The Wired World - Topic 1

1. Define e-business and e-marketing

Electronic Business (e-Business) is defined by wikipedia as "as the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all the activities of business. Commerce constitutes the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and hence can be seen as one of the essential activities of any business. Hence, electronic commerce or eCommerce focuses on the use of ICT to enable the external activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other businesses"

Electronic Marketing (e-Marketing) is defined by wikipedia as "Internet marketing, also referred to as i-marketing, web marketing, online marketing, or eMarketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet"

2. What are performance metrics and why are they important?
Performance metrics are a measure of a businesses activities and performances. Wikipedia states that "developing performance metrics usually follows a process of:
* Establishing critical processes/customer requirements,
* Developing measures and
* Establishing targetss which the results can be scored against"

Performance metrics are important because they can help a business to see what areas of their business need improvement.


3. What are some of the key legal issues that affect e-marketing?

Some of the main key legal issues that affect e-marketing are protecting privacy and preventing fraud, tax is another legal issue.

4. How does technology both raise and lower costs for companies?
It is cheaper to run a business online, and this reduces costs if the same business was run in the normal way.

Raising costs

* costly investments - web pages can cost millions of dollars to set up

* expensive hardware and soft ware costs

* new technologies make current investment obsolete

Lowering costs
Technology has lowered costs on staff and paperwork

5. As a technology, how does the internet compare with the telephone?

The internet is a global network of interconected networks. Wikipedia states that "It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and other technologies. The Internet carries a vast array of information resources and services, most notably the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail, in addition to popular services such as online chat, file transfer and file sharing, online gaming, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) person-to-person communication via voice and video"

The telephone is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound. Wikipedia states that "The device operates principally by converting sound waves into electrical signals, and electrical signals into sound waves. Such signals when conveyed through telephone networks enable nearly every telephone user to communicate with nearly every other worldwide"

Both technologies are the same in the sense they allow users all over the world to have the ability to communicate with practically anyone, anywhere in the world.

6. What are some of the marketing implications of internet technologies?
Some of the marketing implications of internet technologies are:

* Bits not atoms - Information products, and communication in digital form can be stored, sent and received nearly instantaneously. Text, audio, graphic, video and photos can all be digitalised, but digital products cannot be touched, tasted or smelled.

* Mediating Technology - Peer-to-peer relationships such as auctions and music file sharing can business partnership can be formed regardless of geographical location. technology allows timely communication and data sharing, such as with businesses in a supply chain.

* Global Reach - Opens new markets and allows for worldwide partnerships, employee collaboration and sales person telecommuting

* Network Externality - Businesses can reach more of their markets with automated communication, and consumers can disseminate brand attitudes worldwide in an instant

* Time moderator - There are higher expectations from consumers about communication with companies and faster work processes within companies.


* Information Equalizer - Firms employ mass custimisation of communication, and consumers have more access to product information pricing.

* Scalable capacity - Firms pay for only as much data storage or server space as required and can store huge amounts of information

* Open Standard - Companies can access eachothers databases for smooth supply chain and customer relationship management. This equalises large and small firms

* Market deconstruct - Many distribution channel functions are performed by non-traditional firms (e.g. Edmunds.com and online travel agents) and new industrys emerged - e.g. ISP's

* Task Automation - Self-service online lowers costs and makes automated transactions, payment and fullfillment possible.

7. What are the three main markets of e-business, and how do they differ?
1) Right Owner: This is one of the best e-marketplace. The market place will have to be owned by partners who have the best change of capturing the value it creates in the form of reduced cost. These normally are mostly buyers, and in quite a few cases, sellers. In case where the buying and selling sides are disjointed, the right owner might well be a web-based mediator that steps in to roll up volumes on behalf of buyers and sellers.
2) Open Standards: In order to attack as many buyers and seller as possible, business to business marketplaces have to operate under open standards. Web methods that are, building bridges to enable open communication between buyers and sellers and also between marketplaces.
3) One of the primary drivers of business to business is cost efficiency, simple pushing down prices will not sufficient in the long term business. Companies already using purchasing as a source of competitive advantage, it is most useful to cut their total cost. So, marketplace architects will have to think about how to provide other services related to the supply chain.

8. In the context of e-marketing, wahat does "revenge of the consumer" mean?
Revenge of the consumer refers to the fact that consumers are becoming more demanding and wise and as a result marketers will have to develope ways to deliver customer value in better ways to consumers. With increasing technology consumers have information on demand as tv, radio, shopping, banking and entertainment can all be axcessed with one simple mouse click, and are wiseing up to marketers strategies.





References


Wikipedia (2009) Internet retrieved on 5th August 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet


Wikipedia (2009) Telephone retreived on 5th August 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone


Wikipedia (2009) Electronic Marketing retreived on 5th August 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-marketing


Wikipedia (2009) Electronic Business retreived on 5th August 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Business


Wikipedia (2009) Performance Metric retrieved on 5th August 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_metrics




http://www.scribd.com/doc/7146784/E-Marketing