Resolving the complexity dilemma in e‐commerce firms through objective organization

The escalating rate of activity in the e‐commerce arena over the past ten years increasingly supports the noumenon of a viable new mode of business activity. Unfortunately, the most recent few years have seen many of the most prominent of these ventures struggle fiscally (and sometimes die altogether). As concern surfaces regarding the viability of these business ventures, the discussion should shift from the worth of the business plan to the appropriateness of the organization used to deliver that plan. In what may be a classic case of putting new wine into old wine skins, high technology firms must look closely at whether the potency of an Internet‐based firm can operate effectively within the confines of a standard bureaucracy.