The focus of the following study is the analysis of the strategy for promotion of the Newham On-line Gateway and Extranet project. This project aims to end the cycle of deprivation prevalent in the borough through the use of Information and Communication Technology so as to build an infrastructure that would attract investment in the region. This is to be achieved by the integrating of intranets of the organisations in the borough into an Extranet as well as building Newham On-line as a Gateway to Information links internal and external to the borough. The project is currently in its developmental stage and initially focuses on attracting the support and co-operation of key organisational users.

It is the promotion to these organisations that this study analysis and it investigates the effectiveness of promotional efforts in securing the involvement of these target organisations. A synergy is thus sought between the promotion strategy and the profile of the target organisations. It is also intended, as a consequence of this study to develop a User Behaviour Model tailored to promotion of on-line services to target organisations. Based on the analysis of the results from primary research on response achieved through promotional efforts, recommendations will be made suggesting suitable amendments to the promotion strategy as well as additional modes of promotion.

• To review the strategy for promotion proposed by the Newham On-line steering group
• To understand and devise a user behaviour model
• To recommend a strategy detailing a viable promotion mix for Newham On-line services

The influence of the environment on the profile of the project detailed above can be gauged through an analysis of the political, economical, social and technological forces that affect it. Further, an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is conducted.

• Establishment of the Newham Gateway is a political issue as it requires agreement of all the partners who are in significant disagreement as to the implementation of the Gateway
• Newham aims to become the UK leader in the field and to build national and international awareness of Newham On-line’s achievements

• The project budget is solely revenue based and no income will arise from the operation of the project as the partnership is not a trading entity
• The Newham Gateway and Extranet are being designed to be economically self-sustaining
• The partnership intends to offer access that is free to individual users and not for profit organisations but charges a commercial rate to ‘for profit’ companies and charges at cost to public sector bodies. This intends to create a jointly-owned, profitable enterprise that re-invests locally
• As a poor area, Newham is affected by the reluctance by the private sector to invest in local communications infrastructure
• The project thus aims to facilitate and promote economic regeneration in this area

• The key objective of the project is to benefit the local community and to improve the Council’s service provision
• Provides opportunities for local businesses and opportunities for local people to gain jobs or skills in ICT sector
• The project intends to use the network to resolve local concerns and to build a shared vision for Newham and its people
• The technology is committed to supporting social inclusion rather than act as a barrier

• Due to backing by GPT - UK’s leading telecommunications company the project is supported by guaranteed technical capability
• The local existing communications infrastructure is not well integrated
• The opportunity to develop local expertise and products exists based on the broadband technology offered by the Teleregion
• The range of telematics projects being undertaken by LBN has synergy with this initiative and offers advantages to the key organisational users of telematics in Newham

• Bulk purchase of internet connectivity thereby making considerable savings for the partnership members
• Provides an entrance point to a network that will link local information providers
• Common security conventions of this network of networks makes it easier for users
• Benefits those who live, work and study in Newham and those visiting the area, trading or providing services within it
• Achieves synergy with other local telematics projects by providing local people with a first point of access to local services and information as well as sign-posting key external sources
• Newham is one of the national test-bed sites that enables lessons learnt in Newham to be applied to other locally focused UK telematics initiatives

• Increases opportunities for local businesses and for local people to gain jobs or skills in ICT sector
• To establish a facility that ensures local internet traffic is routed locally
• Would help to avoid unnecessary consumption of internet bandwidth and to achieve quicker response times
• Local people can develop their own home pages, clubs, on-line business and shops
• To establish a locally based community and market within cyberspace

• Newham is a poor area and results in reluctance by the private sector to invest in local communications infrastructure
• Some major potential benefits of the Extranet are only indirect outputs of the development project
• It is improbable that there will be a commercial benefit to companies in the short term
• Identity will be difficult to establish as it needs to be relevant to a wide range of goals and campaigns

• Main risk to delivery of the Newham Extranet is it taking longer than anticipated to secure agreement of common standards by the partners
• There is a significant disagreement within the wider partnership as to implementation of the gateway
• Insufficient companies are willing to suffer the short term costs needed to come to terms with electronic trading
• There is a danger of companies becoming disillusioned as a result of unrealistic expectations

The Newham On-line Gateway and Extranet project requires two stages of analysis. The first stage investigates the appropriateness of the promotion strategy put forward by the steering committee to the profile of the four target organisations described in the secondary research. This in turn necessitates a critical analysis of the promotion strategy followed by an assessment of its correlation to the organisational buying behaviour of the target organisations. This would form the basis for developing a user behaviour model which will be a tailored off-shoot of the business buyer behaviour model and the industrial buying process to suit this unique buying situation.

The second stage has two levels of analysis for each stage of feedback. An analysis of the feedback on the Partner’s Conference and the Post-conference feedback, would reveal its effectiveness as a promotional tool. This analysis would be both quantitative and qualitative and supported by graphically represented data. The first level of analysis would detail the implications of the response to individual variables. The second level of analysis would illustrate the significance of the data in combination of two variables. This would help to gain an in-depth understanding of the response to the project by the target organisations.

The stages of promotional planning and strategy put forward by Engel, Warshaw and Kinnear (1994) are useful in analysing the promotion strategy and its objectives. Of the stages mentioned in the review of literature, situation analyse, establishment of objectives and the management of program elements are relevant tools for analysis.

1. Demand : The on-line medium is gaining a critical mass audience and this emerging market is said to have a focus on the local market place. Research reveals that 24 million adults are perceived to be using the Web for local information and finding local community resources 1998 (Find/SVP,1997). This growth has fuelled the need for partnerships between networks from the private sector and that of the local authority to improve local service provision. Businesses of all sizes and types are finding the need to have a Web presence to be considered as serious competitors. On-line trading is gaining prominence as businesses realise its benefits. Newham as a poor area, is caught within a cycle of deprivation that offers no motivation for private sector investment in its local infrastructure. The Newham On-line project provides the much needed opportunity to break this cycle for the purpose of local regeneration. This also helps to deal with the demand for jobs and skills through the opportunities arising for the local people in the ICT sector. The large number of small and medium business enterprises within the Newham are require the boost that this project venture provides. Also, the Gateway and Extranet form the first step in creating an on-line consumer market in Newham as well as in trading on the internet as it is unprecedented by any Newham based SME in these areas. Further, given Newham’s wide cross-cultural profile, it provides an ideal test bed for the implementation of the Gateway and Extranet project which foresees the spread of this networking technology over the rest of England.

The project is initially limited to targeting local organisations and the number of organisations involved in the project will gradually increase from a selected ten organisations to as many as two hundred companies down the line when the project is up and running. At this stage, thus, promotion is targeted at a few select organisations and the public phase of the project with promotion to the public at large will be a part of a much later stage of the project.

Given that promotion is limited to a few target organisations initially, the decision making process of organisational buyers must be analysed. Here, the decision-making behaviour is similar to the Extended Problem Solving (EPS) type of consumer decision making behaviour as described by Engel, Warshaw and Kinnear (1994). Awareness of Newham On-line is equivalent to brand name awareness, This awareness was created through the Newham Recorder which is Newham Council’s news bulletin publication. It ran articles on the project when it was conceptualised and the site was set up. As the steering committee held meetings to discuss the progress of the project, the minutes of the meetings were published on the site. Mailing lists were then developed giving information to those interested in the project having gained knowledge of it by word-of-mouth. Awareness till this stage was fairly low profile. However, wider awareness was brought about through the conduct of the Partner’s Conference on the 9^th of July 1998. This conference not only profiled the details of the project but also helped target organisations gain knowledge of the benefits of the project. The second stage of analysis of the feedback on the conference discusses how well this was achieved. The conference aimed to provoke interest in the project and thus stimulate involvement of the target organisations. By developing this interest, the objective of creating the willingness of target organisations to connect to the Gateway and Extranet is achieved. This is similar to successfully motivating the consumer to having an intention to by the product. Finally, purchase of the product is equal to the involvement and connection to Newham On-line by target organisations. Interest and intention of involvement by target organisations needs to be created in the few organisations that are to be initially involved in the project. This, thus, requires definition and identification of target markets and can be done by segmenting, targeting and positioning in the market.

Segmentation: The market for the Newham On-line project can be divided into the following segments

1. Organisations in Newham with existing intranet networks
2. Organisations with computer networks
3. Organisations without computer networks
4. The Public

These segments are in order of the compatibility of their existing systems to the project. This forms a guide for giving priority to organisations most suitable to each stage of the project. Thus, it is easier to start the project by connecting organisations with existing intranets to form the Extranet. It would require the adoption of similar security protocol by the different intranets. The partners of Newham On-line would thus ideally fall into this segment as it would be easier to secure agreement between them. Given that there are only few organisations with existing intranet networks this is a small but very specific segment bearing a cross-sector profile that would make extension to the larger segments attractive.

Organisations having a basic computer network with possible access to the internet would be the second target segment. This segment requires a greater effort to achieve connectivity though it will benefit from the progress made on the initial phase of the project. These organisations may either be motivated to set up their own intranets to be connected to the Extranet or may gain direct access to the Extranet. The two possibilities need to be tested to successfully involve the organisations in this segment in the project.

The third segment is a segment that will be targeted during the later stages of the project. This segment would need to be informed and convinced of the benefits of being a part of the Gateway and Extranet in order to set up computer systems. Alternatively, possible access to the Gateway and Extranet through other public access sources may be recommended.

The fourth segment is the general public and marks the final segment to be targeted in the promotion strategy. This is a very diverse segment and promotion is phased so as not to create a greater demand then can be coped with in the early stages of the project.

Targeting: In general, promotion to organisations is aimed at attracting key people in the organisations to take on the role of champions in promoting the project to the rest of the organisation for its implementation. Within every organisation there are three target groups to whom promotion should be tailored. They are the Policy makers, the Technologists and the General Staff. Thus, all promotional tools would need to be modified to successfully promote the project to each of these groups.

In targeting organisations with an on-line presence and existing intranet networks in Newham, initially promotion by is word-of-mouth. By including the key people in these organisations in the project mailing list they are kept informed of the regular progress on the project and prompted to provide their feedback. Conferences highlighting the benefits and progress on the project are vital promotional tools and need to be supplemented with leaflets that target the three key groups of each organisation. Also information about the project should be carried on internal communication material within the organisation. As the profile of the organisations vary between governmental organisations, to business and educational enterprises, considerable effort is needed in developing a promotion mix to target the organisations. Thus, personal selling highlighting resource benefits to educational institutions may be more effective while leaflets highlighting profits from on-line trading to local businesses would be more attractive. A link between the objectives of the project and that of the organisation is crucial. The organisations in this segment largely comprise of the Partner’s in the project and promotion is thus fairly straightforward.

Organisations having computer networks would also be targeted in the same way as those in the first segment though benefits of integrating their organisations through an intranet would also need to be communicated. These organisations may require information and specialised help in setting up the network. To these two segments the offer of ten free interactive trading sites to be used as a focus for more public promotion to the business markets.

For those organisations without a computer network, facilities for access to the Gateway and Extranet need to be promoted. The advantages of having an on-line presence and of being connected to the Extranet would need to be the focus of promotional tools directed to these organisations. A good number of the organisations in Newham belong to this segment.

In targeting the general public, on-line and off-line advertising, leaflets, brochures and posters would be the relevant strategic promotional tools. Sources for public access to the Gateway and Extranet would have to be set up and the benefits of using consumer oriented facilities that were developed in the initial stages of the project by the organisational users would have to be highlighted. Mailing lists would be built up to meet the demand and to extend the market.

Positioning: Newham On-line has as its goal the aim to become the UK leader in the field. It intends to create the image and develop the confidence in its users that Newham can be a leading borough of London in terms of its attractiveness to investors and in its public services. This image is achieved by the wealth of information and opportunities made easily accessible through the Gateway and Extranet project. The project is also being designed to be user friendly, allaying the prejudice that is associated with computer based technology. Within the target organisations, the project is to be promoted by convincing the Policy makers of its suitability to the objectives of the respective organisation, the technologists of its advantages as a leading edge technology and the general staff of its ease of adoption and the job enrichment and security that it ensures. To the general public it will be projected as making their lives easier through on-line trading, banking, etc. and through access to information at the touch of a button.

3. Competition: Within the Newham region, the project is unrivalled. While Extranets and Gateways are in use in the US and in certain regions of Europe, Newham is to be used as a testing ground for the implementation of this technology in other regions of the UK. The need for businesses to have a Web presence and to be connected on-line is gaining importance among small, medium and large enterprises in order to be regarded as serious competitors. Businesses of all types and sizes are thus competing to secure an on-line space and market.

4. Legal Considerations: Security concerns are predicated to inhibit the process of extending intranets to Extranets. As Extranets are new, best practices for building them are just now emerging (Scott Mace, 1997). Further, it is essential that agreement of common standards by the partners is secured in establishing the Extranet.

SWOT Analysis: An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the promotion strategy put forward by the steering committee is useful in estimating its effectiveness.

• The promotion strategy aims to acquire the expertise and personally involve key individuals within all organisations using on-line technologies
• It aims to attract support and co-operation from public and ICT sector external suppliers of information
• Awareness among organisations on-line or not on-line and the general public about Newham On-line builds commitment to the use of ICT for local regeneration
• It aims to make Newham a leader in the field and create national and international awareness of Newham On-line’s achievements

• The identity for Newham On-line can be developed to represent a wide range of goals and campaigns
• Offer of free interactive trading to ten organisations could attract the involvement of other organisations and the public
• Contacts and resources of Partner organisations can be used to limit costs
• Promotion could help businesses not on-line to realise the benefits of ICT and thus create a demand

• No clear recognisable identity has been developed for Newham On-line as yet
• Promotion with the title ‘Newham On-line’ can be mistaken as promotion for the of Newham Council’s website
• Funding is a major limitation on promotional activities especially the lack of it
• Public phase of promotion is dependent on Newham Recorder’s narrow readership
• Project is not yet in a position to meet the demand created by public awareness of it
• Promotional tools such as advertising cannot be used effectively due to costs

• Funds may not be adequate to support optimum use of relevant promotional tools
• Implementation of the promotional strategy may reveal a need to reform the framework of the strategy or even redirect promotion to different segments
• Promotion to segments in the latter phase of promotion may be delayed or affected by the success of promotion to segments in the earlier phases

The framework of the objectives for promotion of Newham On-line broadly outlines what is to be achieved and prioritises some of the objectives. The objectives, however, while providing guidelines about which segments are to be targeted for promotions, fails to specify how this may be achieved. This is characteristic of projects in their initial phase of conception. Each objective and its relevance to the target organisations described earlier is analysed below.

This identity is to be created through a logo and a slogan that would communicate an image that links to all the target organisations and users of Newham On-line. As Newham On-line does not have such an established identity, this image can be created to symbolise the link and benefits that Newham On-line offers to its target organisations and users as well as the common thread among its adopters and users in providing this unified service. In creating this identity, care should be taken not to exclude, offend or promote a bias either towards particular types of organisations or towards any cultural groups. Thus, a cross-sector of organisations, i.e. Profit, not-for-profit, Educational, Council, Health Service organisations need to be given equal priority. The concept of regeneration with opportunities for a brighter future for business and the people who work and live in Newham need to be emphasised. Newham On-line currently is identified as Newham Council’s Website and this image has to be altered to attract the involvement of profit oriented organisations.

The skills and expertise of individuals described as champions for the project in promoting Newham On-line in their organisations are to be harnessed through this objective. These organisations only number a few and are chiefly the partner organisations of Newham On-line. Thus, the University of East London, the BEE Centre, Newham Health care Trust and Business Link all possess an on-line presence. Here, a concentration on technical expertise is required to build the Gateway and Extranet. By targeting these individuals, Newham On-line would move from being a virtual concept to a real diversity staffed organisation. The involvement of these individuals is thus fundamental to the success of the project and this is achieved by including them in the activities of the steering committee and inviting their input into the progress of the project. This would mean liaisons between individuals from different organisations and of different views. Thus, positions offered to recruited personnel needs to be delicately dealt with so that efficient levels of commitment and output are achieved.

Organisations, especially those in the public sector supplying information that supports the project are targeted through this objective. It does not, however, clearly prescribe what type of public sector organisations and what kind of information are needed to support the project. Judging from initial promotional efforts this would seem to be an effort to include as partners, charity organisations, health care services, councils, etc. This would build Newham On-line’s public service and information provision and open gateways to opportunities and information out of Newham.

Through this objective the aim to increase opportunities for local business and for local people to gain jobs and skills in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector can be pursued. This objective also suffers from lack of specificity for directing promotional efforts. External suppliers are targeted so as to build on the more basic infrastructure of information and communication technology within Newham. Promotion would thus need to highlight the benefits of investing in Newham and that Newham has the foundations for supporting such technological integration. These are the organisations targeted to be the partners in Newham On-line and it is in achieving this that organisations like BT, GPT, and Computer Access were targeted to help build the network.

This objective is key to building up the market for Newham On-line. The involvement of organisations in Newham with a Web presence as well as those having intranets that can be leveraged to connect up with the Extranet are targeted. As the objective intends to persuade local users to join Newham On-line, it reflects that the demand for it does not exist but that a demand must be created. Given that Newham’s technological infrastructure is basic and organisations in the area operate relatively unconnected, this demands significant efforts to amalgamate these diverse networks and their users into one on-line service. It is through this objective that the objectives of Newham On-line and those of organisations such as the University of East London, BEE, Newham Health care Trust and Business Link need to be linked.

Promoting Newham On-line to organisations that may or may not have a use for a Web presence or on-line technology is the task set by this objective. Promotion would thus need to educate as well as create a need for using on-line technology. This could mean a considerable change to the way these organisations work. Supply is the motivation for demand and awareness is to be created through personal introductions, on-line and off-line publication of information about the project. Due to budget limitations, effective promotional tools such as advertising are reduced to a minimum. The expertise and contacts of those involved in Newham On-line is relied on in targeting the Policy makers, technical and general staff of these organisations.

This objective is to be achieved in the latter phase of the project as it does not have the infrastructure to respond to a premature demand for information and service by the public on a large scale. Promotion would be handled through an agency which requires a budget. As an area requiring regeneration Newham does not have a public that has easy access to computer based technology. Thus, more opportunities for public contact with on-line services, are necessary. Advertising both above and below the line would be the key promotional tool and this may be also through courses for mastering the use of Newham On-line. This task has to be treated similar to building brand awareness for a consumer product.

h) Build local commitment to the use of ICT

The preceding objectives would help to promote the use of information and communication technology that would help to achieve Newham On-line’s vision of becoming the UK leader in this field. This intends to provide the infrastructure that makes investment in Newham’s regeneration process a successful venture. This commitment can be achieved by making ICT the backbone for both public and business activities.

This is the type of response that Newham On-line wishes to generate from its users. It is this image and commitment that can drive the regeneration process. Further as the projects to be implemented in other areas of UK following its success in Newham, it is essential that the users, both organisational and public are convinced of its role in making Newham the leader through this technology.

Promotion of Newham On-line’s achievements would follow from the success and extent of achieving the above objectives. Both on-line and off-line media can be used to spread awareness of these achievements nationally and internationally. Organisations involved in the project can help in promotion through their national and international presence and contacts. Further, involvement of Newham On-line in projects of a national or international nature would be a practical testimony to its success.

The results obtained from the primary research have been graphically represented in Appendix 1.

In rating the seminar overall,(Figure 1.1) 67.6% of the delegates rated it as very good. Equal percentages of 14.7% felt it was good and excellent respectively. 2.9% considered it to be a fair presentation and it did not receive a poor rating.

Comparable to the rating on the seminar, 67.6% felt they understood the project(Figure 1.2). 26.5% rated their understanding as excellent, while an equal proportion at 2.9% each had a good and fair understanding respectively. Overall, every delegate gained better understanding of the project through the seminar.

Rating for the seminar programme contents was varied between fair and excellent(Figure 1.3). 41.9% found the contents to be very good A reasonable 29% felt it was excellent. 12.9% rated the contents as good and 16.1% as fair.

A 100% positive response was received for the question of whether the programme content met the objectives of those attending (Figure 1.4).

The response to eagerness on attending further seminars on the project was very encouraging(Figure 1.5). 88.2% of the delegates were keen to attend future seminars while only 2.9% would not attend. 6.6% were, however, undecided.

To the crucial question of relevance of the project to the respective organisations of the delegates, the response ranged from fair to excellent(Figure 1.6). This indicates that none found it irrelevant to their organisation. A sizeable 43.8% of the delegates felt the project had excellent relevance to their organisation. 31.2% felt it was very good and 21.9% found it to be good. 3.1% saw little relevance.

Further involvement in the project work by members of target organisations was opted for by 69% of them (Figure 1.7). 25% felt uncertain at this stage due to either time constraints or for want of more information. Only 2%, however, did not want to be involved. Some delegates emphasised their involvement as a team from their organisation. This is overall a encouraging response though it identifies the need for greater promotional efforts towards a good quarter of the target organisations.

Among those who rated the seminar as fair all are uncertain as to whether they will participate in the future. The delegates who felt it was a good seminar are all positive about their inclination for future involvement in the project. 68.2% of those who found the seminar to have been very good in terms of overall effectiveness are willing to participate in the project, while 22.7% are undecided (Figure2.1) . 9.1% of the delegates, however, do not want to be involved. Delegates rating the seminar as excellent are split equally between ‘yes’ and ‘not sure’ in their response to participation in the progress of the project.

A comparison between understanding levels of the attendees and content relevance to their organisation’s objective showed that all who felt their understanding was fair felt that relevance was excellent (Figure2.2). All who felt their understanding was good felt relevance was fair. 28.6% of those with a very good understanding felt relevance was fair. 42.9% felt it was good. 14.3% felt it was very good and excellent respectively. Of those who felt their understanding was excellent, 25% felt relevance was fair while 50% felt it was good. 12.5% felt relevance was very good and excellent respectively.

On comparing the level of understanding of the project by the delegates to their interest in getting more involved personally an overall positive inclination is observed(Figure 2.3). All who felt their level of comprehension was fair would like to be involved in the project. Similarly, those who felt their understanding of the project was good as well as those who felt it was excellent are both positive about their personal involvement with the project. Among the delegates with a very good level of comprehension of the project through the seminar, 82.6% are certain of the future involvement. 13% are not sure, while 4.3% are unwilling to be involved.

From a comparison between project relevance to individual organisations and their willingness to be involved in the project, a perspective of the immediate market for the service can be formed. All who felt the relevance of the project to their organisation was fair were uncertain about their future involvement. An equal proportion of 49.2% of the delegates with the opinion that project relevance to their organisation is good felt they were certain and uncertain of their participation respectively(Figure 2.4). 14.3% were not willing to be involved. Among those who judged the project to have very good relevance to their organisation, 90% are positive about being involved with the project, while 10% are yet to decide. A variance is observed among the delegates finding the project of excellent relevance to their individual organisations in terms of their future involvement in the project. 76.9% felt they will participate, while 15.4% are not certain as yet. 7.7% however are not willing to be involved despite the relevance of the project to their organisational who felt their comprehension of the project was fair found it to be excellently relevant to their organisation’s objectives. However, all who felt their understanding was good felt that the relevance to their organisation’s objectives was only fair. Among those who rated their comprehension as very good, 28.6% found it to be of fair relevance while 42.9% felt the relevance was good. Equal number of delegates with a very good understanding of the project felt it was very good and excellent relevance respectively. A quarter of those who felt their understanding level was excellent rated the relevance of the projects as only fair. 50% of them found it to be good in terms of relevance while it was rated to be of very good and excellent relevance by 12.5% of the delegates with excellent understanding of the project respectively.

The Newham and the Net seminar was attended by 49 representatives of Partner and interested organisations. Of the 49, 25 represented organisations that were not currently partners in the Newham On-line partnership. This demonstrates that the effectiveness of the conference in attracting a response as the number of people and organisations attending expressed as a percentage of those already involved was 50%. Among the members attending the seminar, 14 were involved in the conduct and presentation of the seminar, or were currently working for Newham On-line. This reduced the feedback sample size to 35, constituting delegates from Partner organisations and from other target organisations. Feedback provided by this sample size gives significant importance to each percentage.

Asked to comment on the conference overall, the delegates considered it to be a well-organised presentation o Newham On-line. The choice of venue was commended and so was the technical demonstrations such as the use of the smartcard as an illustration of the benefits of the technology. However, there was a general opinion that the seminar did not detail the benefits or the role that various individual organisations would have in Newham On-line. This was a crucial link that was evaded given that the project is in the early stages and still lack specificity in its objectives. It was, however, effective in increasing the level of understanding of the delegates about the project. To gain this understanding was specified as a motivation factor for the delegates in attending the seminar as well as to seek opportunities for collaboration. Understanding that the project was in the development stage, most felt that the seminar content was comprehensive in its presentation of related issues. One critical issue that was mentioned as not adequately dealt with was what was the way forward. It would thus be necessary to follow up this conference with possibly another conference as a good number of delegates (88%) are in favour of attending future seminars. Although relevance of the project to target organisations did not receive a negative response, not all are certain of its absolute relevance. Promotion should thus be built around building this relevance. A clear direction is also necessary for those willing to be personally involved in the project so that their appropriate skills are taken advantage of.

Based on the analysis of the feedback on the Partner’s Conference, further feedback was sought from those delegates who would like to get more involved with project. As evidenced by the foregone analysis, 69% of the delegates were inclined to future involvement. A Post-conference feedback questionnaire was used to comprehend their reaction towards and opinion about Newham On-line and its relation to their individual organisations. Of the 35 delegates who provided initial feedback on the Conference, 21 wanted to be involved.

Information about Newham On-line provided to the representatives was considered to be sufficient to communicate it to the rest of the organisation by 90.5% of the representatives(Figure 3.1). 9.5% felt it was not convincing enough and no one felt it was impossible to communicate the information they had gathered. This illustrates the effectiveness of the modes of information provision used such as the Conference and through electronic mail.

On the issue of whether their organisation would benefit from being a part of Newham On-line, 95.2% of the representatives were positive about it (Figure 3.2). 4.8% felt that they were not sure as yet about the benefits. Although this is an outstanding majority in favour of the benefits to individual organisations, a qualitative study of related responses reveals a lot of uncertainty about the nature of these benefits despite this positive response.

A reassuring 100% positive response was received on the question of the viability of the venture in the opinion of the attending representatives(Figure 3.3).

71.4% of the represented organisations are in favour of being involved in the project right now(Figure 3.4). All the delegates felt their organisation would want to be involved at some stage, with 19% opting to be involved when the projects is up and running. 9.6% would prefer to be involved during the intermediate stages of the progress of the project.

Comparable to the response on how viable the venture was viewed to be, was the response to the question of how receptive individual organisations were to this project(Figure 3.5). All participating representatives were certain that their organisation would be receptive to being involved in Newham On-line and this tallies with the response that all the organisations would like to be involved at some stage or other of the project.

To the question on the preferred choices among the modes of receiving more information about Newham On-line, communication through E-mail or Royal mail, through published updates and through other conferences were the most popular(Figure 3.6). 96% of the representatives would prefer an on-line mode of communication through E-mail. 80% would be interested in published updates on the project progress and 55% are willing to attend more conferences. A tour on the website is also considered to be a suitable mode for promotion of newham On-line’s activities by 45% of the representatives. 25% would like to get information through representatives from newham On-line while no suggestions were given for additional modes of communication.

Comparing the adequacy of the information about the project in communicating it to the rest of the organisation with the foreseeable benefits to the organisation, all who felt it was adequate also felt it was beneficial to be involved . Even those who felt they needed more information felt there were benefits to be reaped from the project.

75% of the representatives who felt their organisation would benefit form being involved with Newham On-line are in favour of being involved right now. 15% prefer to be involved when the project is up and running and 10% opted for involvement during intermediate stages. All who were unsure of the benefits, however, prefer to be involved when the project is up and running.

Given the sample size of 21, every response is significant in its contribution to percentages on responses. The response to whether sufficient information has been provided about Newham On-line ties in with the success of the Conference, as illustrated by the feedback on the first questionnaire. However, relating this response to the question of what more information is needed to be involved in Newham On-line, some discrepancies become evident. Key issues about the resources that will sustain the project, about the project’s specific objectives and how it relates to individual organisations have not been understood. Thus in communicating the project’s purpose to the rest of organisation, the representatives would be unable to substantiate vital questions on the project. Some members who felt a want of information, however, were positive that their organisation would benefit from being involved, while some who felt they understood the project were, were doubtful of its benefits to their organisation. This is possibly due to a positive image about the benefits of On-line technology in the former case and a more critical knowledge about the benefits of on-line technology in the latter. While E-mail was the most opted for as a mode of receiving information, a majority of the representatives preferred to receive information once a month or whenever these were new developments.

Although all the representatives were certain of the viability of the project, a considerable number raised doubts about funding for the projects as well as the availability of sufficient resource infrastructure in Newham to support the venture. These were regarded as the main limitations to the project. Another significant limitation that was highlighted was the image of Newham On-line as a Council project and a Council website. This was perceived as a key factor in reducing the attractiveness of the project to business organisations. Questions on profitability, funding, objectives and nature of target market arise as a consequence of this image. Further, the objectives of the project are identified to be as non-specific and more ambitious than practically possible. Every represented organisation is described to be receptive to the venture though there is a variance as to the time when they would like to be individually involved. This reflects the level of technological advancement the individual organisation has to connect up to the Extranet. This would require a greater demand on resources as well as be more time-consuming for organisations which lack the necessary infrastructure. Also, organisations may be committed to other projects on hand which would delay their involvement to a more convenient period. Thus, there are comparable number of organisation willing to be involved right now and when the project is up and running.

Awareness of similar projects elsewhere were minimum and this is largely because of this project being unprecedented in the UK A few sophisticated projects such as Melbourne’s Citysearch were identified as related projects. Recommendations for the involvement of these organisations in the project by those now involved constituted other major business enterprises, major employers and educational centres in Newham.

Based on the foregone analysis on the promotion strategy directed to the users of Newham On-line, a user behaviour model can be developed as a modification of the business buyer behaviour model and the industrial buying process illustrated in the literature review. This model focuses on the organisational users of Newham On-line to whom the project is being initially promoted. it provides a simple illustration of the process involved in getting these organisations to become users of Newham On-line and connecting to the Gateway and Extranet.

In applying the eight stages of the industrial new-task buying process, know as the buyphases, as put forward by Robinson et. al to Newham On-line, a bottom-up approach to the model is applicable. Thus, here it is the supply that creates the demand. This, thus , eliminates certain buyphases such as supplier search and proposal solicitation. Collaborating this model with Kotler’s business buyer behaviour model provides a comprehensive tailored on-line user behaviour model as illustrated below in Diagram 6.1

This model illustrates the influence of the environment on the organisational user in eliciting a user response. The environment is described by marketing and other stimuli.

Service: This is equivalent to product in the four P’s. It is the stimulus arising from the concept of on-line services.

Costs: This takes the place of price and represents the costs involved in setting up the resources and in maintaining links to the Gateway and Extranet.

Links: Akin to place, these are the distribution channels on the virtual information highway. Thus, it indicates accessibility to information in the virtual world of information technology.

Promotion: These are the promotional efforts offered as stimuli to the target organisation to be involved in the project.

Economic: Considerations of the economic climate that will influence the project’s progress and sustainability.

Technological: Advances in this field form key competitive stimuli that urge organisations to adopt new inventions or technology based services.

Political: The political forces both external and internal to the organisation are factors that govern the involvement of organisation in the project. This includes inter-organisational political implications which is a key issue in securing agreement of common standards among partner organisations in Newham On-line.

Cultural: The identity adopted by the service can affect the involvement of target organisations. With a diverse cultural profile in Newham, Newham On-line requires a cross-cultural image as well as animate representing diverse organisations such as profit, non-profit, educational, etc. to link to the culture of target organisations.

Competitive: Competitive forces compel organisations to adopt up-to-date strategic tools such as on-line services and on-line trading in order to be considered as serious competitors in the market place. In this context, a Web presence is becoming crucial for organisational survival.

Within each organisation, decision-making is a task influenced by the roles of the Policy makers, the Technologists and the General staff. These constitute the buying centre of the business buying situation. While interpersonal and individual influences operate at this level, organisational influences characteristic to the nature of the organisation operate at the organisational user level. These influences combine together to impact on the user decision process undertaken by the decision makers. Here, a bottom-up approach to the buyphases puts supply before demand.

Service Evaluation: An awareness is created and an assessment made of the on-line service and its benefits aided by promotional efforts through conferences and on-line updates.

Need Recognition: A need for having an on-line presence or for linking up to the Gateway and Extranet is identified.

Gap Identification: Gaps are identified between the requirements of the project and the current structure and resources of the organisation.

Strategic Stretch: Efforts are now made to close the gaps that have been identified and to stretch the organisation by acquiring the lacking resources or making relevant structural changes to fit the demands arising from this strategic move.

Performance Review: A review of the effectiveness of the organisation’s involvement in the project is made using set measures of effectiveness.

This decision making process culminates in User Responses:

Common Standards Adoption: The organisation adopts the common standards set down by the partnership of the on-line service to make the service user friendly.

Security Protocol: These are outlined by individual organisation to provide controlled access to organisation specific information.

Link-up: Connection of the organisation’s network to the on-line service is achieved thus making the link operational.

On-line Consumer Service Delivery: The organisation now deals with the demands from the on-line consumer market.

The business buyer behaviour model and the industrial buying process, when individually applied to this specific buying situation fail to address the aspects specific to this process. This is chiefly because what is being bought is not a product, but is a service and is more specifically the concept of linking up to the on-line service. Thus, factors specific to product properties do not relate but can be translated to factors relating to the on-line service through the user behaviour model.

Relating this model to the target organisations reviewed earlier, it can be seen that the influences and response by the organisation reflect the computability between the existing structure and resources of the organisation with the project profile. The University of East London, has in comparison a sophisticated intranet that allows it to be involved in the Extranet and Gateway project during the developmental stages. The BEE centre being a smaller enterprise has a smaller network with specific links to information on the net. As a key organisational user of on-line services given its Web presence, it qualifies as a target organisation for promotion. Business Link, similarly, is a growing enterprise providing support for East London based businesses and thus offering links to related information sites. Newham Health care Trust and London City Airport offer fewer links in comparison. Their Web sites provide general information about them but are fairly low profile in terms of user interactivity. Thus, while UEL would have a comparatively smaller gap in resources, Newham Health care Trust and London City Airport would have the greatest gap and demand on resources among the above five target organisations. Business Link and the BEE Centre would be required to make a relatively lower effort on strategic stretch compared to the latter for involvement in Newham On-line.

The Newham-On-line Gateway and Extranet project is a key project in the effort to regenerate Newham that would attract investment in the borough as well as improve opportunities for the people living and work up in Newham. The Newham-On-line project aims to build commitment to create an efficient information and communication technology-based infrastructure that would help terminate the cycle of deprivation circulating within Newham. In creating this on-line service, the project integrates Key organisational users of on-line services during the initial phase of the project and organisations with or without an on-line presence and the public during the latter phase of the project.

It is the promotion to the key organisational users that has been the focus of the foregone study. This study has been made through an analysis of the promotional strategy proposed by the steering committee of the project and of its relevance in terms of effectiveness to target organisations described as the Key organisational users. An evaluation of the effectiveness of this promotion was made possible through the use of the Partner’s conference, an important event in the project work- plan, as a promotional tool. Analysis of the feedback to the conference reveals the receptiveness of target organisations to the project. It also highlights discrepancies in promotional objectives and the foreseeable limitations to the project’s progress. These are perceived through the post-conference follow-up feedback analysis.

From the results, it is evident that response to the project is positive and encouraging. The conference was commended as an effective mode of providing information about Newham-On-line. 60% of the attending delegates were in favour of being involved in the project and among them, 71% would like to be involved in the developmental stages. As much as 97% of the delegates were positive of a good degree of relevance of Newham-On-line to their organisation. The discrepancies in these positive responses surface on combination of variables, thus revealing the hurdles that the delegates foresee Newham-On-line to encounter despite being a viable venture. Much doubt is cast on the source of funds for sustaining the project. Further, promotional goals are non-specific in their framework and the objectives fail to shed light on how they might be achieved. Newham-On-line may currently be described to be in what is known as an Identity crisis. Its current image as a Council website fails to give it a universal appeal to other organisations in Newham. Organisations preferring a commercial image to the project are thus deterred. More importantly, questions of who will claim the laurels for achievements through the integrated On-line service have arisen. It is also in charge of being labelled as community gateway to council services. These issues highlight the crucial need to develop and promote an identity that encompasses the identity of a cross-sector of target organisations and related projects right at the developmental stage.

Although promotion through the conference and through mailing lists have helped target organisations gain an understanding of the project, analysis exposes a lack of comprehension by these organisations of how they may be individually involved and benefited. It is important for promotion to be phased so as to eliminate this discrepancy. It is recommended that promotion modes using internal communication channels within target organisations be employed to achieve organisational involvement in the project. Care should be taken not to set achievements beyond the capacity of the venture. Thus, what is promoted should be delivered to evade discouragement. Given that Newham is a poor area with limited access for its people to information and communication technology, facilities offered by the On-line service are more accessible to the affluent sector of the public. This needs to be rectified by providing inexpensive access to the service and opportunities for training and attaining skills in the ICT sector. This demands considerable investment in a broad infrastructure throughout Newham.

Based on the correlation of the promotional objectives to the profile of the target organisations and the framework provided by Kotler’s business buyer behaviour model and the Industrial buying process, a user behaviour model has been developed. This model is tailored to the characteristics of this buying situation. As an On-line service, it is the involvement of target organisations that is being promoted. Unlike a product, buying into the concept of the On-line is influenced by the policy-makers, technologists as well as the general staff, who together form the buying centre. Further, it is the supply that creates the demand and recognition of the need. Thus, the decision process followed by the user of the On-line service to acquire an On-line market is a bottom-up process. The model helps perceive the environmental and organisational influences on the organisation in eliciting a response. It is, thus, an appropriate model that can be used to structure promotional efforts to target organisations.

In conclusion, the Newham On-line Gateway and Extranet is a dynamic project that has the potential to effectively use telematics, a combination of information and communication technologies, to boost Newham to the heights of a UK leader in the field. Incremental changes to the design of the project work plan are essential to tune it to the features of its environment. The success of the project would, thus, be instrumental in overcoming barriers to investment in Newham.

From the preceding analysis of the promotional goals of the Newham On-line Gateway and Extranet project, it is recommended that,

• a clear identity be created for Newham On-line that eliminates its confusion with the Newham Council Web site
• a commercial dimension be added to the image to ensure its financial sustainability
• the promotional objectives be made specific and set guidelines for implementation
• the user behaviour model developed in this study be used to structure promotional efforts to target organisations
• promotion modes using internal communication channels within target organisations be employed to achieve organisational involvement
• it be ensured that the project does not suffer the danger of becoming a community gateway to council services
• inexpensive access to Newham On-line for the general public be made available to ensure its widespread service as a valuable link to information and communication.