InformationWeek

Heyes says the decision to merge and acquire was prompted by the need to move fast. "The others in our space aren't the enemy--time is the enemy." And ownership, rather than partnership, gives USBid.com nimble feet. "Obviously, if you don't have partners, you don't have to get permission before you move forward," he says.

But the need for speed has to be balanced with smart business practices. So for its expansion into Asia, USBid.com will look for partners. "We'll have to do Asia differently, probably with a joint venture. That's because of the way business is done in Asia," Heyes says.

Office Depot Inc. is also leveraging a merger with Viking Office Products Inc. to move its E-commerce ventures overseas. While Viking was a U.S. company headquartered in Los Angeles, at the time of the merger it operated 26 facilities in 11 countries and did more than $1 billion in sales overseas. The year-old merger gave Office Depot an international sales infrastructure that it can leverage for global E-commerce. Already, three E-commerce sites have opened under the Viking division; a German site opened in February, and sites in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands opened in March.

Office Depot CIO Bill Seltzer says locally based managers are a necessity for international expansion. "What made Viking so successful overseas," he says, "is that it hired country managers who understand cultural differences."

United didn't need to merge, acquire, or partner to build overseas E-commerce footholds; it already flies to markets around the world. And United had a Web presence overseas; it operated 22 sites outside the United States that featured local content presented in the local language. But it wasn't until March that the airline began selling tick-ets online outside North America.

"Two-and-a-half years ago, without a lot of coordination, the local country offices developed sites that were largely brochureware," says Adam Levy, United's director of international E-commerce, who's charged with overseeing the airline's international sites, strategic partnerships, and wireless initiatives.

United is taking a more aggressive approach. Following a redesign of its U.S. site in January, United launched the new www.uk.ual.com with an airline ticket-booking engine. Next will be Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan. Levy says the core of each site will be finely tuned transaction functions it developed with the help of GetThere.com, a corporate travel-procurement Web site.

In addition, United will add "the cultural elements as well as the languages and currencies to make it a meaningful experience for each market," says Rick Collins, director of Internet marketing at United.

To do that, United--like Office Depot--will rely on local managers. "At the end of the day, our local product managers have the best insight into local market conditions," Levy says.

United has designed a Web site template that governs how the site looks and feels. For example, on the site's left side is a navigation function that lets visitors find content. On the right side are United promotions that reflect local conditions and markets.

Competition is forcing United to move quickly, and the airline is willing to consider options other than going it alone. Two travel E-commerce sites, Travelocity.com and Expedia.com, already have booking engines to serve the U.K. market. "When you look at the international market, there are opportunities to strike large strategic partnerships with third parties to accelerate the process," Collins says. "We're exploring everything."

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