Relevance and Importance of Legal Issues within E-Commerce Business Development - Case Study Example

# Section/# Contents Introduction Relevance and Importance of Security within Ongoing E-Commerce Business Development The Case of Microsoft The Case of Google The Case of Yahoo Relevance and Importance of Legal Issues within E-Commerce Business Development The Case of Microsoft The Case of Google The Case of Yahoo Conclusion Introduction Regardless of the standpoint one approaches the business world, one fundamental element remains saliently true; the business world continues to you all and develop a case that only the most successful businesses are able to keep up with. As a function of this understanding, the following analysis will focus upon two distinct aspects of how the business world is currently represented. Rather than taking a universal survey of how broadly defined terms are applied within the realm of business, the following analysis will instead focus upon these determinants utilizing three distinct and time relevant case studies. Moreover, the case studies that will be utilized will be that of the 2013 annual reports from Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft. By analyzing these recent annual reports, it is the hope of this particular student that the reader will be able to gain a level of inference concerning how security issues and legal issues are represented within these and serve to define the approach to the market that these companies are taking. Rather than these two particular issues serving as considerations for the way in which business is conducted within three of the largest tech companies within the United States, is the understanding of this particular analyst that these see concerns are so intrinsically important that they are not only represented as focus point for business development but serve as a fundamental definition for how these companies engage with the market and develop their current and existing, as well as future, strategies for continuing to remain profitable. Relevance and Importance of Security within Ongoing E-Commerce Business Development The Case of Microsoft As one of the most profitable and successful pioneers of the computer operating system, Microsoft has long placed a high emphasis on the importance of security and dedicated entire teams and departments towards ensuring that this particular goal is accomplished (Dvorak, 2012). However, as with many companies, the failures of Microsoft to ensure a completely and entirely secure experience for its users, and the lapses in overall security that have come to be tabloid sensations over the past several decades, has created a difficult situation for Microsoft as it seeks to transition towards a new dynamic for engaging profitability. As the annual report of 2013 for the Microsoft Corporation indicates, the company is deliberately shifting towards a more service oriented approach to the market (Foley, 2012). This does not indicate that Microsoft windows or other long time/profitable engagements will cease to exist; however, the means by which the user engages with these services and products will be fundamentally different (Clarke, 2011). Drawing upon the annual report further, the reader can indicate the fact that Microsoft intends on rebranding and repackaging such well-known staples of the average computer, such as Microsoft Word, towards a pay by the month or paid by the quarter/year platform. In so doing, the actual ownership of the product itself shifts more towards Microsoft and less towards the consumer (Havenstein, 2013). Naturally, this raises a host of security and privacy concerns that the company itself is intimately aware of. The annual report indicates that in order for this transition to take place in an equitable and effective manner, it will be necessary for Microsoft to engender a further level of trust and security within this particular market integration. As the consumer is naturally leery of change, Microsoft is taking quite a risk in seeking to fundamentally alter what many might consider as a storied cash cow that the firm has been able to rely on over the past several decades (Foley, 2013). The Case of Google Similarly, from an analysis of Google 2013 annual report, it is clear and apparent that this particular company is one that is also experiencing rapid transformation based upon the issue of security and how individuals within society and the consumer market understand and appreciate this particular value. One of the primary issues that it discussed is contingent upon Google’s transition towards offering corporate or, as they deem it, “enterprise” solutions to companies rather than merely speaking to the needs of individuals. Likewise, security concerns for companies that potentially have trade secrets and other sensitive information that they do not wish to have shared creates security concerns that never before existed for the private user of Google and its services (Deutsch, 2012). Additionally, the annual report also references the fact that more inclusive and interconnected online services that are related to specific accounts and users create a potential for hacking and other information breaches that could be potentially disastrous for the public relations that the company faces (Arnold, 2012). For this very reason, the annual report indicates that Google will expend a great deal more time, money, and energy towards seeking to safeguard the avenues by which the information is accessible or could be breached by someone other than the account holder themselves (Embleton, 2012). Although the case that has been illustrated bus far is specific to Google, it is worth noting that the means by which the firm seeks to address this particular negative externality is not outside the realm of commonality; or the approach that many other online service oriented firms. Ultimately, the reputation of the commerce sites such as Google is integrally related to the degree and extent to which they are able to safeguard personal information that they are tasked with retaining (Fallows, 2014). Yet another issue that the annual report references has to do with what defines “disclosure”. In other words, the annual report seeks to reference the fact that Google has previously made money based upon marketing that is targeted towards specific keywords and information that is retrieved from individual users accounts. However, as present expectations of users begin to shift towards a higher degree of privacy, this particular dynamic is one that may likely play a more powerful role in the coming future. The Case of Yahoo As in the cases that have been discussed previously, Yahoo also places a primary focus upon security in terms of how it seeks to engage with the consumer and continue to offer relevant and trusted products and services. As such, the 2013 Yahoo annual report details the steps towards data protection that Yahoo has begun engaging in; due in part to the costly failures that other firms have exhibited within similar markets (Chaffey, 2013). Likewise, another component of Yahoo’s approach to security has to do with the way in which retention and destruction of data takes place. As there are a litany of different state and federally mandated requirements, Yahoo has set out to revamp and redefine its data storage policies so that it is certain to meet all of the requirements that individual regions and governments require them to abide by. As the recent past has indicated, if the products or services/information is leaked, the potential blowback for the firm could be disastrous. Because of this, the response time that Yahoo takes in order to seek to alert individuals that information might have been compromised is an intro compote of ensuring that the consumer is able to be assured during a time of hardship or potential data loss/compromise (Geng & Lee, 2014). Because of this important asset, Yahoo has devoted an entire division, and a lengthy section of its annual report, towards ensuring that security is aware of how potential breaches should be handled and how the consumer must be aware of any and all changes that are ongoing; rather than merely relying upon the media to provide them with potentially false or misleading information concerning the extent of the problem at hand. Relevance and Importance of Legal Issues within E-Commerce Business Development The Case of Microsoft Tying directly in to the discussion that has been illustrated above, the desire to shift towards a service-based company, as compared to a product based company that Microsoft was previously defined as, one can realize that legal issues and concerns have ultimately prompted the dynamic shift that Microsoft is working towards (Lim et al., 2006). Taking the case of software piracy in a very serious manner, analysts within Microsoft, as denoted within the annual report, came to realize that Microsoft was losing tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, the potential profits each and every year; as a direct result of software piracy and the means by which programs such as Microsoft office and others were illegally being shared. In such a manner, the firm has spent an inordinate amount of money, resources, and time seeking to pursue individuals that were responsible for these illegal file transfers and piracy. Although there remains a great deal of disagreement, both within Microsoft and within the legal community, with respect to whether or not these particular tactics were useful and worthwhile, the majority opinion that exists is that Microsoft was unable to achieve the overall success that it wished from these efforts. Accordingly, rather than allowing a continual budget and focus towards seeking to pursue and prosecute individuals responsible for illegal file sharing, Microsoft instead opted to change its business model towards services. With the proliferation of P2P file sharing, the annual report illustrates that the focus of Microsoft will begin to shift away from continued prosecution and wasted resources associated with file sharing. Instead, the firm’s business model will engage the market in such a way that monthly, quarterly, or annual payment/membership or services that Microsoft provides will replace the old model that had previously defined the success and dynamic by which Microsoft engage the market. Naturally, Microsoft is exhibiting the evolutionary process by which companies seek to engage the market based upon dynamics that are represented within the current world. Although the decision and industry-leading approach that Microsoft has taken with respect to these legal issues and challenges is a dynamic and powerful/extraordinarily profitable firm prior to seeking to change the way that it promoted products and services to the end consumer. The Case of Google From an analysis of Google’s annual report, it is clear and apparent that the firm does not struggle same legal issues as compared to Microsoft. The underlying reason behind this has to do with the fact that Google has a significantly different business model as compared to Microsoft. As such, the firm has always placed the primary emphasis upon services; without focus upon selling products that could potentially be pirated or distributed for free. Naturally, as the ball of Google services are available to the individual free of charge, this potential legal issue is one that Google is no doubt thrilled not to be faced with. However, Google does face a distinct legal threat and difficulty with regard to the way in which a patchwork of laws are being directed throughout the world which infringed an employee the way that Google can continue to perform business. For instance, a recent ruling within Spain created a European precedent by which Google can be forced to remove content online if the individual that it represents a field is no longer relevant or is potentially harmful. Furthermore, the annual report also references the fact that Google also has to comply with state laws within the United States which determine what can be considered as personal privacy based upon different norms and legal understandings. As one can immediately note, this hardship is one that places an undue level of pressure on Google and seeks to navigate in a globalized world based upon a massive assortment of different regional legal constraints. The Case of Yahoo Not dissimilar to the way in which Google represented key legal concerns that can and should be noted within the extent environment, Yahoo’s 2013 annual report also focuses a prime level of discussion based upon the liability and the ramifications that breach of data might have with the overall profitability and future outlook firm might be able to engender (Finchmann et al., 2012). Furthermore, the lack of legal precedent that defines the responsibility that they service provider, such as Yahoo, bears within this particular situation also indicates that the firm is forward thinking with respect to the culpability that the legal system, and indeed public opinion, might ascribe to them in the event that such data breach does in fact occur (Petersen, 2014). Ultimately, with all of the concerns that are raised within the 2013 Yahoo annual report, the realization that is gained as a result of these is contingent upon the fact that further knowledge of emerging law and increased funding for the legal department must continue to be a mainstay of the way in which Yahoo continues to develop within the marketplace (Bronson, 2012). Further concerns relating to the legal liability of providing a path for Gateway to content or services and/4 the fraudulent use of its services by a third-party are also listed as primary reasons that Yahoo is intensively interested in redefining its approach to legal issues based upon the way in which the current market is unfolding (Gringsly, 2013). Conclusion: From the information that has thus far been represented, it is clear and apparent that many of the security and legal concerns that these three firms face are distinctly similar. However, this does not indicate that the approach towards ameliorating these concerns is equally similar. As the discussion represented above illustrates, each firm faces unique challenges with respect to how it can continue to evolve within a dynamic and ever-changing marketplace; while still speaking to the needs of the consumer and addressing the relevant challenges that face it. Rather than stipulating that any one of these companies have made that set of decisions, it will ultimately be the responsibility of history to indicate whether or not the difficult choices and approach to the market that each of these firms have made will be responsible for engaging further profitability and success or will ultimately be the reason for why these firms began to lose market share and came to be increasingly irrelevant within the realm of business interaction. Bibliography Arnold, SE 2012, A mid-year report card. (Cover story), KM World, 19, 7, pp. 1-17, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Bronson, G. (2012). Yahoo site goes commercial. Interactive Age, 2(13), 40. Chaffey (2013) E-Business and E-Commerce Management. Clarke, R. (2011) Key Issues In E-Commerce and Electronic Publishing Deutsch, D 2012, Meet the Other, Other Google Guy, Time, 167, 19, p. 130, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Dvorak, JC 2012, A Windows Retrospective, PC Magazine, 28, 1, p. 52, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Embleton, K 2012, Getting To Know Google -- Part 2, Canadian Musician, 26, 2, p. 72, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Fallows, J 2014, At I.B.M., That Google Thing Is So Yesterday, New York Times, 26 December, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Finchman, M. Koh, T. Kraut, R. (2012). Trust Across the Borders: Buyer-Supplier Trust in Global Business-to-Business E-Commerce.Journal of the Association of Information Systems. 13 (11), pp 886-922. Foley, J 2013, STRATEGY SHIFT, Informationweek, 991, pp. 53-59, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Foley, M 2012, Filling in the missing pieces, Eweek, 23, 23, p. 30, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Geng, X. Lee, Y.. (2013). Competing in a Global Context. Journal of Management Information Systems. 30 (2), p159-184. Gringsly, P. (2013). BUSINESS DIGEST. New York Times. p. C2. Havenstein, H 2013, MICROSOFT REPORTS FOR DUTY, Computerworld, 38, 50, pp. 26-28, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 August 2014. Lim, K. Sia, C. Lee, M. Benbesat, I.. (2006). Do I Trust You Online, and If So, Will I Buy? An Empirical Study of Two Trust-Building Strategies.Journal of Management Information Systems. 23 (2), p233-266. Petersen, S. (2013). salesforce.com partners with Yahoo. Eweek, 17(47), 30. Microsoft Annual Report 2013: Available at http://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar13/docs/2013_Annual_Report.docx Google Annual Report 2013: Available at http://investor.google.com/pdf/20131231_google_10K.pdf Yahoo Annual Report 2013: Available at http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/YHOO/3376424954x0x658772/c0e2f67f-a5c2-4e1a-aa80-84700ac2b72f/YHOO_2012_Annual_Report_1_.pdf Posting Response 1: According to one of the postings on Unit 2 (posted by Liam Kemmish), the role of the business extends and includes the following: reaching potential customers, dealing with complaints, engaging on social media, increasing the amount of customers, and matching the long term needs of the firm to its reputation within social media. Although these are no doubt true, many firms are unable to create synergy between their social media outreach campaigns and their broader goals. Liam Kemmish post was of course limited in its scope due to the fact that it did not discuss the fact that the connection between long term goals and social media outreach require continuous discussion, strategy integration, and ongoing planning. In effect, the need to consider the integration between these two effectively determines whether or not the social media approach will be effective or ineffective. Within such an understanding, the reader can come to appreciate the fact that best practices within the industry are concentric upon those firms that can effectively engage consumer interest, reduce complaints, maximize business, and increase the overall interest in their products or services via their social media outreach campaign. Posting Response 2: Likewise, the secondary response for this unit will be based on Ivan Ivanovich’s posting with regard to consumer concern and business development advertising. As such, Ivan indicates that the research indicates that many consumers do not require advertising, certain advertising is misdirects the consumer to the wrong product or service provider, and certain types of advertising represents a potential invasion of privacy. Although all of these are necessarily true in certain instances, it must be understood that they are not absolute. Instead, they are contingent upon key situations. Within such a realization, the examples that Ivan gave are case specific and deal with some of the shortcomings and drawbacks that advertising is capable of effecting in some of the worst cases. Accordingly, the broader appreciation that can be engaged is that business development must consider these constraints and work to ameliorate them based upon the likelihood that they will discourage the customer from consider the service or product offerings that the firm provides to the market. In order to maximize a level of success, the firm must be focused upon all of the negative externalities that might arise and seek to address them prior to them having a negative impact upon overall profitability or success. Read More