Using m-commerce to achieve strategic objectives in South African retail organisations

The purpose of the paper is to explore how South African retail organisations can use mcommerce to achieve their strategic objectives. Strategic objectives include increased return on capital, improved operating quality and ef􀅭iciency, growing high value customer relationships, accelerating product innovation, and creating a high performance culture. Literature surveyed highlighted that there could be an opportunity for retail organisations within South Africa to achieve their strategic objectives by implementing effective m-commerce strategies which are aligned with the business strategy, therefore, improving and updating their business processes and having the ability to modify their business models in order to maximise the potential opportunity to create a competitive advantage. The main research question was: Can South African retail organisations use m-commerce to achieve their strategic objectives? The context of the study was the retail market of South Africa. South Africa is a third world emerging market where the majority of potential customers do not have access to personal computers and the internet. Research questions were generated from a strategy map that identified five strategic themes, each with their own objectives. A qualitative approach to the research was taken with open-ended interview questions and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The 􀅭indings from the literature and the data analysis indicated that m-commerce can be used by South African retail organisations to achieve all the strategic objectives. The findings did, however, indicate that m-commerce, within the South African retail context, is more suited to increasing return on capital, growing high value customer relationships and improving operating quality and efficiency