1. Electronic Commerce Semester 1 Term 1 Lecture 3

2. Types of E-Commerce There are three distinct general classes of e-commerce: –Inter-organisational (business-to-business/B2B) –Intra-organisational (within business) –Business to consumer (B2C)

3. Inter-Organisational E- Commerce From a B2B perspective, e-commerce facilitates the following business applications: –Supplier management –Inventor management –Distribution management –Channel management –Payment management

4. Intra-Organisational E-Commerce The purpose of intra-organisational applications is to help a company maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value including: –Workgroup communications –Electronic publishing –Sales force productivity

5. Business-to-Consumer E- Commerce In B2C transactions, customers learn about products through electronic publishing, buy products with electronic cash or other secure payment systems and have information delivered over the network E-commerce facilitates social interaction, personal finance management and purchasing products and information

6. Intermediaries & E-Commerce Intermediaries (or electronic brokers) are economic agents that stand between the parties of a contract (or transaction), namely buyers and sellers, and perform functions necessary for the fulfilment of a contract At the e-commerce software level, the intermediation function is increasingly being implemented via software agents that have “intelligence”, that is, they follow guidelines and have autonomy to react proactively to conditions they sense from the environment

7. Managerial Influence of E-Commerce E-commerce has opened a new universe for consumers and organisations and it demands new management approaches If exploited cleverly, electronic commerce has the potential to increase corporate profits through better customer acquisition and retention, new information-based products and services and more efficient operations

8. Key Questions for Management Companies must rethink their strategy, products and business processes in order to develop a cohesive management approach This involves addressing a number of difficult questions including: –What should be the long-term and short-term corporate strategy? –What is the new business model in the e-commerce world? –How should the corporation invest in e-commerce technology? –What new products should be offered or developed? –What organisational structures will best reach, interact with, and serve customers?

9. Competitive Pressure All companies, whether on-line or off-line, require that certain basic functions be performed E-commerce must provide the following functionality: –Methods of making payments for the exchange of goods and services –Ways to transfer different types of content over time and across distances –Mechanisms for pooling resources to manufacture products more efficiently –Methods of managing and co-ordinating decentralised decision-making

10. External Threat Companies need to be careful when evaluating and identifying inter-and intra- industry competitors in the e-commerce environment Management has the task of factoring technology trends, competitor motives, and customer behaviour issues into coherent long- term strategies With many competitors to worry about, management needs to determine what goals they hope to accomplish through e-commerce

11. Incorporating Changes The prospect of building a completely new set of business applications can be daunting Success today lies in being smarter and faster than the competition, not just smaller and more cost-efficient E-commerce implementation require a fresh perspective on the function of an application, the role of the user, and the use of development tools

12. Designing New Organisational Structures E-commerce can and will impact organisational structures because the organisational structure must grant companies the flexibility needed to do business in response to market requirements Large companies need to determine the right organisational structure for managing large-scale Web efforts

13. Managerial Options & Priorities In the process of developing new business theories and strategies, managers must consider what kind of tactics and strategy to adopt Managers also need to consider the immediate impact of e-commerce on key business areas such as management of sales and distribution channels, pricing policy and managing new consumer interfaces