| Course | MGT 711 Strategic Opportunities in an Internet-Based Global Economy (MGT/711) |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Doctoral business model evaluation |
| Length | about 1,156 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | DBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 711 Week 2
Catalog, Omnichannel, Marketplace or Managed Services? Evaluating E-Business and Management Models for an Industrial Distributor
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
MGT/711: Strategic Opportunities in an Internet-Based Global Economy
Week 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Lakeshore Industrial Supply and all figures are composites written for a model paper.
Lakeshore Industrial Supply, the composite Milwaukee distributor of maintenance, repair and operations supplies, saw in Week 1 how digital technology lowers search, tracking and verification costs and weakens distance in trade. Its leaders now must choose how to compete online. Options range from improving its website to building a marketplace like large platforms. Each implies a different way of creating value and a different organization. A business model is a hypothesis about how value will be created and captured, and choosing one online also means choosing how the organization will have to change. This paper evaluates e-business and management models for Lakeshore.
Business Models in Theory
Amit and Zott (2001) described e-business value as arising from novelty, lock-in, complementarities and efficiency and defined a business model as the design of transaction content, structure and governance across a firm and its partners. This activity-system view directs attention to how a model links the firm with customers, suppliers and complementors.
Digital Business Strategy
Bharadwaj et al. (2013) argued that digital business strategy fuses information technology strategy with business strategy, and that four themes distinguish it: the scope of digital business across products and industries, its scale through network effects and cloud capacity, how fast decisions and product launches and new sources of value creation and capture from data and multisided models.
Digital Transformation as Organizational Change
Vial (2019) reviewed digital transformation research and described a process in which digital technologies disrupt value creation paths, requiring structural changes and the management of organizational barriers such as inertia and resistance. Verhoef et al. (2021) similarly emphasized that transformation requires new resources, organizational structures and growth strategies, and moves through stages from digitization to fundamental business model change.
Model One: Integrated Digital Catalog
Lakeshore would enrich its catalog with complete product data and connect it to customers' procurement systems through punchout catalogs and electronic data interchange. Value comes mainly from efficiency and lock-in, since integration raises switching costs. Capabilities required are product data management and integration expertise.
Model Two: Omnichannel Distribution
Branches, sales representatives and digital channels would share inventory visibility, pricing and customer data, so customers could order online and pick up at a branch or get technical advice by video. Value comes from complementarities between physical and digital services. It requires integrated systems and changes in sales compensation.
Model Three: Marketplace
Lakeshore would allow third-party suppliers to list products on its site, expanding assortment without holding inventory. Value comes from novelty and complementarities, and revenue from commissions. It requires seller management, trust and verification systems and enough buyer traffic to attract sellers.
Model Four: Managed Inventory Services
Sensors, vending machines and automated reordering at customer sites would manage inventory for the customer. Value comes from efficiency and strong lock-in. It requires data analytics, field service and new contract structures.
Evaluating Value Drivers
Managed services and integrated catalogs score highest on lock-in and efficiency, omnichannel on complementarities and marketplace on novelty and assortment. Lakeshore's current customers value reliability and technical support, favoring models that strengthen relationships over those that compete mainly on assortment.
Evaluating Capability Fit
Lakeshore's strengths are technical sales staff, local inventory and long customer relationships. Omnichannel and managed services build on these. Marketplace operations would require capabilities it lacks and would compete directly with Amazon's business marketplace, which has far greater scale.
Cannibalization and Channel Conflict
Every model shifts some existing sales. Branch staff earn commission on orders they handle, and if customers move online, branch revenue and pay fall even when total company revenue rises. Studies of multichannel retailing have found that channel conflict can stall digital initiatives unless incentives are aligned. Lakeshore will credit branches for online orders from customers in their territory, so branch staff have reason to encourage digital adoption rather than resist it.
Data as the Common Foundation
All four models depend on data: accurate product attributes, customer purchase histories and inventory positions across locations. Lakeshore's product data are incomplete, with about a third of catalog items missing technical specifications. Regardless of model, investing in product information management comes first. Bharadwaj et al. (2013) emphasized that data and digital platforms are sources of value capture in their own right, and for a distributor the quality of its catalog data increasingly determines whether customers find it at all.
Customer Evidence
Interviews with 30 maintenance managers and purchasing agents found that most wanted fewer suppliers, accurate online availability, integration with their purchasing systems and access to technical experts when something unusual failed. Few expressed interest in a broader assortment from unknown sellers. This evidence favors omnichannel, integration and managed services over a marketplace for Lakeshore's core customers.
Risks of Each Model
The integrated catalog risks depending on a few large customers' systems. Omnichannel requires costly systems integration that can run late. Managed services require upfront equipment investment recovered over multiyear contracts. A marketplace risks quality problems from third-party sellers that damage Lakeshore's reputation for authentic parts. Naming these risks guides sequencing.
Management Models
Organizations can manage digital work in a separate digital unit, an integrated model in which business units own digital initiatives or a hybrid with a central digital team that builds shared platforms and business units that own customer outcomes. Separate units move faster but can conflict with branches; integrated models preserve coordination but move slowly.
Recommended Combination
Lakeshore should build an omnichannel core with an integrated catalog for large accounts and expand managed inventory services for key customers, testing a limited marketplace later for complementary categories. A hybrid management model, with a central digital team reporting to the chief executive and branch leaders accountable for customer outcomes, balances speed and coordination.
Sequencing the Models
The models need not launch at once. Product data improvement and the integrated catalog come first, since every other model depends on them. Omnichannel systems follow in the second year, once branch incentives are realigned. Managed services expand alongside, starting with 40 large accounts where sensors and vending already show value. A marketplace pilot for complementary categories, such as safety apparel, waits until year three, when traffic and verification systems are mature enough to protect the brand.
Propositions for Testing
The recommendation implies testable propositions: customers using both branch and digital channels will show higher retention than single-channel customers; integrated procurement customers will show lower price sensitivity; and managed services accounts will grow faster than other accounts. Lakeshore can test these with its own data by comparing account behavior before and after each model launches, using accounts not yet migrated as a comparison group.
Conclusion
Research on digital strategy and transformation shows that online business models require organizational change, not just technology. For Lakeshore, an omnichannel core with integrated catalogs and managed services fits its capabilities and value drivers better than a marketplace, and a hybrid management model supports execution. Propositions drawn from the recommendation allow the company to test its choices.
References
Amit, R., & Zott, C. (2001). Value creation in e-business. Strategic Management Journal, 22(6-7), 493-520. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.187
Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O. A., Pavlou, P. A., & Venkatraman, N. (2013). Digital business strategy: Toward a next generation of insights. MIS Quarterly, 37(2), 471-482. https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2013/37:2.3
Verhoef, P. C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Qi Dong, J., Fabian, N., & Haenlein, M. (2021). Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 122, 889-901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.022
Vial, G. (2019). Understanding digital transformation: A review and a research agenda. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 28(2), 118-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2019.01.003
What the MGT 711 Week 2 instructions ask
The second MGT 711 assignment typically asks doctoral students to evaluate e-business models and the management approaches that support them. Common requirements include definitions of business models, synthesis of research on digital strategy and digital transformation, a comparison of e-business models relevant to an organization, analysis of the capabilities and management structures each requires and a reasoned recommendation. Many prompts ask students to relate models to theory. Use peer-reviewed research to frame criteria, compare models systematically, address organizational as well as technical change and cite sources in APA format. Where models can be combined, explain how they reinforce or undercut one another.
How this MGT 711 Week 2 example is built
An industrial distributor can pursue several online models, and the paper evaluates four: a digital catalog with integration into customers' purchasing systems, an omnichannel model combining branches and online, a marketplace adding third-party sellers and managed inventory services using sensors and vending. Research on digital business strategy argues that digital strategy cannot be separated from business strategy and that scope, scale, speed and value capture all change. Transformation research shows that structural and cultural changes matter as much as technology. The paper recommends an omnichannel core with integrated purchasing and managed services, testing a marketplace later, and a hybrid management model, then states propositions that Lakeshore's own data can test.
MGT 711 Week 2 grading rubric: where the points go
Doctoral papers on business models are evaluated on how well they use theory to define criteria and how carefully they compare options. Strong papers synthesize research on business models and digital transformation, define each model precisely, evaluate them against value drivers and organizational requirements and propose a management model that fits. Recognizing that business model change is also organizational change shows depth. Identifying testable propositions or questions shows doctoral thinking. Precise language and correct APA citations complete the paper. Faculty also look for an honest account of what each model would cannibalize, since a distributor's online channel may shift existing sales rather than add new ones, and for attention to how sales compensation and branch roles must change for any digital model to take hold.
MGT 711 Week 2 help: mistakes to avoid
Doctoral students often describe business models in practitioner terms without linking them to theory. Use research to define criteria. Another frequent gap is evaluating technology choices without addressing organizational change. Discuss structure, governance, capabilities and culture. Students also compare models only on revenue potential. Include fit, risk and capability demands. Avoid recommending the most fashionable model, such as a marketplace, without analysis of the firm's scale and capabilities. Explain how models interact. Finally, frame your recommendation in a way that could be tested, since doctoral work should connect practice to inquiry. State what evidence would show the recommendation was wrong. Address cannibalization of existing sales directly.
Related MGT 711 sample papers
Other MGT 711 week samples
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- MGT 711 Week 6: Research on Digital Strategy
- MGT 711 Week 7: The Strategic E-Business Plan
- MGT 711 Week 8: Recommendations for Global E-Business
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MGT 711 Week 2 questions, answered
What does MGT 711 Week 2 usually cover?
It usually covers evaluating e-business models and management models: business model theory, digital strategy and transformation research, comparison of online models and the organizational structures and capabilities they require.
Where can I find a free MGT 711 Week 2 sample paper?
The complete evaluation of four e-business models for an industrial distributor, with notes on theory and method, is presented here with annotations. DBA students may request a no-cost first version.
What is digital business strategy?
A view that digital technology is fused with business strategy rather than supporting it, changing the scope, scale, speed and sources of value creation and capture for firms.
What is digital transformation?
A process in which digital technologies trigger significant changes to an organization's value creation, requiring structural, cultural and capability changes to manage barriers and capture benefits.
What is an omnichannel distributor?
A distributor that integrates physical branches, sales representatives and digital channels so customers can search, order, receive and get service through any combination of them with consistent information.
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