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EONCOMIC DEVELOPMENT
E-commerce solutions? UW-Madison provides the calm in a storm of information as new business opportunities unfold in the electronic world. With support from the Madison Initiative, a consortium is helping Wisconsin companies sort through the options. AT THE FLUNO CENTER FOR EXECUTIVE EDUCATION on campus, a networking forum draws an eclectic gathering of Wisconsin business leaders. Mingling freely are guests from apparel companies, biotechnology firms, credit union associations, farm machine manufacturers, corporate law firms and cheese retailers. What brings this diverse group together is the new common denominator in modern business: the mercurial world of electronic commerce. The members belong to UW-Madison's Consortium for Global Electronic Commerce, an organization that is paving the way for Wisconsin companies to share e-commerce successes, change directions or simply figure out how to get a foot in the door. In less than two years, the organization has nearly 40 corporate members. The consortium is a priority for the next phase of the Madison Initiative and a focal point for expanded teaching, research and service related to e-commerce in the Wisconsin economy. "If e-commerce were purely a technology question – like whether to buy a fax machine – it would be a no-brainer," says Raj Veeramani, professor of engineering and business and consortium director. "This goes much deeper than that. It's really about how you reinvent your company by leveraging the power of the Internet." Veeramani says the consortium grew out of the need in Wisconsin for a holistic and collaborative learning environment, a place to turn for objective information rather than sales pitches. It's a place where even direct competitors are comfortable sharing ideas, he says. Many companies join at different stages of readiness and have vastly different needs. Some want to start a basic e-commerce presence. Others want to hear about best practices that will make them more competitive. Others are e-commerce leaders who are scouting for the next-generation advance. One of the most fruitful exchanges has been with Lands' End of Dodgeville, a leading apparel direct merchant. Last year, a multidisciplinary student team helped the company's global sales by creating a ranking system to target countries most ripe for e-commerce success. "We really view ourselves as being e-commerce leaders – we sell more apparel than anyone else on the Web," says Michael Grasee, Lands' End director of Internet business development. "What we've tried to do is leverage our leadership position with some of the incredible brainpower at UW-Madison." Grasee says this year the consortium will help Lands' End build a flexible e-commerce program for its business-to-business division, where it serves Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. Another active collaboration has been with Madison's three national organizations that serve the 11,000-member credit union industry. They include the Credit Union National Association, CUNA Mutual Group and the Credit Union Executive Society. The consortium is leading a survey of Wisconsin credit unions to gauge e-commerce practices and identify new opportunities. "E-commerce is the price of admission in today's business world," says Robert Ferderer, vice president of CUNA Mutual Group. "But part of the challenge is how we take this electronic commerce world and maintain the touch and the trust that credit unions have always had with their customers." Ferderer says it's a formidable challenge. Credit unions represent about 3 to 5 percent of the total resources within the financial services industry, yet they serve 70 million members nationwide. Ferderer says a possible outcome is for shared development networks that harness the collective power of credit unions across a region. Keeping abreast of vital technologies is important to all companies, but Veeramani says the consortium is less about technology networks than it is about human networks. "Ultimately we're talking about humans at the other end of the computer," he says. "Just because you create it, will they come? You really need to complement the technology of e-commerce with some fundamental changes in how business is conducted."
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How can a business harness the power of the Internet? Ideas flow freely when members of the newly formed Consortium for Global Electronic Commerce gather, as they did recently at UW-Madison's Fluno Center for Executive Education.
Related links: Consortium for Global Electronic Commerce World Affairs and the Global Economy Initiative |
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