E-Business+&+E-Commerce



 What is e-commerce?
** Electronic commerce **, commonly known as **e-commerce** or **eCommerce**, consists of the buying and selling of [|products] or [|services] over electronic systems such as the Internet and other [|computer networks]. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in [|electronic funds transfer], [|supply chain management] , [|Internet marketing] , [|online transaction processing] , [|electronic data interchange] (EDI), [|inventory management] systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the [|World Wide Web] at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as [|e-mail] as well. A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for [|virtual] items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as [|e-tailers] and online retail is sometimes known as **e-tail**. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the [|World Wide Web]. Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as [|business-to-business] or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. [|commodity exchange] ) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants ( [|private electronic market] ). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as [|business-to-consumer] or [|B2C]. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as [|Amazon.com]. [|Online shopping] is a form of electronic commerce where the buyer is directly online to the seller's computer usually via the internet. There is no intermediary service. The sale and purchase transaction is completed electronically and interactively in real-time such as Amazon.com for new books. If an intermediary is present, then the sale and purchase transaction is called electronic commerce such as [|eBay.com]. Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of [|e-business]. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions. Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following: § [|Email] § [|Enterprise content management] § [|Instant messaging] § [|Newsgroups] § [|Online shopping] and order tracking § [|Online banking] § [|Online office suites] § Domestic and international [|payment systems] § [|Shopping cart software] § [|Teleconferencing] § [|Electronic tickets] 

 Forms
Contemporary electronic commerce involves everything from ordering "digital" content for immediate online consumption, to ordering conventional goods and services, to "meta" services to facilitate other types of electronic commerce. On the consumer level, electronic commerce is mostly conducted on the World Wide Web. An individual can go online to purchase anything from books or groceries, to expensive items like real estate. Another example would be online banking, i.e. online bill payments, buying stocks, transferring funds from one account to another, and initiating wire payment to another country. All of these activities can be done with a few strokes of the keyboard. On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international business. Data integrity and security are very hot and pressing issues for electronic commerce today.  what are the different types of e-commerce?  ==== business-to-business (B2B);  B2B e-commerce is simply defined as e-commerce between companies. This is the type of e-commerce that deals with relationships between and among businesses. About 80% of e-commerce is of this type, and most experts predict that B2B e-commerce will continue to grow faster than the B2C segment. The B2B market has two primary components: e-frastructure and e-markets. ==== ====The more common B2B examples and best practice models are IBM, Hewlett Packard (HP), Cisco and Dell. Cisco, for instance, receives over 90% of its product orders over the Internet. ==== ====<span style="border: initial none initial; margin-bottom: 7.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> business-to-consumer (B2C);  Business-to-consumer e-commerce, or commerce between companies and consumers, involves customers gathering information; purchasing physical goods (i.e., tangibles such as books or consumer products) or information goods (or goods of electronic material or digitized content, such as software, or e-books); and, for information goods, receiving products over an electronic network.12  ==== ==== business-to-government (B2G);  Business-to-government e-commerce or B2G is generally defined as commerce between companies and the public sector. It refers to the use of the Internet for public procurement, licensing procedures, and other government-related operations. This kind of e-commerce has two features: first, the public sector assumes a pilot/leading role in establishing e-commerce; and second, it is assumed that the public sector has the greatest need for making its procurement system more effective.15 ==== <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">Web-based purchasing policies increase the transparency of the procurement process (and reduces the risk of irregularities). To date, however, the size of the B2G e-commerce market as a component of total e-commerce is insignificant, as government e-procurement systems remain undeveloped. <span style="display: block; padding-bottom: 2pt; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">

====<span style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;"> consumer-to-consumer (C2C);  Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce or C2C is simply commerce between private individuals or consumers. ==== <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">This type of e-commerce is characterized by the growth of electronic marketplaces and online auctions, particularly in vertical industries where firms/businesses can bid for what they want from among multiple suppliers.16 It perhaps has the greatest potential for developing new markets. <span style="display: block; padding-bottom: 2pt; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">

====<span style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;"> mobile commerce (m-commerce). M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless technology-i.e., handheld devices such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Japan is seen as a global leader in m-commerce. ==== <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">As content delivery over wireless devices becomes faster, more secure, and scalable, some believe that m-commerce will surpass wireline e-commerce as the method of choice for digital commerce transactions. This may well be true for the Asia-Pacific where there are more mobile phone users than there are Internet users. <span style="display: block; padding-bottom: 2pt; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"> <span style="border: initial none initial; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 7.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Industries affected by m-commerce include: Financial services ;Telecommunications ; Service/retail ; Information services.

==<span style="border: initial none initial; margin-bottom: 7.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> How are business relationships transformed through e-commerce? == <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">E-commerce transforms old economy relationships (vertical/linear relationships) to new economy relationships characterized by end-to-end relationship management solutions (integrated or extended relationships). <span style="display: block; padding-bottom: 2pt; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">

==<span style="border: initial none initial; margin-bottom: 7.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> How does e-commerce link customers, workers, suppliers, distributors and competitors? == <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">E-commerce facilitates organization networks, wherein small firms depend on “partner” firms for supplies and product distribution to address customer demands more effectively. <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">To manage the chain of networks linking customers, workers, suppliers, distributors, and even competitors, an integrated or extended supply chain management solution is needed.//Supply chain management// (SCM) is defined as the supervision of materials, information, and finances as they move from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. It involves the coordination and integration of these flows both within and among companies. The goal of any effective supply chain management system is timely provision of goods or services to the next link in the chain (and ultimately, the reduction of inventory within each link).29 <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">There are three main flows in SCM, namely: § The product flow, which includes the movement of goods from a supplier to a customer, as well as any customer returns or service needs; § The information flow, which involves the transmission of orders and the update of the status of delivery; and § The finances flow, which consists of credit terms, payment schedules, and consignment and title ownership arrangements. <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">Some SCM applications are based on open data models that support the sharing of data both inside and outside the enterprise, called the extended enterprise, and includes key suppliers, manufacturers, and end customers of a specific company. Shared data resides in diverse database systems, or data warehouses, at several different sites and companies. Sharing this data “upstream” (with a company’s suppliers) and “downstream” (with a company’s clients) allows SCM applications to improve the time-to-market of products and reduce costs. It also allows all parties in the supply chain to better manage current resources and plan for future needs.30 <span style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">** Figure 6. Old Economy Relationships vs. New Economy Relationships ** <span style="display: block; padding-bottom: 2pt; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;"> ==<span style="border: initial none initial; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 7.2pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> [] ==