I Electronic Commerce: Creating Competitive Opportunities in Brazilian Supermarkets

Lidia Micaela Segre, Roberto Moura Bastos Programa de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computa@o Coordenac$io dos Programas de P6s-GraduaGZo em Engenharia -

COPPE Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ Caixa Postal 685 11 CEP: 21945-970 - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil

The aim of this paper, focusing the supermarket sector in Brazil, is studying EC use, trying to identify the motivations for its adoption, its difficulties in implementation and its capacity for finding and keeping enterprises competitive advantages in service automation and business dealing.

The methodology used is based on bibliography research through Brazilian and foreign magazines, Internet and on case studies done by our investigation group. Case studies information was obtained through interviews and visits involving since main executives to operational level employees.

Electronic Commerce (EC) is a complete technologic solution which has been emphasized in business world (OECD, 1977). Formal commerce transactions such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Found Transference (EFT) in which there is a standard data exchange using value added network suppliers (VANS) connecting the supply chain had its begin twenty years ago. In the past five years, EC has been growing enormously using open nets as Internet or the World Wide Web. Internet, not like EDI, uses open patterns, offers universal access at low cost and flexibility once it can be programmed for specific proposes. Internet assured EC’s boom towards the individual user through new dealing forms, such as virtual stores and markets.

At the present in Brazil, ED1 is the most utilized technological solution for EC. The supermarket sector started its experience with ED1 in early 1993, enhancing today as the one with the highest growing implementation rates. Two facts are determining in such process: relatively stable business partner relationship and a big number of commercial transactions. Big chain enterprises whose management is professional were pioneers in such process and were followed by family managed ones, which had to join the market tendency.

Nowadays, 65 ED1 projects in big retail and wholesale chains are going on, accounting 920 suppliers. It is a

relatively low number though because of two limiting factors. First, one must highlight the lack of technical and/or financial conditions by many suppliers towards ED1 implementation. On the other hand, only some medium sized and big companies can adopt ED1 and that problem worries suppliers regarding market concentration and possibility of cartel diffusion. Regarding the adoption of EDI, companies show relevant factors, among them, we might mention: cost reduction, significant improvements in quality and safety of commercial transactions, rationalization of internal and external operational procedures and precision in goods delivery time what improves stock management.

A preponderant factor that shall help developing EC is telecommunication field restructuring, what considering market opening and public companies’ privatization, might reach US$ 45 billions a year by 1999, being one of the five biggest business then. One might expect EC to lead growing net investments for many years ahead.

Although emphatic when analyzing the modernization process of the sector, adopting TICs, specially EC, and even spotting its use limitations and incorporation problems, we would like to ensure that there are other very important aspects that must be taken in consideration. The TICs adopting process shall be preceded and accompanied by new ways of work organization, new organizational routines for offering services, new human resources policies that put up the value of formation, qualification and personnel participation and new standards relationship with suppliers and clients. It is not worth finding the right solution for the wrong problem. In case of not considering the mentioned factors, one may only keep obsolete organizational solutions or only generating new ways of making the same mistakes. And furthermore, the lack of organizational changes might even reduce the results or benefits EC can provide.

194