Alibris (A)

Alibris is an Internet-era company, search and fulfillment services for hard-to-find (rare, used and out-of-print) books. At the time of the case, the company had made decisions to change its revenue model to get involved in the fulfillment process for each book sold it by the establishment of a cross-docking system, and acquire Oracle Internet Commerce Software . However, the implementation of this program has been very difficult, delaying the launch of the new business performance … Read more »

Alibris is an Internet-era company, search and fulfillment services for hard-to-find (rare, used and out-of-print) books. At the time of the case, the company had made decisions to change its revenue model to get involved in the fulfillment process for each book sold it by the establishment of a cross-docking system, and acquire Oracle Internet Commerce Software . However, the implementation of this program has been very difficult, delaying the launch of the new business performance and costs a lot of money at a time when money is tight. The company leaders who do not IT professionals must decide whether to continue with Oracle or start with another product.
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from
Andrew McAfee,
Kerry Herman
Source: Harvard Business School
12 pages.
Release date: 05 June, 2001. Prod #: 601111-PDF-ENG
Alibris (A) HBR case solution