Topic One Questions

1. Internet risks – give examples of four things that can go wrong with a transactional site?

1. Breaches of security; revealing your personal information over the internet can lead to identity theft as hackers may steal you information

2. Computer/Network crash; a computer or network crash can cause the company to seize trading until the problem can be fixed

3. SPAM; some websites have a clause in their privacy policy that a customers email may be shared with third parties to send relevant offers. This can result the customer to be bombarded with unnecessary emails and make them angry/

4. Incorrect reviews; Market competition is cut throat, so this has resulted in shopping website owners to hire goons to put biased reviews on certain products to either promote or turn away customers to benefit company sales

Source: http://www.fido.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/Credit+cards%3A+when+things+go+wrong+

2. Definitions of e-commerce and e-business

E-commerce; ‘consists of buying and selling products or services over electronics systems such as the internet and other computer networks (Wikipedia, 2011)

E-business; ‘defined as the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all activities of business (Wikipedia, 2011)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_commerce and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-business

3. What is the difference between buy side and sell side e-commerce?

Buy side of e-commerce is when a business buys from another entity, such as a manufacturer on the intent of selling to customers. Sell side is on the other hand when businesses are focused specifically on selling their products and services over the internet on a website.

Source: http://www. Inquirer.net/infotech/oct99wk3/info_7

4. Describe the different types of e-business

C2C- Consumer to Consumer such as Skype

C2B – Consumer to Business such as Priceline

C2G – Consumer to Government such as customers providing information and feedback to the government

B2C – Business to Consumer such as Amazon

B2B – Business to Business such as companies purchasing stock from manufacturers to on sell the products

G2C – Government to Consumer such as local government services

G2B – Government to Business, working out things like legal regulations

G2G – Government to Government, exchanging services within the government.

Source: http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/2240/Topic1/Topic_1_Introduction_to_eBusiness.ppt#288,13,Slide 13

5. Which digital technology has the highest penetration rate? Explain and source your answer.

Mobile phones have the greatest penetration rate. This is because most people have and use regularly at least one or more phones and this amount is larger than any other digital product. ‘By the end of 2007, almost one out of two people had a mobile phone. In Europe, penetration has surpassed the 100% mark. More than one out of 4 African and one out of 3 Asian have a mobile phone. A high level of competition and a decrease in prices have been able to reduce the digital divide in mobile telephone, substantially’.

Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/index.html

6. List four drivers to adoption of sell side e-commerce by business?

-         There is a reduced amount of administrative expenses because most of the business is completed online

-         There is an increased amount in sales because you can sell to any person in the world 24/7

-         There would be a decrease in marketing expenses because all the marketing would be online

-         There would be a supply-chain cost reduction a shorter cycle in ordering and distributing products

Source: http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/2240/Topic1/Topic_1_Introduction_to_eBusiness.ppt#296,17,Tangible and intangible benefits

7. List four barriers to adoption of sell side e-commerce by business?

-         The staff employed might not be as competent selling products over the internet rather than face to face

-         The start up costs of setting up a business may be high and this can be a barrier in starting an e-business for some people

-         A lack of knowledge can become a barrier if they do not know how to effectively run a business online

-         The reluctance of staff wanting to switch to an online business rather than selling products face to face

Source: http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/2240/Topic1/Topic_1_Introduction_to_eBusiness.ppt#300,20,Slide 20

8. How might a restaurant in
   Sturt Street
   Ballarat benefit from an online presence?

The restaurant could benefit form having an online presence because:

-         it can make potential customers aware of the restaurant if they live outside Ballarat

-         Customers may stumble across this restaurant in an search engine and want to try it

-         It gives customers all the information about the restaurant e.g. operating hours, the menu, photos of the restaurant and location

9. What are some examples of Digital Information?

Some examples of digital information are CD’s, Digital Camera’s, Mobile phones, DVD’s, digital television and Internet

Source: http://www.techterms.com/defintion/digital

10. What is the semantic web? Are we there yet?

The semantic web is a ‘web of data’ (Wikipedia, 2011) used on the World Wide Wed to allow users to use the information provided on the web to its full potential by searching, processing and combining information. The semantic web of a vision of information that can be sorted by machines, so all the difficult work can be done by machines for the benefits of users. We are unfortunately still in the infant stages, so it is unsure what direction the semantic web will take, but it is looking bright.

Sources: http://infomesh.net/2001/swintro/#itWorks