You can use the business value chain model to identify areas where information systems will improve business processes. You can also benchmark your business processes against your competitors or others in related industries, and identify and implement industry best practices.
Benchmarking involves comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of your business processes against strict standards and then measuring performance against those standards.
Industry best practices are usually identified by consulting companies, research organizations, government agencies, and industry associations as the most successful solutions or problem-solving methods for consistently and effectively achieving a business objective.
A firm's value chain is linked to the value chains of its suppliers, distributors, and customers.
Information systems can be used to achieve strategic advantage at the industry level by working with other firms to develop industry-wide standards for exchanging information or business transactions electronically, which force all market participants to subscribe to similar standards. Such efforts increase efficiency, making product substitution less likely and perhaps raising entry costs.,
Internet technology has made it possible to create highly synchronized industry value chains called value webs. A value web is a collection of independent firms that use information technology to coordinate their value chains to produce a product or service for a market collectively. It is more customer-driven and operates in a less linear fashion than the traditional value chain.