Morten Rask

Companies that have been doing international business do not usually make the transition from traditional marketers to full-blown Web marketers in one sharp step. In our study of Danish firms, we found that in terms of the evolution of their Web strategies, these Danish companies went through three stages. We call these stages: 1) the Electronic Brochure, 2) the Electronic Manual, and 3) the Electronic Store. Moving from the Brochure to the Manual to the Store stage entails an increasing intensity of interaction between the company's website and its customers. Companies have to go through a learning process in terms of handling the rising degree of interaction intensity. The corporate organization has to evolve to meet the demands of increasing Web-based interactions. These demands are discussed in terms of automation, formalization, integration, and evaluation.