Chapter 16 in our text book discusses what it takes to launch a successful online business.
So what are the basic steps to create an online business?
There are 3 basic steps that are:
1. Identify a consumer or business need in the marketplace.
2. Investigate the opportunity.
3. Determine the business owner's ability to meet the need.
It is a very basic supply and demand issue. If you have a good idea for a needed product that can actually work - there are chances you'll have customers who might express interest in it.
Amazon.com is an example of a successful online business, that developed from a good idea of an innovative person (Founder Jeff Bezos). Adding innovative ideas to the business is part of what makes Amazon such a great business. Besoz was able to meet clients' needs and made Amazon and empire.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Week 13 - Chapter 15 - Economics and Justification of Electronic Commerce
Chapter 15 Objectives:
Describe the need for justifying EC investments, how it is done, and how metrics are used to determine justification.
Understand the difficulties in measuring and justifying EC investments.
Recognize the difficulties in establishing intangible metrics and describe how to overcome them.
List and briefly describe traditional and advanced methods of justifying IT investments.
Understand how e-CRM, e-learning, and other EC projects are justified.
Describe some economic principles of EC.
Understand how product, industry, seller, and buyer characteristics impact the economics of EC.
Recognize key factors in the success of EC projects and the major reasons for failures.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EC Justification is a very complex procedure. It is difficult to measure
intangible benefits, and translate them into "revenue". How do you measure
improvement of customer service ? . There are various tools that were developed in order to calculate ROI . I found this really cool website that offers all kinds of tips and tools to do so.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/ecommerce/index.htm
Describe the need for justifying EC investments, how it is done, and how metrics are used to determine justification.
Understand the difficulties in measuring and justifying EC investments.
Recognize the difficulties in establishing intangible metrics and describe how to overcome them.
List and briefly describe traditional and advanced methods of justifying IT investments.
Understand how e-CRM, e-learning, and other EC projects are justified.
Describe some economic principles of EC.
Understand how product, industry, seller, and buyer characteristics impact the economics of EC.
Recognize key factors in the success of EC projects and the major reasons for failures.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EC Justification is a very complex procedure. It is difficult to measure
intangible benefits, and translate them into "revenue". How do you measure
improvement of customer service ? . There are various tools that were developed in order to calculate ROI . I found this really cool website that offers all kinds of tips and tools to do so.
http://www.wilsonweb.com/ecommerce/index.htm
Week # 12 E-Commerce Strategy and Global EC
chapter 14 objectives:
Describe the strategic planning process.
Describe the purpose and content of a business plan.
Understand how e-commerce impacts the strategic planning process.
Understand how to formulate, justify, and prioritize EC applications.
Describe strategy implementation and assessment, including the use of metrics.
Evaluate the issues involved in global EC.
Analyze the impact of EC on small and medium-sized businesses.
--------------------------------------------------------------
More and more businesses are going global when it comes to E-Commerce.
I think that this is an important issue and a critical factor when it comes to the highly competitive market of e-commerce. If geographical location comes out of the equasion - why not go global and expand business ?
Take a look at Ikea.com. From a small swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea has grown into a world wide business. Globalization plays a huge role in the expansion of
this company. In Israel, for example, the menu at the Ikea cafeteria offers Israeli food, the web site is designed in Hebrew with prices in local currency. These are just a couple of small examples that a company should consider when going global.
going global with your web site is a necessity for the future of your organization rather than an option.
With the advent of E-commerce, many in the world are able to compete in global markets regardless of language, and cultural barriers, physical distance and national boundaries since products, services, and transaction processes can be re-engineered to adjust to changing business environments. E-commerce has evolved through the basic E-mail and electronic data interchange of the past few years to the sophisticated Web based interactive systems today. What will happen in the future is left to our creative imagination and the potentials are very high. Globalization is bound to succeed in the world due to the enormous economic benefits that can be accrued by it. Internet and E-commerce which have been responsible for continuing gradual removal of barriers of language, culture and national boundaries will help globalization and accelerate international trade.
Describe the strategic planning process.
Describe the purpose and content of a business plan.
Understand how e-commerce impacts the strategic planning process.
Understand how to formulate, justify, and prioritize EC applications.
Describe strategy implementation and assessment, including the use of metrics.
Evaluate the issues involved in global EC.
Analyze the impact of EC on small and medium-sized businesses.
--------------------------------------------------------------
More and more businesses are going global when it comes to E-Commerce.
I think that this is an important issue and a critical factor when it comes to the highly competitive market of e-commerce. If geographical location comes out of the equasion - why not go global and expand business ?
Take a look at Ikea.com. From a small swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea has grown into a world wide business. Globalization plays a huge role in the expansion of
this company. In Israel, for example, the menu at the Ikea cafeteria offers Israeli food, the web site is designed in Hebrew with prices in local currency. These are just a couple of small examples that a company should consider when going global.
going global with your web site is a necessity for the future of your organization rather than an option.
With the advent of E-commerce, many in the world are able to compete in global markets regardless of language, and cultural barriers, physical distance and national boundaries since products, services, and transaction processes can be re-engineered to adjust to changing business environments. E-commerce has evolved through the basic E-mail and electronic data interchange of the past few years to the sophisticated Web based interactive systems today. What will happen in the future is left to our creative imagination and the potentials are very high. Globalization is bound to succeed in the world due to the enormous economic benefits that can be accrued by it. Internet and E-commerce which have been responsible for continuing gradual removal of barriers of language, culture and national boundaries will help globalization and accelerate international trade.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Week # 11 - Order fulfillment, Ecrm, and other support services.
Chapter 13 Objectives:
Describe the role of support services in EC.
Define EC order fulfillment and describe the EC order fulfillment process.
Describe the major problems of EC order fulfillment.
Describe various solutions to EC order fulfillment problems.
Describe CRM, its methods, and its relationship with EC.
Describe eCRM implementation and tools.
Describe other EC support services.
Discuss the drivers of outsourcing support services.
When discussing order fulfillment, it is inevitable to mention Amazon.com.
Amazon.com is a giant e-tailer, probably one of the most successful e-businesses
nowadays, and mostly thanks for its excellent order fulfillment and logistics.
Other support services are security, payment systems, infrastructure and technology.
Describe the role of support services in EC.
Define EC order fulfillment and describe the EC order fulfillment process.
Describe the major problems of EC order fulfillment.
Describe various solutions to EC order fulfillment problems.
Describe CRM, its methods, and its relationship with EC.
Describe eCRM implementation and tools.
Describe other EC support services.
Discuss the drivers of outsourcing support services.
When discussing order fulfillment, it is inevitable to mention Amazon.com.
Amazon.com is a giant e-tailer, probably one of the most successful e-businesses
nowadays, and mostly thanks for its excellent order fulfillment and logistics.
Other support services are security, payment systems, infrastructure and technology.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Week # 10 - E-Commerce Security & Electronic payment systems
Chapter 11 objectives:
Explain EC-related crimes and why they cannot be stopped.
Describe an EC security strategy and why a life cycle approach is needed.
Describe the information assurance security principles.
Describe EC security issues from the perspective of customers and e-businesses.
Identify the major EC security threats, vulnerabilities, and risk
Identify and describe common EC threats and attacks.
Identify and assess major technologies and methods for securing EC communications.
Identify and assess major technologies for information assurance and protection of EC networks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EC related crimes occur more often than you know.
I have been using craigslist.org as a selling tool for used furniture etc;.
Everytime I have posted an ad, I have been contacted by an individual (each time a different one I guess) who showed a great interest in "the item" I was selling and was willing to pay extra if I'd be willing to hold the item for him. The first time I received such an email - I immediately suspected phishing. The individual tried to lure me into receiving a money order for a higher amount than what I resquested, then wire the balance via "Western Union" to a "friend" of his.
Apparently, the "money order" sent to sellers was always a fake one, and if the seller did what he was asked to do and wire the balance to a third party via Western union - the bank would have held him responsible for the fake money order, and he would loose all the money.
My immediate reaction was to send a complaint to the Internet Crime center,
post a warning ad on Clist to warn others about the spammers, and then email the spammer telling him that he has been reported to the internet crime center and that he should beware.
At some point these e-mails stopped. But I am sure that other users of Craigslist
still get them from time to time.
Craigslist offers warnings and ways to fight internet fraud and scams right here:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
This article discusses more fraud issues on craigslist
http://www.legit411.com/IDTheft/craigtslist-identity-theft.html
Explain EC-related crimes and why they cannot be stopped.
Describe an EC security strategy and why a life cycle approach is needed.
Describe the information assurance security principles.
Describe EC security issues from the perspective of customers and e-businesses.
Identify the major EC security threats, vulnerabilities, and risk
Identify and describe common EC threats and attacks.
Identify and assess major technologies and methods for securing EC communications.
Identify and assess major technologies for information assurance and protection of EC networks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EC related crimes occur more often than you know.
I have been using craigslist.org as a selling tool for used furniture etc;.
Everytime I have posted an ad, I have been contacted by an individual (each time a different one I guess) who showed a great interest in "the item" I was selling and was willing to pay extra if I'd be willing to hold the item for him. The first time I received such an email - I immediately suspected phishing. The individual tried to lure me into receiving a money order for a higher amount than what I resquested, then wire the balance via "Western Union" to a "friend" of his.
Apparently, the "money order" sent to sellers was always a fake one, and if the seller did what he was asked to do and wire the balance to a third party via Western union - the bank would have held him responsible for the fake money order, and he would loose all the money.
My immediate reaction was to send a complaint to the Internet Crime center,
post a warning ad on Clist to warn others about the spammers, and then email the spammer telling him that he has been reported to the internet crime center and that he should beware.
At some point these e-mails stopped. But I am sure that other users of Craigslist
still get them from time to time.
Craigslist offers warnings and ways to fight internet fraud and scams right here:
http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html
This article discusses more fraud issues on craigslist
http://www.legit411.com/IDTheft/craigtslist-identity-theft.html
Week # 9 - Dynamic Trading: E-Auctions, Bartering, and Negotiations
Chapter 10 Objectives:
Define the various types of e-auctions and list their characteristics.
Describe forward and reverse auctions.
Describe the benefits and limitations of e-auctions.
Describe some unique e-auction models.
Describe the various services that support e-auctions.
Describe bartering and negotiating.
Describe the hazards of e-auction fraud and discuss possible countermeasures.
Describe e-auction deployment and implementation issues.
Analyze mobile and future directions of e-auctions.
----------------------------------------------------------------
When I think about dynamic trading and e-auctions - I automatically think
about Ebay. Ebay is probably one of the most successful and profitable e-businesses.
Who doesn't use Ebay ? for a while I was using ebay as a tool to sell designer cloths
that I bought for bargain prices at reduced-cost stores such as TJ Maxx.
Nowadays, I use ebay mostly to buy products that cannot be bought at regular retail stores; such as expensive hair products, cosmetics etc' . I can use Ebay's search engine to find good deals. It is not too complicated to win an auction on ebay, although sometimes the competition between bidders can bring the final price up, to the point that it is not considered a bargain anymore. So knowing how to bid and when to stop bidding is important too.
When selling goods on Ebay one needs to perform some market research beforehand,
and make sure the item put on auction has a good demand on the market. A Search for similar products or identical products should be done in order to determine a starting bidding price that has some kind of an advantage.
Excellent customer service is a key point on Ebay. Sellers must maintain good reputation by granting customers with good service, and in return obtaining good feedback. Bidders should always check the sellers feedback to see if there are any major complaints about products, service, shipping etc'.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's an interesting article from businessweek.com about a small business in Cambridge called
cMarket. It manages online charity auctions, like the ones you have at churches . cMarket has been selling its auctioning services to Non Profit organizations since 2003. This article is from Nov 2006 (not that it matters).
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/nov2006/sb20061101_288379.htm?chan=search
Define the various types of e-auctions and list their characteristics.
Describe forward and reverse auctions.
Describe the benefits and limitations of e-auctions.
Describe some unique e-auction models.
Describe the various services that support e-auctions.
Describe bartering and negotiating.
Describe the hazards of e-auction fraud and discuss possible countermeasures.
Describe e-auction deployment and implementation issues.
Analyze mobile and future directions of e-auctions.
----------------------------------------------------------------
When I think about dynamic trading and e-auctions - I automatically think
about Ebay. Ebay is probably one of the most successful and profitable e-businesses.
Who doesn't use Ebay ? for a while I was using ebay as a tool to sell designer cloths
that I bought for bargain prices at reduced-cost stores such as TJ Maxx.
Nowadays, I use ebay mostly to buy products that cannot be bought at regular retail stores; such as expensive hair products, cosmetics etc' . I can use Ebay's search engine to find good deals. It is not too complicated to win an auction on ebay, although sometimes the competition between bidders can bring the final price up, to the point that it is not considered a bargain anymore. So knowing how to bid and when to stop bidding is important too.
When selling goods on Ebay one needs to perform some market research beforehand,
and make sure the item put on auction has a good demand on the market. A Search for similar products or identical products should be done in order to determine a starting bidding price that has some kind of an advantage.
Excellent customer service is a key point on Ebay. Sellers must maintain good reputation by granting customers with good service, and in return obtaining good feedback. Bidders should always check the sellers feedback to see if there are any major complaints about products, service, shipping etc'.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's an interesting article from businessweek.com about a small business in Cambridge called
cMarket. It manages online charity auctions, like the ones you have at churches . cMarket has been selling its auctioning services to Non Profit organizations since 2003. This article is from Nov 2006 (not that it matters).
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/nov2006/sb20061101_288379.htm?chan=search
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