Harnessing the Web for business decision-making

An exploratory study investigated the use of the Web in eight high-tech manufacturing and service companies that were identified in a survey prepared by Coopers and Lybrand, Atlanta Georgia. Seventeen middle and senior management decision-makers were interviewed. A set of structured questions focused on the activity of using the Web in the company and how the Web was used in corporate decision-making. Results showed that there were differences between companies with respect to the type of information that users sought on the Web for decision-making, but there were no differences in the ways that the information was used. The World Wide Web Information System, 1997, was developed, as was a Decision flow chart using four study participants in the same company, and a Web use questionnaire for future use.