Abstract
This chapter focuses on the active role of the consumer as a supply chain manager in web-based products, which are an important part of contemporary international business. The situation in which the consumer is opening the Web is analogous to the situation in which a tourist is beginning her trip to a tourism destination, or when the customer is switching on the television (Ferguson & Perse, 2000): she decides mostly the content and the order of the services in the supply chain (Rusko et al., 2009). Analogically, the web surfer decides the content of her “virtual trip” on the Web. The history of the Web is still relatively short. In the long term, the basic underlying needs of customers might be relatively constant. Only the means and the technology are changing. Therefore, analogies such as watching television or taking a trip might tell more about the basic underlying needs and habits of the customer during her trip to the Web, and these analogies and found explanations might be fruitful for international business and marketing strategists. The virtual trip to the Web consists of the platforms and the contents of the various content providers. While traveling on her virtual trip, the consumer is the supply chain manager of her personal experience product. Furthermore, depending on the degree of the activity of the consumer, she is possibly the content provider in different products and platforms during her virtual trip to the Web and in its social media and other virtual platforms.
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© 2015 Angelo A. Camillo
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Rusko, R. (2015). The Specific Role of Consumers in Global Enterprise Management: Controller of the Supply Chain in Web-Based Experiences. In: Camillo, A.A. (eds) Global Enterprise Management. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137510709_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137510709_5
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