SSRN Id3323452

Comparing strategic orientation of two online pharmaceutical firms: cases of Netmeds and Medplus
Comparing strategic orientation of two online pharmaceutical

firms: cases of Netmeds and Medplus
ed
Siddharth Tiwaria ,Chandrakant Rautb
a,bABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior
bABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior
iew
ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT
Keywords: Most of the companies are leveraging the use of
Alignment through information technology to expand their reach among
the customers and other associated stakeholders. The
business scorecard trend is followed by almost all the firms industry wide
Critical Success or sartorially. At the same time, they learn by their
Factors peers to strengthen their IT based best practices and
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evolve them strategically compete one another. In the
health sector firms are also experimenting the use
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information technology to leverage its benefit directly
or indirectly just like other consumer sensitive online
firms e.g. Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, Zomato, Ola, so
on. Likewise, in health sector two recent online based
companies that are Netmeds and Medplus are rapidly
increasing their market share and gaining popularity.
er
Alignment through Balance Scorecard has been used,
in order to compare the orientation of strategies of
these two companies. As an outcome of the research,
findings are the Strategic Orientation of the two
organizations, Critical Success Factors and the future
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aspects leading to the success of both of the
organizations.
This research should help the industry to learn and
modify from peer’s and researchers can also analyze
the orientation. Strategic orientation is about the
direction in which the organization is going, the ways
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to achieve objective and competitive advantage,

satisfying the needs of stakeholders and responding to
the environment.
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Introduction
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E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling of products on online services or over

the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile
commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet
marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data
interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data
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collection systems. After the introduction of internet into the society, it has created a
great impact on everything, business is one of them. Now these days business or so
called e-commerce uses internet for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle
although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail.
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Small Business Enterprises (SBEs) do play a major and important role in today’s
world economy, and they are recognized as one of the main contributors to
economic, development and employment growth. According to Mulhern (1995) 99%
Available on SSRN-Elsevier
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3323452
of all European companies are small and medium sized (SME) and from 1985-1995 it
provided 66% of the employment in Europe. On the other hand, the revolution in
ed
information technology (IT) and communications changed the way people conduct
business today.
In recent days business has been using the internet and other electronic media in
conducting and giving chances e-marketing to grow very dramatic way. From the
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author point of view, implementing E-Marketing by small business enterprise can
change both the shape and nature of its business all over the world. Because the
increase usage of the Internet and other Electronic Marketing tools (i.e.: E-mail,
Intranets, Extranets and Mobile phones) in electronic transactions might create not
only a lot of opportunists for small business enterprises but also can eliminate a lot of
its threats. From this prospective, it is noticed that the Internet, other electronic
media tools and Electronic Marketing tools are playing a vital and essential role in
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conducting marketing activities within business enterprises regardless of its type or
size.
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It opens the global market to the customer; it helps the customer by providing huge
options while buying a product or a service. The online searching and comparing
facilities enables customer to select right product or service. Another major
advantage of e-commerce is that it is 24x7 available to the customer the customer can
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shop almost anything within his/hers comfort zone just by sitting at home, office,
during travel or almost from any place at any time.
E-Commerce in India
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This phenomenon was introduced in India in the mid 1990’s. At the very beginning it
was providing importance to matrimonial and job portals. But however in India it
couldn’t grow much faster. Some of the following are the reasons among all the other
reasons;
Limited availability of internet
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Weak online payment system

Lack of awareness in customers
Due to the above reasons the e-commerce progressed very slowly in Indian market.
tn
In mid-2000 the e-commerce industry in India grown rapidly offering online

services like travelling, many airline companies started providing the travel services
online to customers, even today online travel booking holds a major share of e-
commerce space. Today almost everything is sold online in India and one can find a
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lot of options not only in the choices upon a single online market, but also can find a
lot of web sites to compare a single product over the internet.
Literature Review for Strategic Typology of Organizations

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Organizational typology is constructed to study the different types of organizations.

It relates to the different categories into which organizations can be classified. It
involves a scheme of categorization of organizations based on certain general
characteristics. Together, these actions make up a company’s strategic plan. Strategic
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plans take at least a year to complete, requiring involvement from all company levels.
Top management creates the larger organizational strategy, while middle and lower
management adopt goals and plans to fulfill the overall strategy step by step. This
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unified effort to can be likened to a journey. Daily challenges such as road conditions
must be overcome to complete sequential legs of the journey, which eventually lead
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to the ultimate destination.
According to the most popular theory of Miles-Snow typology the organizational
strategy of an organization can be categorized in to different categories. In their 1978
book Organization Strategy, Structure, and Process, Raymond E. Miles and Charles
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C. Snow argued that different company strategies arise from the way companies
decide to address three fundamental problems: entrepreneurial, engineering (or
operational), and administrative problems. To eradicate all the above mentioned
organizational issues, each & every organization approaches different kind of
solutions. As a result, they postulated that there are four general strategic types of
organizations: prospector, defender, analyzer, and reactor organizations.
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Prospector
The companies come under this category continually search for product and market
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opportunities, and regularly experiment with potential responses to emerging
environmental trends. They always support the production of new products and are
the creators of change and uncertainty to which competitors must respond. A
prospector distributes power across different parts of the organization in order to
encourage flexible and innovative behavior that should allow it to locate and exploit
opportunities for new ventures.
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Defender
The companies that come under this category have a small area of market interest.
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The top level managers in these organizations are highly expert in their perspective
areas as they have to control and manipulate a limited market area. As a result, these
organizations seldom need to make major adjustments in their technology, structure,
or methods of operation. Defender characteristics include a limited product line, a
single, capital-intensive technology, a functional structure, and skills in production
efficiency, process engineering, and cost control. In this kind of organization the top
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level employee has only the authority to have the information and only they have the
superior power to take the important decisions.
Analyzer
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Analyzers work in stable and changing product-market domains. In a stable domain,

analyzers operate routinely and efficiently through the use of a formal structure and
processes. These are the companies which have the greater potential to adopt the
new ideas according to the changing level of competition in the market. Analyzers
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tend to have a limited basic product line, a small number of related product and/or
market opportunities, and technology for stable and new products that is cost
efficient.
Reactor
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These are the kind of organization in which the top level managers or employees of
the organization have the high level of environmental uncertainty. These are so
called because the organizations come under this category don’t take any important
step until and unless they are forced to do so by the external factors. Unlike
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defenders or prospectors, reactors have no predictable organizational structure;

some may be centralized, whereas others are decentralized. They do not possess a set
of mechanisms that would allow them to respond consistently to their environment
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Organizational Alignment for “Fit”
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Strategic fit among many activities is fundamental not only to competitive advantage
but also to the sustainability of that advantage. It is harder for a rival to match an
array of interlocked activities than it is merely to imitate a particular sales-force
approach, match a process technology, or replicate a set of product features.
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When formulating corporate strategy, researchers have emphasized the importance
of fitting or aligning the organization’s strategy with an internal appraisal of the firm
and an external assessment of environmental opportunities and threats (see Ansoff,
1965; Andrews, 1971). Its important in formulating strategies as well as in their
implementation. Implementation is fostered by aligning and adjusting key systems,
processes, and decisions within the firm (Galbraith and Nathanson, 1978; Lorange
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and Vancil, 1977; Stonich, 1982; Kaplan, 2005).
The idea of fit has been promoted in the strategy literature from various perspectives.
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For instance, In Search of Excellence (Peters and Waterman, 1982), the 1982 best-
selling book, proposed that when firms achieve an integrated harmony among three
“hard” “Ss” of strategy, structure, and systems, and four “soft” “Ss” of skills, staff,
style, and super-ordinate goals, they tend to become higher performing or excellent
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firms.
Alignment requires a shared understanding of organizational goals and objectives by
managers at various levels and within various units of the organizational hierarchy. A
firm’s ability to seek and maintain a competitive advantage rests on its ability to
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acquire and deploy resources that are coherent with the organization’s competitive
needs (Porter, 1996). However, some strategy researchers have argued that too much
alignment may result in firms with components that are very tightly coupled and lead
to problems with adapting to a dynamic external environment. For instance, Hagel
and Singer (1999) argue that fit should be considered in light of the interaction costs
faced by a firm. They contend that if the interaction costs of performing an activity
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within the confines of the firm are higher than the costs of performing it externally,
then it ought to be performed externally rather than attempting to create a fit within
the tightly couple bounds of the firm.
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Forms of Alignment for “Fit”

The organizational alignment can be categorized into two types of organizational
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alignment – vertical and horizontal or lateral. Vertical alignment refers to the

configuration of strategies, objectives, action plans, and decisions throughout the
various levels of the organization. The conceptualization of strategy at three levels –
corporate, business, and functional (which refer to as levels 1, 2 and 3, respectively in
Figure 1) – has gained widespread acceptance in the literature. In addition to
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coordinating activities and priorities across each of these three levels, vertical
alignment depends on coordination at a fourth level – the decision areas within each
function (Kathuria and Porth, 2003).
Vertical Alignments
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Businesses with a large number of employees often choose to run a vertical

organization, which is typically structured like a pyramid with executives at the top,
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midlevel managers in the middle, and low-level managers and employees at the
bottom. In vertical organizations, other senior-level executives make all the major
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decisions and communicate those decisions to midlevel managers. These managers
develop methods to implement decisions and communicate these methods to the
low-level managers that are responsible for supervising employees as they go about
their daily tasks. This top-down structure has a defined chain-of-command and strict
protocols regarding how employees can make suggestions that reach the upper levels
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of company. The conceptualization of strategy at three levels – corporate, business,
and functional has gained widespread acceptance in the literature. In addition to
coordinating activities and priorities across each of these three levels, vertical
alignment depends on coordination at a fourth level – the decision areas within each
function (Kathuria and Porth, 2003). Figure shows this hierarchy of relationships.
Level 1: Corporate Broad
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↕ ↑
Level 2: Business Operational Focus
↕ ↓
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Level 3: Functional Narrow
↕
Level 4: Intra Functional
Horizontal Alignment er
If company culture is all about tapping into the creativity and imagination of their
staff and empowering them to do their jobs without micromanagement, then it may
want to set up a horizontal organizational structure. In this structure, it grants
employees the authority to make decisions without having to obtain executive
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approval. A horizontal organization has few – if any – managers because the focus is
on empowering the staff members and removing any barriers between the executive
level and the staff level. Teamwork, collaboration and the exchange of ideas are the
hallmarks of a horizontal organization.
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Theory Building and Analysis

Depending, on the above explained alignment an organizational strategy is the sum
of the actions a company intends to take to achieve long-term goals. Together, these
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actions make up a company's strategic plan. Strategic plans take at least a year to
complete, requiring involvement from all company levels. Organizational strategy
consists of following categories;
 Organisational Structure
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 Dominant System
 Internal Process
 Information & Growth
 External Environment & Customer
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Organizational Structure
Organization structure is a system of task, reporting, and authority relationships
within which the work of the organization is done. Thus, structure defines the form
and function of the organization's activities. Structure also defines how the parts of
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an organization fit together, as in an organization chart. The organizational structure

can be classified into following dimensions
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Standardization
It refers to the degree of behavioural variation that is tolerated by the rules and
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regulations that define the activities specific to each position within an organization.
Formalisation
The formalization can be defined as the degree to which jobs activities (occupations)
within an organization are standardized using rules and procedures, job descriptions,
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etc.
Specialization
It refers to the number of specialized tasks that exists within the organization and the
training period required by each of these specialized activities.
Complexity
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It refers to the differentiation degree that exists within an organization.
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Centralization
Centralization can be defined as the degree to which decision-making process is
concentrated at a single level within the organization. It is not about other form of
spatial differentiation, what interesting here is the dispersion of authority and not
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the geographical one.
Company A Company B Reviews
Standardization High High Since both of the organizations are
following flat hierarchy.
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Formalization High Moderate As per the survey it has been found that
Company A is following better regulations
than Company B
Specialization Moderate Moderate Both of the organizations are having
Specialized workforce on Healthcare
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domain
Work flow Low Low Both platform are providing good working
complexity culture and environment
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Centralization High Moderate Being a flat hierarchy, every employee as

their roles & responsibilities
Observation 1: Comparison on Organization Structure

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Comparison On the Basis of Dominant System

Dominant system of an organization is a system that measures the effectiveness and
efficiency of the other system that really affects the alignment with attribute of the
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organization. The identification of distinctive and effective forms of economic

organization in East Asia has emphasized the close connections between dominant
social institutions and ways of coordinating economic activities as well as the
interrelations between firm and market characteristics in separate business systems.
Differences in major institutions thus generate significant variations in how firms
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and markets are structured and operate. These variations suggest that an important
element in the analysis of market economies is the comparison of firm-market
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relations across institutional contexts. This requires their key characteristics to be

identified. These can be summarized under three main headings which constitute the
ed
components of business systems: the nature of firms as economic actors, the nature
of inter-firm relations in markets and the nature of authoritative co ordination and
control systems within firms.
Company A Company B Review
iew
Production Low Low Since they are just a platform so their
System production is very less
Finance High Low Since presence of Company A in national
Allocation market is higher than Company B
Controlling High High As per the volatile markets they both are
System having very controlled strategic system
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Exception High High Both of the companies are having good
Reporting technical support team to handle all the
Information exceptions
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System
CRM System High Moderate As Company A is more of customer centric
company in terms of providing medical
consultation support, they are having
better customer relationship management
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Observation 2: Comparison on Dominant System
system.
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Comparison On the Basis of Information & Growth
The advancement of technologies and Information Systems (IS) associated with the
search for success in the competitive market leads organizations to seek strategies
that assist in acquisition, retention, storage, and dissemination of knowledge in the
organization in order to be reused in time, preserving its Organizational Memory
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(OM). Growth is something for which most companies strive, regardless of their size.
Small firms want to get big, big firms want to get bigger. Indeed, companies have to
grow at least a bit every year in order to accommodate the increased expenses that
develop over time.
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In an increasingly competitive and globalized world, organizations are constantly

changing in order to stay in the market. This constant competitiveness leads
organizations to seek more and more quality not only in the products and services
offered but also in their strategies, decisions and structures. However, these changes
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in the organization, whether strategic or structural, may result in a loss of the

accumulated knowledge retained in an individual. Once the information is generated
the organization has to be aware of and seek mechanisms and that enable to keep
this accumulated knowledge in the organization.
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As of the above explanation, an entrepreneur or an organization has to track the

organizational record on a regular basis. This is because face variety of problems in
an endeavour to setup new enterprise particularly during the growth phase of the
organizational life cycle. Growth obstacles and problems of the entrepreneurs have
been studied by many researchers and provided detailed solutions in this regard. The
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growth process itself generates complexity for the firm because of the growth crisis
arising at different stages as described by the growth models.
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Growth aspiration is at the heart of any enterprise soon after its set up and
addressing the problems of the start-up phase. This is a turning point for most of the
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firms and very critical to decide its future whether to pursue the growth challenges or
just concentrate on maintain a particular life style without wishing growth benefits.
It is very critical for the organizations facing the growth challenges of the different
stages as elaborated in the growth models. Because the growth process can create a
lot of complexity for the company and if not handled properly, such crisis can
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become very damaging for these entrepreneurial ventures. The pace of growth is also
an important aspect of consideration for the entrepreneurs and it depends upon the
growth rate of the industry and profitability of the enterprise.
Growth Models and Growth strategies are of vital importance for the entrepreneurs
pursuing the growth. Entrepreneurs should be careful in the selection of strategies
for the firm especially the growth strategies. Because choice of one strategy may be
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suitable for a firm while it is not for the other. The choice between both of the growth
strategies should carefully be evaluated considering all these aspects and growth
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strategy should be selected according to the requirement of the particular firm for
which entrepreneur is pursuing growth option. Sometimes choice of combination of
different strategies may be effective for the firm.
Company A Company B er Review
Financial High High Since the revenue of both the companies is
Expertise Skill increasing year on year (YoY) so it has been
can predict that they are having expert
financial skills
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Production Low Low As they don’t have any main production line
Expertise Skill for their revenue so having a expert skill set in
production is not on priority
Technology High Moderate Both of the organizations are working for
Advancement better logistics and delivery services to reduce
for Price price.
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Reduction
Observation 3: Comparison on Information & Growth
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Comparison On the Basis of Internal Process

The business processes that can be executed without involvement of an external
business partner such as the internal production process are called internal
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processes. The internal environment includes all elements that are endogenous to the
organization, which are influenced to a great extent and totally controlled by it. The
study of the internal environment must answer all resource related questions, solve
all resource management issues and represents the first step in drawing up the
marketing strategy.
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An organization's internal environment is composed of the elements within the

organization, including current employees, management, and especially corporate
culture, which defines employee behavior. Although some elements affect the
organization as a whole, others affect only the manager. A manager's philosophical or
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leadership style directly impacts employees. Traditional managers give explicit

instructions to employees, while progressive managers empower employees to make
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many of their own decisions. Changes in philosophy and/or leadership style are
under the control of the manager. The following sections describe some of the
ed
elements that make up the internal environment.
An organization's mission statement describes what the organization stands for and
why it exists. It explains the overall purpose of the organization and includes the
attributes that distinguish it from other organizations of its type.
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Low Pricing High High As per the delivery and offers both of
the companies are going neck to neck
Quality High Moderate Delivery and package quality is better

Conformance in Company A as per the google
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reviews
Quality Assurance High High Delivery and package quality is better
in Company A as per the google
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reviews
Product Processes Low Low As they don’t have any main
production line for their revenue so
having a product process is not on
er priority
Customer High High Customer satisfaction criteria is on
Satisfaction high priority for both the
organizations
Single Core Low Low As they don’t have any main
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Production production line for their revenue core
Technology production technology is low
Internal Stability High Moderate As per the statistics found on survey

Company A is more stable internally
Observation 4: Comparison on Internal Process
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Comparison On the Basis of External Environment and Customer

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An external environment is composed of all the outside factors or influences that

impact the operation of business. The business must act or react to keep up its flow
of operations. External factors have crucial impact to SMEs environment. Nowadays
business environment is more global and competitive than it has been in the past. A
range of business factors are connected to SME’s competitive advantage. The aim of
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this research is to show the importance of external and internal factors in creation of
the SME’s competitive advantage. The resource – based view of the SMEs, such as
capabilities, competencies etc., and the threat of new entrants, rivalry, threat of
substitutes, supplier power and buying power; the combine of these factors are in the
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center of this study. Firms need to better understand the competitive environment
and develop strategies that create sustained competitive advantage. Then the study
of methodology used on this study which consists in a combination of qualitative and
quantitative method.
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To realize the aim of this study are determines some objectives and research question
pertaining the impact of the external and internal factors, such as Porter’s five forces
or, tangible and intangible assets in the creation of competitive advantage etc. Based
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on the research questions are made hypothesis. The empirical analyze is done to
understand the potential sources of competitive advantage for SMEs. Study consists
ed
on a final sample of 460 participants from different small and medium enterprises in
Northern Albanian Region. It is used regression analysis. The result revealed that
both, external and internal factors have positive affect in competitive advantages of
SMEs. Based on the result of this analyze are done conclusions. Findings support the
idea, within limitations, that external environment has greater impact than internal
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environment on SME’s success. Results strongly suggest some important academic
and practitioner implications and some suitable recommendations.
Customer High Moderate As Company A is more stable
Retention organization the retention is better in
it.
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Observation 5: Comparison on External Environment and Structure
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Overall Comparison
Company A Company B Remarks
Organizational Overall study of the organization,
High Moderate
structure Company A is highly structured
Dominant System High

erHigh
Both are having Internet Technologies as
Dominant System.
As per the statistics found on survey
Internal Process Moderate Low Company A is more process oriented
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internally
Information & As both of them are internet based market
High Moderate
Growth so their growth is highly dependent on it
External As per the trend in environment,
environment & High High customers are relying on healthcare e-
customer commerce.
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Observation 6: Overall Comparison
Real Time Survey Report

tn
As our study totally deals with the strategy of the e-commerce organization Company
A and Company B against above parameters mentioned in BSC (Balance Scorecard),
personal interview (over social media – LinkedIn) and survey had been conducted.
Their personal comments and feedbacks were taken into consideration. At the end,
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questionnaires were asked to be filled to register their demographics and personal

details.
Processing of The Data for Analysis
Once the respondents were addressed, questionnaires were filed; the data was
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registered to the software “Google Analytics”. The data was then run under
“Descriptive Statistics”.
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AGE:
ed
v iew
Figure 1: Pie-Chart for Age
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Interpretation
The age of the respondents after taking the survey was
66.7% - 15-25 years er
31.3%- 26-40 years
2% - 41-60 years
GENDER
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ot
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Figure 2: Pie-Chart for Gender

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Interpretation
The gender after taking the surveyed were
Male – 61.6%
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Female – 38.4%
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Occupation
ed
v iew
Figure 3: Pie-Chart for Occupation
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Interpretation
The Occupation of the people who had been surveyed are
Students- 70.7% er
Employee- 27.3%
Business- 1%
Housewives- 1%
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Salary
ot
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Figure 4: Pie-Chart for Occupation

Interpretation
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The salary of the people who had been surveyed are

Less than 10k – 60.2%
Between 11k-20k – 6.1%
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Between 21k-30k – 5.1%

Between 31k-40k – 15.3%
Above 41k – 13.3%
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People Using Company A
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ed
iew
Figure 5: Pie-Chart for People Using Company A
Interpretation
According to the survey taken, around 3% people strongly disagreed that the Quality
of the Company A and enables customer to buy the product.
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Around 4% people disagreed that the Quality of the Company A motivates and
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enables customer to buy the product.
Around 15.2% people were neutral that the Quality of the Company A motivates and
Around 59.6% people agree that the Quality of Company A motivates and enables
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customer to buy the product.
Around 18.2% people strongly agreed that the Quality of the Company A motivates
and enables customer to buy the product.
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People Using Company B
ot
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Figure 6: Pie-Chart for People Using Company B

Interpretation
According to the survey taken, around 1% people strongly disagreed that the Quality
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of the Company B and enables customer to buy the product.

Around 10.1% people disagreed that the Quality of the Company B motivates and
Around 30.3% people were neutral that the Quality of the Company B motivates and
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Around 50.5% people agree that the Quality of Company B motivates and enables
customer to buy the product.
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Around 8.1% people strongly agreed that the Quality of the Company B motivates
and enables customer to buy the product.
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Questionnaire
 Comparison based on user Interface of the website.
ed
 Comparison based on payment gateways
 Comparison based on Stock available
 Comparison based on Logistics quality and delivery time
 Comparison based on product availability and variety of products
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 Comparison based on security of payment
 Comparison based on customer care services
 Comparison based on live/online doctor consultation
SWOT Analysis
It is often said that the E-COMMERCE sector has no cyclical factor attached to it.
v
Irrespective of whether the economy is in a downturn or in an upturn, the general
belief is that demand for products is likely to grow steadily over the long-term.
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True in some sense. But are there risks? This article gives a perspective of the Indian
e-commerce industry by carrying out a SWOT analysis
(Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat).
SWOT Analysis of Company
Strength
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Better reach to customer and attract them.
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Accessibility and easiness
Weakness
Limited to some states of India.
Customer loyalty becomes a bigger issue as there is a minimal direct customer-
company interaction
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Opportunities
Scale up the reach in different geography
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Tie up with health insurance companies

Threats
Uncertainty of GST and other Tax regulation.
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Market capture by different other providers, who has better reach.

SWOT Analysis of Company B
Strength
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Keep an eye on buyer’s habit.

Sell across the country.
Weakness
Hackers attacked once, so low security.
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Inability to experience products beforehand leads to more checkout dropouts.
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Opportunities
Scale up with physical stores as well
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Tie up with health insurance companies
Threats
Uncertainty of GST and other Tax regulation.
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Market capture by different other providers, who has better reach.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, business environment involves internal and external environment.
Business environment is important for an organization to identify the weaknesses
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and threats. A firm maybe strong in certain areas and it may be weak in some other
areas. The firm should identify weaknesses and threats so as to correct it as early as
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possible. This helps an organization to reduce the risk of getting failure in their
operation and development in new product. PEST analysis and Porter’s Five analysis
is used to find out the external environment, where, value chain analysis and SWOT
analysis is used to find the internal environment of an organization.
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Strategy is about the direction in which the organization is going, the ways to achieve
objective and competitive advantage, satisfying the needs of stakeholders and
responding to the environment. Different organization develops different strategy in
order to respond to the environment of their organization. They can identify that
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these both companies are prospectus in their strategic orientation as per the study.
Business environment have a great impact on the working of business. It may also
lead to its failure or success. The factor affecting may be internal or external it needs
to be analyzed timely so that measures can be taken and any type of lose or
resentment among interested parties is prevented.
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References
LITERATURE CITATION – [3.1] E-Marketing - A literature Review from a Small Businesses
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perspective, Dr. Hatem El-Gohary, Birmingham City University Business School,

Birmingham, UK, Cairo University Business School, Cairo, Egypt, www.ijbssnet.com
ORGANIZATIONAL ALIGNMENT - Organizational alignment and performance: Past,
present and future- Ravi Kathuria, Argyros School of Business and Economics,
Chapman University, Orange, California, USA, Maheshkumar P. Joshi, School of
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Management, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA, and Stephen J.

Porth, Erivan K. Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, USA, www.emeraldinsight.com/0025-1747.htm
DOMINANT SYSTEM - Richard Whitley, Manchester Business School, University of
Manchester, U.K., https://doi.org/10.1177/017084069401500201
ep
INFORMATION & GROWTH - Information Systems And Organizational Memory: A

Literature Review, Victor Freitas de Azeredo Barros, Centre ALGORITMI, University
of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal, Isabel Ramos, Centre ALGORITMI, University of
Minho, Guimarães, Portugal, Gilberto Perez, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie,
São Paulo/SP, Brazil,
Pr
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1807-
17752015000100045A Literature Review On Growth Models And Strategies: The
1085
Missing Link In Entrepreneurial Growth, Syed Fida Hussain Shah, PhD Scholar,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia, Tahira Nazir, Department of Management
ed
Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan and
Khalid Zaman, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS
Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan,
www.GrowingScience.com/msl
INTERNAL PROCESS - Caescu Stefan Claudiu, The Academy of Economic Studies
Bucharest, The Marketing Faculty, Popescu Andrei, The Academy of Economic
iew
Studies Bucharest, The Marketing Faculty, Ploesteanu Mara Gabriela, The Academy
of Economic Studies Bucharest, The Marketing Faculty
www.researchgate.net/publication/227462932/download,
www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/principles-of-management/managerial-
environments/the-internal-environment
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT - Importance Of External And Internal Environment In
v
Creation Of Competitive Advantage To Sme’s, (CASE OF SMEs, IN THE NORTHERN
REGION OF ALBANIA), PhD Ylvije Borici Kraja, Prof.As.Dr. Elez Osmani Lecturer
in Economic Faculty, University of Shkoder "Luigj Gurakuqi"
re
Appendix
Company A er
MedplusMart.Com is the online gateway to favourite OTC and general store,
MedPlus. At medplusmart.com can order the products to their customers regularly
buy from our stores from the convenience of home and pick them up from a MedPlus
store near everyone. To start shopping, simply search for the products anyone wish
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to buy, choose the quantity and place the order. They should inform the customers
when the products are ready for pick up. All orders are filled within 6 hrs during the
regular business hours and on the next day for evening or weekend orders.
At medplusmart.com, one can also view or take prints of all previous MedPlus
bills, and conveniently reorder the products bought earlier. Regardless of how one
ot
shop at MedPlus, be assured that they should continue to offer them high quality
and genuine products, stored and handled in optimal conditions at attractive
discounts.
tn
MedPlus has always been and continue to be everyone’s one-stop shop for all
the OTC and general product needs, now with the added convenience of shopping
from home at the click of a button. This is an online platform which not only focused
to the marketing but also takes care of the followings;
Authentic list of products
rin
Superior buying experience

On-time delivery of products
Quick resolution of any concerns
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Company B
Netmeds.com, India Ki Pharmacy, is brought by the Dadha & Company – one of
India’s most trusted pharmacies, with over 100 years’ experience in dispensing
quality medicines. At net meds they look after the health and provide the best
Pr
healthcare inside India. Everyone can buy and send medicines from any corner of the
country - with just a few clicks of the mouse.
1086
At netmeds.com, we make a wide range of prescription medicines and other health

products conveniently available all across India. Even second and third tier cities and
ed
rural villages can now have access to the latest medicines. Since they also offer
generic alternatives to most medicines, online buyers can expect significant savings.
About Buying & Sourcing
For both the companies buying and sourcing team‘s sole aim is to selects what items
iew
should be stocked in a store, based on his or her predictions about what should be
popular with shoppers. One of the main roles of a buyer is to negotiate with the
clothing vendors. Buyers may negotiate with vendors on a regular, sometimes daily,
basis. It is important for a buyer to establish a strong relationship with the vendors
since it should be beneficial to both parties. This follows the inventory models of the
organization.
v
Inventory Models
Shopping websites where online buyers choose from among products owned by the
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online shopping company or shopping website take care of the whole process end-to-
end, starting with product purchase, warehousing and ending with product dispatch.
A few examples of such are Netmeds and Medplus.
Outright or bought out- In the outright or bought out model, products are availed
er
from various brands and stored in the warehouse.
Managed marketplace model- In the managed marketplace model, both keep the
inventory but take care of service and returns for the consumers.
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Sell or Return- In the sell or return model, goods should be shipped or sent or
transferred by the supplier. However, they should pay for these goods only when
these goods are sold by the company or used by them. If these goods are not sold
then they should be returned by the suppliers.
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tn
rin
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Comparing strategic orientation of two online pharmaceutical firms: cases of Netmeds and Medplus

Comparing strategic orientation of two online pharmaceutical

to achieve objective and competitive advantage,

E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling of products on online services or over

Weak online payment system

In mid-2000 the e-commerce industry in India grown rapidly offering online

Literature Review for Strategic Typology of Organizations

Organizational typology is constructed to study the different types of organizations.

Analyzers work in stable and changing product-market domains. In a stable domain,

defenders or prospectors, reactors have no predictable organizational structure;

Organizational Alignment for “Fit”

Forms of Alignment for “Fit”

alignment – vertical and horizontal or lateral. Vertical alignment refers to the

Businesses with a large number of employees often choose to run a vertical

Theory Building and Analysis

an organization fit together, as in an organization chart. The organizational structure

Centralization High Moderate Being a flat hierarchy, every employee as

Observation 1: Comparison on Organization Structure

Comparison On the Basis of Dominant System

organization. The identification of distinctive and effective forms of economic

relations across institutional contexts. This requires their key characteristics to be

In an increasingly competitive and globalized world, organizations are constantly

in the organization, whether strategic or structural, may result in a loss of the

As of the above explanation, an entrepreneur or an organization has to track the

Comparison On the Basis of Internal Process

An organization's internal environment is composed of the elements within the

leadership style directly impacts employees. Traditional managers give explicit

Quality High Moderate Delivery and package quality is better

Internal Stability High Moderate As per the statistics found on survey

Comparison On the Basis of External Environment and Customer

An external environment is composed of all the outside factors or influences that

Dominant System High

Observation 6: Overall Comparison

Real Time Survey Report

questionnaires were asked to be filled to register their demographics and personal

Figure 2: Pie-Chart for Gender

Figure 4: Pie-Chart for Occupation

The salary of the people who had been surveyed are

Between 21k-30k – 5.1%

People Using Company A

Figure 6: Pie-Chart for People Using Company B

of the Company B and enables customer to buy the product.

enables customer to buy the product.

Tie up with health insurance companies

Market capture by different other providers, who has better reach.

Keep an eye on buyer’s habit.

Inability to experience products beforehand leads to more checkout dropouts.

perspective, Dr. Hatem El-Gohary, Birmingham City University Business School,

Management, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA, and Stephen J.

INFORMATION & GROWTH - Information Systems And Organizational Memory: A

Superior buying experience

At netmeds.com, we make a wide range of prescription medicines and other health

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