Lecture 2 - The World of e-Business

Question 1

Electronic commerce

Answer 1

The buying and sellign of information, products and services via the Internet and the World Wide Web

Question 2

Types of e-Commerce

Answer 2

• Business to Consumer (Bol.com, Ryanair, Booking.com, Netflix etc.)
  o E-commerce between organizations and individual consumers
• Business to Business (e-Business) (Alibaba)
  o E-commerce between businesses
  o Accounts for a much larger portion of e-commerce than business to consumer
• Business to administration
  o The accounting part a company needs to do with stakeholders and government (e.g. tax)
• Consumer to administration
  o Same as B2A but on the consumer side

Question 3

Electronic Business

Answer 3

The conduct of transactions by means of electronic communications networks (e.g., via the Internet and/or possibly private network) end-to-end.
It’s about servicing customers & collaborating with business partners, distributors and suppliers to respond with flexibility and speed to customer demands and market opportunities (less advertising, more rational way of working)

Question 4

Internet-based e-Business

Answer 4

Publicly accessible network to reach the widest possible number of trading partners

Question 5

Purposes of e-Business

Answer 5

• Collaborative product development
  o Apple partnered with Garmin for maps
• Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment
  o Share information of supply and demand to have less inventory and more just-in-time
• Procurement and order management
  o Split an order and collaborate with your partners
• Operations and logistics.
  o Organize the movement and shipment of products

Question 6

What are the ingredients of an e-Business solution?

Answer 6

Customers, CRM, Web selling, Finance/auditing/management control, ordering, purchasing, production, delivery, supply chain, e-markets, distributors, suppliers, partners, stakeholders

Question 7

Roles of e-Business

Answer 7

o Manage multiple selling channels.
o Ability to take multiple types of orders from customers.
o Ability to differentiate and customize products and services from other suppliers.
o Ability to adapt and grow the e-Business without dramatic technology changes, organizational restructurings, business processes or radical new investments.
–> Empower suppliers and buyers & enable suppliers of all sizes!

Question 8

Requirements for e-Business

Answer 8

• Identify/measure quantifiable business objectives (KPIs)
• Ensure organizational/operational flexibility (skilled capacity)
• Re-think entire company supply chains (mindset and capabilities)
• Transform the company to a process-centric one
  o Define business processes
• Understand (cyber)security requirements
• Align business organizations with a flexible IT architecture
• Establish ubiquity within standards
  o Efficient process management
  o Efficient enterprise integration technology

Question 9

Advantages of e-Business

Answer 9

• Improved operational efficiency and productivity.
• Reduction in operating costs and costs of goods and services.
• Improved competitive position.
• Penetration into new markets through new channels.
• Harmonization and standardization of processes (to be able to recompose later).
• Improved relationships with suppliers and improved customer service.

Question 10

Inhibitors of e-Business

Answer 10

• Management/Strategy Issues
  o Lack of a clearly defined e-Business strategy/vision
  o Organizational changes required by e-Business
  o Management attitudes and organizational inflexibility
• Cost/Financing
  o Costs of implementation of e-Business (keep in control)
  o Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI)
• Insufficient security & trust
• Legal issues
• Technology Concerns
  o Limited interoperability as most existing applications depend on proprietary solutions which do not interoperate.