General Principles and Issues of E-Commerce Management - Term Paper Example

Name: Professor: Institution: Course: Date: Executive Summary Based on the issues concerning E- Commerce the purpose of this report is to discuss Management and principles of E-commerce in general. The report will also highlight the challenges faced by the E- Commerce following its use as a means of business concept regarding the sources of information, privacy, security, industry policy including the new policy framework. In addition it will outline the protection of intellectual property and privacy, legal measures based on web site registration as well as technological security. Recommendations on how to deal with the conflict surrounding the two firms have also been made. Table of Contents Executive summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 1.0 Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 2.0 General principles of E-Commerce Management----------------------------------- 4 2.1 Private Organizations Development ----------------------------------------- 4 2.2 Macro Environment Development ------------------------------------------- 5 2.3 Coordination of International E-Commerce -------------------------------- 5 2.4 Establishment of E-Commerce focal points--------------------------------- 6 2.5 Consistency---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 3.0 Managerial issues of E-Commerce ---------------------------------------------------- 6 3.1 Personnel ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 3.2 Implementation plan ------------------------------------------------------------ 7 3.3 The impacts ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 3.4 Cost Benefit Analysis ---------------------------------------------------------- 8 3.5 Integration of E-Commerce --------------------------------------------------- 8 3.6 Legal issues --------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 4.0 Hazards of E-Commerce --------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Conclusion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Recommendations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 References ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 1.0 Introduction E-Commerce has become one of the most developing technologies globally at a rate that is so fast for the developing countries. The fast rate of development has come with a lot of challenges on how to cope with the dynamic changes and the economy is grappling to come up with the best solutions to overcome the problems. According to Goel (2011), since 1996 several attempts have been made to regulate the administration of E-Commerce with president Clinton setting up a proposal on organization of how to handle the administration and interdepartmental matters related to enforcement of e-commerce. He further again issued a Framework for Global Electronic Commerce in 1997 which outlines the policy to be followed in the use of E-Commerce for the United States and other countries worldwide. China being also one of the most developed countries took the initiative in 1997 to hold a conference on Information work which intensified the growth of E-Commerce industry administration (Goel, 2011). Further in 1998 another national conference meeting was held in China by the Heads of Office of information whereby they emphasized on the use of the technology to all their Government Departments which improved the way they handled business compared to the old traditional methods. In fact China’s development and come back has been as a result of the rapid advanced development of E-Commerce. This has helped China in the growth of the economy not only in their country but also in other countries globally whereby they have upgraded systems and invested heavily in developing the technology. The development of e-commerce has brought about various changes in the society such as society transformation and the economy being re-structured which can be interpreted as being a very crucial problem to handle for an economy that has yet to design and set the basics on how to deal with the matters arising. It is therefore such matters that have ensured other countries find solutions to the life threatening reconstruction of economy by following and adapting to the general principles of E-Commerce Management (Dave 2011). The principles have been an eye opener to the development, maintenance and promotion of E-Commerce to be effective and efficient. As the assistant IT Manager the following principles should be applied at You Tube to help solve the conflict with You Tube versus utube. 2.0 General Principles of E-Commerce Management 2.1 Private Organizations Development It has been emphasized that the restrictions that are heavily put on Organizations which are classified as irrelevant and inappropriate should be avoided to allow and give room to the investors and developers of the economy technology and mode of communication. The market should be the source of internet development. This is however argued that a lot of competition arises from the open market and misuse of lack of restrictions brings about more challenges and problems to handle (Shah 2009). This ensures that with the high rate of saturation of competitors within the market lower rates of service are given to the consumers thus achieving a goal in development of technological communication to reach as many end users as possible. People are encouraged to become self – disciplined within the sector industry for the Government to avoid making unnecessary restrictions which can be avoided. For the E-Commerce to be developed rapidly the restrictions laid down on commercial activities should be reduced and the rate of tax levy be limited. 2.2 Macro environment Development As a matter of concern the Government should keenly consider provision of security measures, policies and guidelines of the E-Commerce development to promote the provision of a macro environment framework. The rate at which the local market is developing should be the same way that the enforcement of the policies and regulations are implemented. However, slow progressions of the policies enforcement will bring about a dragging economy in terms of e-commerce development. The role of the Government in this situation is to enhance security measures, create a legal framework for the field development and ensure that competition is fare for all the developers in the market. 2.3 Coordination of International E-Commerce The development of E-Commerce technology has made it impossible for a single country to make its own policies and regulations because they are no barriers to communication of people across countries. The impact of the technology has been felt across nations for both the developed and developing countries which have resulted in the formation of rules that are fair for all the countries. The formation and establishment of international rules have brought about many people from different international institutions and organizations to discuss the policies framework, the E-Commerce norms and the general management of E-Commerce. The organizations that are currently dealing with the development of a unique and suitable law include the G-8, WTO and International Chamber of Commerce. In the near future a more advanced international framework is expected since the grappling huddles currently is as a result of the different stages of development at which countries are operating. In addition to the development of a fair framework, there currently lacks experience in the management of E-Commerce benchmarking. 2.4 Establishment of E-Commerce focal points It is imminent that for the development of e-commerce the countries should independently identify the focal points of the sectors that mostly require establishing the technology. More concentration however should be made towards the infrastructure and extension building. We can even quote Canada which embarked on a strategy of ensuring that the whole country is networked making it to become the leading and well advanced country that has established a network system. Another country is Korea which has progressively improved and developed a better and more upgraded system that is used nationally which has increased the number of goods exported and imported. 2.5 Consistency The U.S Government has been up and about to ensure that a global framework on E-Commerce is established to eliminate jeopardizing free development of trade and communication. The good thing about the developed countries is that are the basis of all economic development which can be clearly seen by the way Japan and the U.S joint forces of working together to influence the rest of the world in adapting to the rules and policies. 3.0 Managerial Issues of E-Commerce Craigg & Kigg (2009) argued that lack of technology know how was a limiting factor to any developer or Organization which embarked on investing in the business. Without the necessary knowledge and key personnel who were professionals in the field, the small businesses were due to fail in their development. 3.1 Personnel In any firm or Organization, human capital is the most important asset that should be secured and maintained highly. Universal Tube is facing the current challenges as a result of lack of qualified expert employees who have experience in the field. This is why the Management has to keep on getting more staff to handle the problem while incurring hefty expenses which mean either life or death of the Company. The technology is new and more advanced every day and therefore it requires knew skills and expertise to handle any upcoming situation. You Tube staff should be innovative enough and capitalize on the site confusion by advertising their products more aggressively and getting as more customers as possible through creating an access to their website through utube (Craigg & Kigg 2009) 3.2 Implementation plan The Universal Tube Company ought to have an implementation plan that consists of guidelines on how to deal with the ethical standards of the e-commerce technology system, how to deal with the legal issues on web site contradiction issues that surface, financial, and organization as well as the plans to deal with contingency issues. However the case study has no indication to stipulate that the Company had any source of plan to follow while dealing with the web site problem. An implementation plan such as using the top 5 management systems of E-Commerce should be used as a proposal. The systems include use of Magento, open carts, presta shop, OsCSS and Business catalyst (Reyes 2009). 3.3 The Impacts Lack of a Committee to spearhead the speed of E-Commerce development has led to the closure of the business website. E-Commerce in generally impacts heavily on the Organization structure of a Company and therefore You Tube should establish a committee to deal with the management and ensure success of the electronic commerce. The Committee’s role is to ensure that they develop strategies of the Organization and implementation of the policies regarding security measures as well as privacy of the Company’s web site. 3.4 Cost benefit Analysis Many Organizations are new to the e-commerce development and therefore the budget of how to deal to the arising problems are unknown to many. You tube should carry out a cost benefit analysis on the electronic implementation and maintenance rather and I quote the CEO incurring hefty expenses to remain on site than miss revenue from customers. It is pointless and useless to continue making losses rather than having a strategy to fix the problem permanently. 3.5 Integration of E-Commerce Integration process involves the planning of how to handle competition with other projects of the organization and database interface. You tube should ensure that the whole Company is integrated with the rest of the departments in matters pertaining to planning and resource functions. The most important goal for you tube to retain their customers should in fact be to ensure that the customers get the best of service delivery through the establishment of a strong base of customer relationship management chain process. 3.6 Legal Issues The immergence of e-commerce has brought about many legal issues that have no clear precedent on how the firms should handle them and clearly You Tube is however facing the same problem. A guide as to the accepted and right procedure to follow is not stipulated but what You Tube should follow are the policies set on trademark rights and registration of site names. According to the Law of China it is prohibited “to apply for a website name that has a registered trademark that belongs to them.” This is currently the greatest problem being dealt with by the China Government. This is because other people can use the trade name in the application of a website name. However the website name is treated as an intangible asset which is well protected just as any other Company asset with goodwill. Other international Companies have been stipulated in the law that trade marks from internationally recognized firms have a right to stop other Companies from registering using their website. This has however become a contradiction in the essence of which category is used to differentiate the famous and not so famous trademarks. The problem has been as a result of the registration of the website which is done by non-governmental organization and the trademark which is conducted by a different authority all together. Since there is no law for precedence regarding this issue of trademark and website name, according to my opinion You Tube cannot sue for damages for it will be a non-winning battle racing against time which can be capitalized to getting a solution to the problem. 4.0 Hazards of E-Commerce The Technological development has come with more problems than they were anticipated. Customers easily risk being taken advantage of by bogus business and conmen over the website, unknowingly of scam and danger that lies ahead of purchasing products or services through internet Potter L (2000). Businesses face losing their royal customers through unscrupulous traders who use the internet to transact business. The traders go to the extent of supplying fake products whose quality is sub- standards. In addition they hack into the electronic system with the aim of getting access to individual confidential information for the black market thieves. You Tube risks its customers never getting delivery of their products and hence the business has no evidence to deliver their innocence. The price of products is always very low as a result of competition which makes businesses to make meager profits. This may in a nutshell lead the Company to bankruptcy (Douglas 2011). Though E-Commerce has changed the traditional way of doing business to a more and better advanced system, the risks and hazards should not be ignored but research should be carried out to pave way for the way forward. Hence the key perspective is acquiring the new trends in the market of electronic commerce. Conclusion The management of e-commerce is clearly a matter of strategizing on the ways and methods of how to deal with the everyday tasks that a Company faces. The technology has its pros and cons that are hazardous to the business but with the implementation and application of the general principles surrounding the development little can be done but to embrace the changes in technology. The managerial issues that cannot be avoided may either be legal or non legal issues but the impact of business transactions that are handled over the internet are more beneficial than the risks noted. Recommendations 1. Capitalize on the technological problem and enhance e-commerce security through the application of firewall, authentication of identity, use of codes in the security system and application of international security standards. 2. Embark on the system security of non-legal and legal measures on privacy and secrets, implementing laws on safeguarding consumer interests and rights as well as property intellectual rights. 3. You Tube should seize problems and challenges as opportunity to success. 4. Ensure as many personnel as possible are trained on new advanced technology systems. Recruitment of professionals in the field of technology to strengthen the IT department. 5. Application of the top five management systems of E-Commerce. 6. Register the website and trade name. References Craigg &Kigg (2009), Managing Information Technology in a Global Economy Dave C (2011), E-business and e-commerce management Retrieved on 10th June 2011 fromwww.e-business and e-commerce management Douglas (2011) the risks of E-Commerce in Today’s market, Retrieved on 10th June 2011 from http://EzineArticles.com/4387274 E-Commerce- management and e-business Strategy Implementation (2011) Retrieved on 10th June 2011 from www.ebooktoyou.net/.../e-business-and-e-commerce-management-strategy- implementation-and-practice-4th-edition-pdf.php E-commerce implementation, management and business issues Retrieved on 10th June 2011 from www.searchenginegenie.com/ecommerce-implementation.htm Goel R (2011) E-Commerce 1st Edition: London, newagepublishers The Management of E-Commerce Retrieved on 10th June 2011 from unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/.../un/unpan001213.pdf – Potter L (2000) E-Commerce current trends and future directions Retrieved on 10th June 2011 from http://ils.unc.edu/~pottl/inls310/ecommerce/ Reyes (2009) The top 5 management systems for e-commerce Retrieved on 10th June 2011 from http://webdesignledger.com/tools/top-5-content-management-systems-for-ecommerce Shah (2009) Management Issues regarding E-Commerce and Internet: Loughborough University Read More