Introduction to e-Business

Electronic business (e-business) and the internet have revolutionised the way firms operate, how they communicate with others, what products they produce, how they deliver products and services, and how they seek competitive advantage. It has changed the 'rules' of trading by presenting new challenges and opportunities and altering the way firms engage and build relationships with customers.

Dr Colin Combe is in the Division of Management at Glasgow Caledonian University

Preface

xiii

Acknowledgements

xvii

Introduction

1

(20)

Key issues

1

(1)

Defining e-business

1

(1)

The development of the new economy

2

(2)

Types of e-business and related industries

4

(1)

The growth of e-business

5

(3)

Use of the internet

8

(2)

Key people

10

(3)

Scope of the book

13

(1)

Structure of the book

14

(4)

Case studies

18

(1)

References

19

(2)

E-business technology

21

(32)

Key issues

21

(1)

Introduction

21

(1)

The development of the internet

22

(1)

The World Wide Web (WWW)

23

(2)

Information infrastructure

25

(3)

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

28

(1)

Program languages

29

(4)

Industry standards

33

(6)

Wireless technology

39

(7)

Interactive television

46

(3)

Payment systems

49

(1)

Summary

50

(2)

Questions

52

(1)

References

52

(1)

Further reading

52

(1)

E-business markets and models

53

(34)

Key issues

53

(1)

Introduction

53

(1)

E-businesses

54

(1)

E-business environment

55

(4)

E-marketplaces

59

(2)

E-business markets

61

(5)

E-business models

66

(1)

Types of e-business models

67

(11)

A framework for analysing e-business models

78

(6)

Summary

84

(1)

Questions and tasks

85

(1)

References

85

(1)

Further reading

86

(1)

E-business economics

87

(30)

Key issues

87

(1)

Introduction

87

(1)

Towards perfect competition

88

(1)

The effect of the internet on the competitive environment

89

(1)

Key economic characteristics of the internet

90

(1)

Cost of production and distribution

91

(1)

Disintermediation and reintermediation

92

(2)

Mini Case Study: www.oag.com

94

(1)

Economics of information

95

(3)

Connectivity and interactivity

98

(1)

Economies of scale

99

(1)

Economies of scope

99

(1)

Transaction costs

100

(2)

Network externalities

102

(2)

Switching costs

104

(1)

Critical mass of customers

105

(1)

Mini Case Study: Online gambling

106

(1)

Pricing

107

(6)

Summary

113

(1)

Questions and tasks

114

(1)

References

114

(2)

Further reading

116

(1)

E-marketing

117

(34)

Key issues

117

(1)

Introduction

117

(1)

Internet marketing

118

(1)

E-marketing plan

119

(7)

The marketing mix

126

(5)

Branding

131

(1)

Online advertising

132

(3)

Targeting online customers

135

(2)

Interactive television and e-marketing

137

(5)

Customer relationship management

142

(5)

Summary

147

(1)

Questions and tasks

148

(1)

References

149

(1)

Further reading

150

(1)

The internet: law, privacy, trust and security

151

(32)

Key issues

151

(1)

Introduction

151

(1)

The internet and the law

152

(9)

Privacy

161

(5)

Trust

166

(3)

Security

169

(9)

Mini Case Study: BBC

178

(1)

Summary

179

(1)

Questions and tasks

179

(1)

References

180

(1)

Further reading

181

(2)

The management of e-business

183

(28)

Key issues

183

(1)

Introduction

183

(1)

Managing knowledge

184

(4)

Managing applications systems for e-business

188

(1)

Mini Case Study: Ryanair

189

(3)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

192

(3)

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

195

(3)

Management skills for e-business

198

(3)

Managing risk

201

(6)

Summary

207

(1)

Questions and tasks

208

(1)

References

209

(1)

Further reading

210

(1)

E-business strategy, formulation

211

(30)

Key issues

211

(1)

Introduction

211

(1)

Strategic management and objective setting

212

(1)

The strategic process

213

(3)

Internal analysis

216

(11)

External analysis

227

(7)

Competitive strategies for e-business

234

(2)

Summary

236

(1)

Questions and tasks

237

(1)

References

238

(1)

Further reading

238

(3)

E-business strategy: implementation

241

(32)

Key issues

241

(1)

Introduction

241

(1)

Strategic controls

242

(1)

Organisational learning

243

(3)

Organisational culture and e-business

246

(3)

Organisational structure and e-business

249

(7)

Mini Case Study: Sure Start

256

(1)

Change management

256

(5)

Mini Case Study: Levi Strauss

261

(7)

Summary

268

(1)

Questions and tasks

269

(1)

References

270

(1)

Further reading

270

(3)

E-business strategy: evaluation

273

(28)

Key issues

273

(1)

Introduction

273

(1)

The evaluation process

274

(1)

Organisational control and evaluation

275

(3)

Financial evaluation

278

(2)

Technology evaluation

280

(5)

Human resources evaluation

285

(4)

Website evaluation

289

(4)

Business model evaluation

293

(1)

Mini Case Study: Amazon.com

294

(1)

E-business strategy evaluation

294

(2)

Mini Case Study: Zen Internet

296

(2)

Summary

298

(1)

Questions and tasks

299

(1)

References

299

(1)

Further reading

299

(2)

Gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage

301

(24)

Key issues

301

(1)

Introduction

301

(1)

Competing effectively

302

(4)

First-mover advantages

306

(1)

Generic strategies

307

(5)

Mini Case Study: Glasses Direct

312

(2)

Integrating generic strategies

314

(1)

Expanding product lines

315

(1)

Lock-in and switching costs

315

(1)

Bricks and clicks

316

(1)

Winner-takes-all

317

(2)

The problem of sustaining competitive advantage

319

(2)

Summary

321

(1)

Questions and tasks

322

(1)

References

322

(1)

Further reading

323

(2)

E-business: the future

325

(20)

Key issues

325

(1)

Introduction

325

(1)

The phases of e-business development

325

(2)

The performance of e-business

327

(4)

The future of e-business

331

(11)

Conclusion

342

(2)

References

344

(1)

CASE STUDIES

Case study 1 Amazon.com

345

(18)

Introduction

345

(2)

The Amazon.com business model for online bookselling

347

(15)

References

362

(1)

Further reading

362

(1)

Case study 2 e-Bay

363

(14)

Introduction

363

(2)

The mission of e-Bay

365

(10)

References

375

(2)

Case study 3 Tesco.com

377

(10)

Introduction

377

(8)

Summary

385

(1)

References

386

(1)

Case study 4 Yahoo!

387

(14)

Introduction

387

(1)

The rise of Yahoo!

388

(2)

The fall of Yahoo!

390

(3)

The new regime at Yahoo!

393

(1)

Yahoo! in Europe

394

(2)

Expansion into China

396

(2)

Summary

398

(1)

References

399

(2)

Case study 5 boo.com

401

(12)

Introduction

401

(1)

The value proposition of boo.com

402

(2)

Problems with the boo.com concept

404

(2)

The launch of boo.com

406

(3)

The end game for boo.com

409

(1)

Summary

410

(1)

Reference

411

(2)

Glossary

413

(8)

List of companies

421

(2)

Index

423

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Introduction to e-Business

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials