplification.

New Media Age  (2005) notes that Tesco is built on a core premise of convenience and value, and Wade-Gery believes what it’s already done with  mobile  tariffs,  broadband  packages  and  music downloads are good examples of the retailer’s knack for streamlining  propositions.  She  says:  ‘We’ve  actually managed  to  get  people  joining  broadband  who  have never even had a dial-up service’. Source:  Humby and Hunt (2003), New Media Age  (2005), Hitwise (2005), Wikipedia (2005).

Question Based on the case study and your own research on competitors, summarise the strategic approaches that  have  helped  Tesco.com  achieve  success online. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The objective of customer relationship management (CRM) is to increase customer loyalty in order to increase profitability.

CRM is aimed at improving all aspects of the level of customer service. CRM tactics can be based around the acquisition–retention–extension model of the ideal relationship between company and customer. In an e-commerce context, acquisition refers to gaining new customers to a company and converting existing customers to online services. To enable an online relationship it is important to profile customers to find out their needs and expectations and obtain an opt-in email agreement to continue the dialogue.

Marketing communications techniques to achieve acquisition, retention and extension include traditional online mass-media techniques and specialised online techniques such as search engine registration, link-building, email marketing and banner advertising.

Techniques for customer retention include the use of extranets, online communities, online sales promotions and email marketing. Customer extension involves better understanding of the customer through feedback on new product development and encouraging customers to increase the depth of their relationship by offering complementary products for purchase or increasing purchase frequency.

Knowledge of online buyer behaviour, and in particular the differing needs of the customer through the different stages of the buying decision, can be used to improve CRM management. Customer service quality is important in achieving loyalty and the SERVQUAL framework can be employed to consider how to use the Internet to achieve this.

Technology solutions for CRM are aimed at providing interaction between employees and customers across multiple communications channels with all customer information stored in a single database to provide complete visibility of the customer by employees. Managers look to minimise the number of solutions partners they work with to achieve these goals. 10 Specific technology application requirements for CRM are salesforce automation (contact management) and call-centre applications that integrate workflow to manage queries and a knowledge base from which queries can be reviewed.

Overview

This is an individual assignment. The aims of this assessment are to encourage students to think more deeply about the
selected cases and to demonstrate their understanding of industry dynamics of innovation through digital technology.

Students should be able to appreciate how digitally driven business innovation can open up new opportunities and
challenges for entrepreneurs and managers in the digital economy.Students will need to select two case studies from
the prescribed textbook to reflect on.

Reflective presentation demands that you think reflectively about digital innovation in key business processes, areas and activities. It offers a way of making meaning out of what you study.

It also provides an opportunity to make connections between what you are learning from the selected cases and your
own experiences. To accomplish a wider coverage of various case studies, students may be required to register for
each case.

A maximum limit for the number of students to sign up for each case may be set up when needed. The
selection and allocation of the case studies will be organized in class in Week 2.

Details

Students are expected to give a brief introduction to the topic and the cases selected and state the objectives of the
presentation followed by addressing the following questions and conclusions.
– What are the most valuable things in relation to digital business innovation you have learned from the cases selected?
– How can you apply those lessons learned from the selected cases to your own experience at work if relevant or to a practical business situation when your work experience is not closely related to the selected cases?
– How have the cases selected enhanced your understanding of entrepreneurial opportunities in digital economy?
– How might what you have learned from the cases affect your future career development?

PRESENTATION BASED ON THE CASE STUDIES

Introduction

Throughout today’s technologically propelled world, organisations are being confronted with new threats and prospects as the digital revolution simultaneously unfolds. 

Choosing the right case studies provides a vital understanding of how business innovation is carried out in the digital world. 

It presents organisations to manipulate complicated conditions, the power of entrepreneurial prospects and the application of technology to generate growth and success.

What are the most valuable things in relation to digital business innovation you have learned from the cases selected?

The most revelatory lesson of the case study in the business’s digital transformation is that the business has been able to leverage the technology to connect manufacturers and logistics providers.

End users on a single platform thereby enhancing efficiency and reducing costs in the supply chain (Attaran, 2020). 
Digitalization SIMON outsourcing project by Shell Chemicals shows that the keys to success in the digital world are responsiveness and scalability. 

In the end, Elemica given to Shell Chemicals assisted it in simplifying the operations, cutting costs, and increasing efficiency through the platform of standardisation. 

This shows that the adoption of catch-all solutions or simply systems is a much cheaper option than getting onto a platform where the technology is not exclusively of or outdated.

Case study 2 

What are the most valuable things in relation to digital business innovation you have learned from the cases selected?

In comparison to Case Study 2, where CRM strategies help track customer sales and location, Tesco.com's CRM is a competitive advantage where the company gain more client loyalty and profitability. 

Tesco.com's CRM approach featuring commitment-based segmentation along with triggered messaging hints that tailored and customized communication holds a pivotal place in building loyalty relationships in digital surroundings. 

Tesco.com does this very well not only by mining data that shows regency and frequency of purchases on the website (Varga and Albuquerque, 2023). 

Employing techniques that ensure the marketing strategies reach individual customers in ways that have perceived value, hence increasing customer satisfaction and retention.

Answer to Question 2 based on Case Study 1

How can you apply those lessons learned from the selected cases to your own experience at work if relevant or to a practical business situation when your work experience is not closely related to the selected cases?

The principles from Case Study 1 are essential in the understanding of professional life, even if one's work does not fall into the same category. 

Therefore, SIMON's shift from custom-made to Elemica portal illustrates some signs of judiciousness and the need for ever adapting to the emerging technologies in all business practices. 

This is true in varied industries from sector to sector, introducing the need to analyse and update internal systems to stay relevant and competitive (Kraus et al., 2021). 

Through my life path, I can definitely contribute to the ideas for creating an environment of innovation and inclusiveness to a variety of new digital solutions, whatever the industry is empowering collaboration.

Answer to Question 2 based on Case Study 2

The power of CRM by Tesco.com and its application to unrelated businesses underscores something that most businesses are oblivious to, catering for the client’s demand. 

Through high customer pleasure and loyalty, the businesses could be focused on building long-term relations which would, on its own, result in great profits and growth. 

As an example, companies can recognize their prospects as real persons and use personalized marketing along with data analytics tools (Gupta et al., 2021). 

This combination is the way to Tesco.com’s target marketing methods. 

As customer behaviour and tastes are well known by the business, they can be projected into the future services and products, and consumers are engaged by seeing what they have on offer.

The migration of Shell Chemicals' supply chain from SIMON to the Elemica platform is a vivid manifestation of the innovative skills and the use of digital platforms to handle supply chains through digital platforms smoothly. 

This was not only a change in operational efficiency but also provided a wave of opportunities that explored different avenues of collaboration and the creation of new values (Martínez-Caro et al., 2020).

Answer to Question 3 based on Case Study 1

How have the cases selected enhanced your understanding of entrepreneurial opportunities in digital economy?

The first Case Study demonstrates that the digital economy is full of opportunities and also points out that this field is the area where the production processes are being introduced to the technologies.

In order to create an innovative business that not only brings profit but also does something meaningful in society. 

Case Study 2 

The migration of Shell Chemicals' supply chain from SIMON to the Elemica platform is a vivid manifestation of the innovative skills and the use of digital platforms to handle supply chains through digital platforms smoothly. 

This was not only a change in operational efficiency but also provided a wave of opportunities that explored different avenues of collaboration and the creation of new values (Martínez-Caro et al., 2020).

The examples chosen, especially Case number 2, are the main contributors through which I have learnt about the entrepreneurial opportunities in the digital economy as they show direction towards the changes that technology has brought to the innovation and growth levels. 

The rise of Tesco.com proves that entrepreneurship is the stuff to adapt to digital innovations and establish novel business models that are different from the traditional areas (Jelassi et al., 2020). 

Tesco.com has the capability to upend the retail setting due to the fact that it is a technology as well as an e-commerce solution embracer.
Signified how established companies could adapt and harness new opportunities that the digital area has presented.

Answer to Question 4 based on Case Study 1

The outcomes shed by case study 1 of Shell Chemicals' digital business innovation leads will profoundly alter my career development way ahead in the future. 

Primarily, it reveals a necessity to make use of modern technologies to burnish innovativeness and manufacture efficiency in supply chain management (Yu et al., 2021). 

In addition, the incident epitomizes the pertinence of flexibility and elasticity in handling fluctuating market dynamics and client requirements. 
It points to the key of continuous innovation and readiness to adopt other strategic points to beat the emerging digital economy. 

Utilizing this mindset in my work-life trajectory will enhance my adaptability and resourcefulness which are crucial for the future of my startup.

case study2

I will always retain and consider the knowledge I gained from Case Study 2 mentioned so far as a major developmental stride for my career path as it enlightens me on how I approach and appreciate entrepreneurship, innovation, and customer base. 

Primarily, this act shows us how the adoption of technology and a digital ecosystem is fundamental to gain success of the business (Yablonsky, 2020). 

Moving in my career, my number one aim will be to keep up-to-date with evolving technologies and dynamics in the world economy. 
This will enable me to use the latest technologies and trends to invent and add value within the industry where I will be working.

Conclusion

The transition from SIMON to the Elemica marketplace portal stirs up the idea that digital business innovation is indeed a power in itself. 

The journey of Shell Chemicals into the Digital World gives an indication not only of the fact that agility, collaboration and strategic adaptation are very important 

However, also that such elements are also needed to successfully face the various intricacies of this new environment. 

Tesco.com's creative utilization of technology and customer-minded approach have reinvented the way that retail is conducted. 

Due to Tesco.com's technological innovation, this new digital business model has shown the vast potential for business in the digital age.
 

Top Management Samples

Reference List

Attaran, M., 2020, July. Digital technology enablers and their implications for supply chain management. In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 158-172). Taylor & Francis.
Varga, M. and Albuquerque, P., 2023. The Impact of Negative Reviews on Online Search and Purchase Decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, p.00222437231190874.
Kraus, S., Jones, P., Kailer, N., Weinmann, A., Chaparro-Banegas, N. and Roig-Tierno, N., 2021. Digital transformation: An overview of the current state of the art of research. Sage Open, 11(3), p.21582440211047576.
Gupta, S., Justy, T., Kamboj, S., Kumar, A. and Kristoffersen, E., 2021. Big data and firm marketing performance: Findings from knowledge-based view. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 171, p.120986.
Martínez-Caro, E., Cegarra-Navarro, J.G. and Alfonso-Ruiz, F.J., 2020. Digital technologies and firm performance: The role of digital organisational culture. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 154, p.119962.
Jelassi, T., Martínez-López, F.J., Jelassi, T. and Martínez-López, F.J., 2020. Exploiting opportunities of new market spaces in e-business. Strategies for e-Business: Concepts and Cases on Value Creation and Digital Business Transformation, pp.205-228.
Yu, Y., Zhang, M. and Huo, B., 2021. The impact of relational capital on green supply chain management and financial performance. Production Planning & Control, 32(10), pp.861-874.
Yablonsky, S., 2020. A multidimensional platform ecosystem framework. Kybernetes, 49(7), pp.2003-2035.
Attaran, M., 2020, July. Digital technology enablers and their implications for supply chain management. In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 158-172). Taylor & Francis.
Varga, M. and Albuquerque, P., 2023. The Impact of Negative Reviews on Online Search and Purchase Decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, p.00222437231190874.
Kraus, S., Jones, P., Kailer, N., Weinmann, A., Chaparro-Banegas, N. and Roig-Tierno, N., 2021. Digital transformation: An overview of the current state of the art of research. Sage Open, 11(3), p.21582440211047576.
Gupta, S., Justy, T., Kamboj, S., Kumar, A. and Kristoffersen, E., 2021. Big data and firm marketing performance: Findings from knowledge-based view. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 171, p.120986.
Martínez-Caro, E., Cegarra-Navarro, J.G. and Alfonso-Ruiz, F.J., 2020. Digital technologies and firm performance: The role of digital organisational culture. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 154, p.119962.
Jelassi, T., Martínez-López, F.J., Jelassi, T. and Martínez-López, F.J., 2020. Exploiting opportunities of new market spaces in e-business. Strategies for e-Business: Concepts and Cases on Value Creation and Digital Business Transformation, pp.205-228.
Yu, Y., Zhang, M. and Huo, B., 2021. The impact of relational capital on green supply chain management and financial performance. Production Planning & Control, 32(10), pp.861-874.
Yablonsky, S., 2020. A multidimensional platform ecosystem framework. Kybernetes, 49(7), pp.2003-2035.