A business does its work on two legs. One leg is built of information such as sales leads， orders， production planning， procurement orders， work schedules， cash receiving， and accounting review and feedback. The other leg is built of the bricks and mortar① every product-oriented business needs to have in place—whether it owns it or out source it—to build and deliver the goods according to the requirements provided in the information process.The critical issue facing manufacturers is the ability to synchronize② the two legs so that they work together.
Regardless of what you call it—.com， e-commerce， e-business， B2B—it’s all about moving and translating information faster， cheaper， and better with 100 percent accuracy through communication channels and networks with incredible accessibility for everyone， including all employees， suppliers， and customers. This has done much to change the landscape for information management and control， giving rise to the “virtual” company.
However， if this faster and better information is not translated into better customer service and response， its value will be diminished. Our objective is not better and faster information but rather better， faster， higher-value products and services to customers.
Fix this problem， and the e-commerce solution provides the promised payback. Adjust your business and manufacturing planning processes to work with better and faster information through a business process improvement project that works in concert with the new economy.
“Virtual” is only relevant to the location of the people using the information. The job of translating， combining， sorting， and using information still takes place in a manufacturing plant where real people are still making the tangible③， real products that customers want. What happens when the manufacturing plant cannot process the ordering information， for instance， at the speed of the communication network？
Everything slows down to the throughput④ capacity of the constraint—in this case the manufacturing plant-resulting in under-utilization of expensive information gathering capability， dissatisfied managers， stressed employees， and， most importantly， unhappy customers who have not had their expectation met.
There is no value or promise of great improvements from e-commerce or B2B processes if the systems constraint， more efficient manufacturing， related business processes， and distribution are not part of the solutions equation.
① mortarn. 灰浆，灰泥；粘合物[U]
② synchronizev. 使协调；使同步
③ tangibleadj. 非想像的；实际的
④ throughputn. ［电脑］吞吐量，总处理能力
信息时代的商业活动
实现商业活动依靠两种方法。第一种方法以工作流程导向，构成信息有：销售引导、订单、产品计划、订单获取、工作安排、现金回收和会计审查和反馈。第二种方法以产品为导向，注重一针一线；不管产品是你自己公司的还是从外公司引进的，各个商业关键点要求到位，这样才能根据信息处理提供的要求去生产和发送货物。现在制造商面临的关键问题是要有能力同步这两种方法让他们协同工作。
不管你怎样称呼它——.com、e-商务、e-交易或者B2B——它所有能包含的只是移动和传送信息，只不过要求更快、更便宜、通过通讯渠道和网络时的百分之百准确的更佳性能和不可思议的被包括雇员、供应商和客户访问的更广泛性。这些要求具有超越般的影响，能大大改变信息处理和控制领域，也给予了这些“虚拟”公司崭露头角的机会。
然而，如果这些更快更好的信息的结果不是更好的客户服务和回复，它的价值会有所贬低。我们的目的不是更好更快的信息，而是客户认可的更好更快更高价值的产品和服务。
为了解决这个问题，e-商务解决方案提供可保证的回报。新经济模式下运作的改进性商业处理方案能够提供更好更快的信息，在这些信息的指导下，调整你的商业和加工计划方案，你就会得到这些回报。
“虚拟”只是和使用信息的人的位置相应的。人们在加工厂里制作具体和现实的产品以供客户使用，而转化、结合、分类和使用信息的工作也发生在加工厂里。举例来说，在加工厂不能以通信网络的速度来处理订单信息时会发生什么情况？
生产能力的约束要降低各个方面的速度——处于这种情况下的加工厂——将导致不能充分利用昂贵的信息收集能力，管理者不满意，雇员有压力，且最重要的是，客户不能达到自己的预期而不高兴。
这就没有任何价值，或者说，如果总的系统约束了e-商务或B2B的处理能力，e-商务或B2B系统也不能保证有巨大的回报，更有效的加工能力、相关的商业处理和物流分配不属于解决方案中的一部分。