International Information an E-business Strategy - Essay Example

International information an E-business strategy Number Contents Contents 2 INTRODUCTION 3 INTERNET TECHNOLOGY 4 Business Models 5 E-Commerce Strategy 6 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 7 Supply chains and its use 7 E-Procurement 8 E-MARKETING AND CRM 8 CRM Elements and cycle 8 ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 9 Process and Data Modelling 9 CONCLUSION 10 References 11 INTRODUCTION E- Business is a concept that describes the arrangement organizations redesigns to incorporate internet services in their business structures, processes and services. It entails the use of electronic devices in the processing and sharing of data to ease interactions with systems and services. It enhances the integration of databases and hardware devices. Examples are taking orders, purchase of goods, and making payments. Entrepreneurs are faced with decision making challenges resulting from increased globalization, rapid technological challenges and competition. As a result new knowledge creates a competitive advantage. The exist a gap between the current business knowledge and emerging trends. Environmental scanning seeks to bridge this capability gap (Grefen, 2010). Entrepreneurs gather information from the external environment and interpret it through organizational learning to improve problem solving. The external environment ranges from the task environment (competition, customers, and suppliers) to the general environment. According to the conceptual model of scanning small firms prefer informal means that are cheap, efficient and effective (Ravi Kalakota, 2010). Entrepreneurs using personal and informal means experience greater organizational learning and success. Disintermediation is the direct dissemination of information to the consumer without the use of a mediator. The use of internet and the world wide web give users a chance to access the information relating to product data without the need for intermediaries such as wholesalers and retailers. It changes the relationship between the user and the product (Paul J. Jackson, 2008). INTERNET TECHNOLOGY To realize the full benefits of the internet, organizations need to reinvent their business processes to incorporate the rapidly changing technology. The assembly of computer hardware in computer networking is called computer architecture. Internet network architecture involves the use of architectural techniques in the field of internet networking technology. There are different components of the internet network architecture and technology. Client. Comprises of the physical devices such as computers, mobile devices and notebooks that are linked to the wireless network area Satellite. A satellite is used in the catching and distribution of signals over the network. Network adapters. These are used to set up or configure the internet technology in the operating system. Examples of network adapters for accessing the internet are LAN cards and modems. Routers. Transmit data from one place to the other in the form of data packets. Access points. Transmits data between wired and wireless technology. . Bridges. Used to establish connections between wired networks such as Ethernet and wireless networks such as LAN. Acts as points of control in the network architecture. The use of electronic communications changes market trends. Businesses will rush to adapt to emerging trends of marketing. Social networks such as Facebook and YouTube are preferred over search engines due to the interactive nature with the clients. Environmental scanning has a role in shaping the current business strategies (Ravi Kalakota, 2010). It gives an overview to the organization on the current technological innovations, impact the information will have on the society, cultural and economic factors of a country as well as international contributions. An online marketplace is segmented into various portions. The customer segment comprises of existing and new customers, web savvy and non web savvy, specific needs customers, and those that are in different demographies. Search intermediaries as google, Baidu (china), Yandex (Russia) and Naver (South Korea) acts as a link between the customer and the destination online site. Business Models We are going to consider two interactions between business and customers. The first model called B2B (Business to Business) concerns itself with the supply chain management. Portal’s used in electronic transfer orders, invoicing and payments allow direct engagement between suppliers and distributors. B2C ( Business to Consumer) websites act as intermediary portals that link the suppliers to customers. For instance Ebay, Yell, and Amazon are examples of B2C e-businesses that sells to the end user without the involvement of intermediaries (Canzer, 2006). The internet has greatly changed the way we do business. It is the global networking that connects millions of computers together that can communicate with each other. The world wide web consists of pages of information in the form of text, graphics, sound and video. Web pages are composed using Hypertext technology and a web browser is the interface for searching and viewing hypertext files. A collection of web pages is called a website and JavaScript is used to process the HTML code to enable interaction with the internet. E-Commerce Strategy Two strategies come into play in e-commerce; the sell-side strategy and the buy-side strategy. The buy-side strategy seeks to maximize operational efficiencies and improve customer service. It involves purchases from the supplier for materials use to produce consumer goods. These goods are sold to the consumers through sell-side strategy. When evaluating e-commerce strategies, organizations should consider the advantages that are gained in buy-side and sell-side transactions. While transaction websites with e-commerce enables the online purchase of products, service oriented sites build relationships with their customers and promote selection behavior. Banks use sell-side e-commerce. Brand building sites like Coca Cola and Ford provide a virtual experience to the consumer on the importance of the product. Although the channel of distribution is limited, the site promotes the brand by way of advertising (Grefen, 2010). E-business strategies should define the goals and techniques for internet channels. It can be argued that specific E-business objectives should be set to benchmark the adoption of e-channels. Therefore E-business strategies provides a framework of implementing and adopting e-channels as well as prioritize the target consumers and achieving the target goals. The internet as a tool is used to reach to newer markets and customer segments. It can also be used to support the diversification into related and unrelated businesses. Additionally, it integrates suppliers and intermediaries in both sides of the supply channel. Businesses which have adopted the use of internet in the improvement of their products and modes of payment have a competitive edge over the others. Customer value and loyalty improvement are achieved by migrating customers online to reduce operating cost and increase purchase frequency and quantities. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Supply chains and its use E-business cannot be efficient without considering supply chains and management. Supply Chain Management is defined as the coordination of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and customers (Canzer, 2006). The supply chain has three typed of flows that needs to be carefully designed and coordinated. The material flows, information flows and financial flows. The coordination of these flows is achieved through three pillars; processes, organizational structures and enabling technologies. Application of these three pillars has improved the coordination of demand and supply. Upstream supply chain is the coordination of supply activities of an organization from the suppliers while downstream supply chain involves the transactions between the organization and its customers. The pull approach enhances product and service quality by using technology to carry out extensive market research. Data integration reduces the cycle and response time needed to achieve low inventory levels at a given time (Paul J. Jackson, 2008). The benefits of an efficient supply chain are unquestionable. Improved data integration in the supply chain eliminates paper processing cost. It also reduces the cost of the product due to competition and enhance customer responsiveness. The abundant choice of suppliers and a 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 days ordering mechanism reduces the buying cost of the company (Canzer, 2006). E-Procurement Procurement involves purchasing and the subsequent activities that follow until the final item is used. E-procurement aims at obtaining the product at the right price, and making delivery at the right time without compromising the quality and quantity. The key procurement activities within an organization includes the processing of orders, approval, payments and delivery. The success of an organization depends majorly on its marketing strategies. In a research conducted by ComScore in Reston VA, it revealed that 60% of shoppers who intended to purchase items in physical stores later purchased online. This trend clearly illustrates that online marketing is advancing rapidly to lure new customers and retain loyal ones (Ravi Kalakota, 2010). Websites employ the use of OPVs to lure clients into purchasing their brands as it answers questions of content, benefits, service or functionality. It is described in a clear manner the distinct difference between your company and the organization and the reasons to choose you over the others. OPV’s are imagery, unique and captivating and are designed to give a company a competitive advantage over the others. The uniqueness of a company can bed evaluated by online marketing. Letting customers know that their feedback is valued is crucial. This is done through online assessment polls. The target audience is reassured of the companys commitment to serve them by revitalizing their attention. This can be achieved through customer relation management. E-MARKETING AND CRM CRM Elements and cycle CRM is the practice of documenting customer information: - contacts and their address for the purpose of building good relations and responding to after sale services. The information should be available to everyone for the purpose of answering questions. CRM systems are used to manage business contacts, clients, and sales leads. The customer data provided helps the organization provide services effectively (Ravi Kalakota, 2010). CRM consists of four major elements; customer selection, customer acquisition, customer retention and customer extension. It relies heavily on technology to manage and link information about the customers. As a result they look for ways of customizing and personalizing experiences. These processes are known as mass customization. In this internet generation the B2C concept of strategies is preferred. When social media are incorporated in CRM it is referred as social customer relationship management. Social CRM leverage social networks in the business by allowing interaction between customers and the management (Ravi Kalakota, 2010). ANALYSIS AND DESIGN Process and Data Modelling The last part of this paper is going to discuss about the analysis and design of an e-business. The aim is to achieve the designed strategic procedures discussed earlier. In order to achieve this objective, the business activities including documentation and information should be transferred from one department to the other for implementation through a process known as workflow. Process Modelling define the various computerized activities, tools and software used to apply to the various processes. The outcome of a process projects at increasing the sense of value to the customer and increasing the company profits. Process modelling prepares the company for a competitive approach for the target consumers and market growth. Apart from process modeling there exists another kind of modeling. Data modeling focuses on the design of a relational database. It can be executed in three stages; entities, attributes of entities and relationships. An entity diagram describes the relationship between the data and the business relationship. It is independent of the technology and implementation approach used. Entities are the requirements needed to store data. Examples include, customer, product and account. The manner in which these entities relate to each other gives the relationship. Data needed to store about the entities are referred to as attributes. Names, address and phone number of a customer qualifies as attributes. An entity occurring many times in an organization such as transactions create a relationship which is resolved by the attribute. An attribute can belong to only one entity and have a single value at a given time. CONCLUSION In conclusion it is evident that internet and e-business are the drivers of a business success. Integration of human incentives and technology increases productivity and boosts economic growth. As Poter quoted, “The key question is not whether to deploy internet technology- companies have no choice if they want to stay competitive- but how to deploy it”. It is imperative to develop a reliable e-business in order to survive in the business world. References Canzer, B. (2006). E-Business: Strategic thinking and practice. Cengage Learning. Grefen, P. (2010). Mastering e-business. Taylor & Francis. Paul J. Jackson, L. H. (2008). E-business fundamentals. Routledge. Ravi Kalakota, M. R. (2010). E-Business 2.0:Roadmap for Success. Addison-Wesley Professional. Read More