Investigating Internet Channel Opportunities and Challenges: Managers' Experiences Across Five Industries

Based upon a multiple-case methodology consisting of in-depth interviews with senior managers at five nationally recognized firms, the authors offer insights into how and to what extent these firms incorporate the Internet with existing business models and channel strategies. Opportunities to these firms include using the Internet to leverage information, initiate direct-to-consumer marketing practices, and enhance value-chain efficiencies. Challenges to successful incorporation of the Internet as a marketing medium include channel conflict, product characteristics, and intra-firm coordination. These findings provide insights into the complexity facing managers as they attempt to incorporate the Internet within existing business models and illustrate how business strategy involving the Internet must be developed in concert with existing business practices, structures, and relationships.