chapter 1

Chapter 1


1. What is e-commerce? How does it differ from e-business? Where does it intersect with e-business?

E-commerce is the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to transact business. E-business is the digital enabling of transaction and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm. E-commerce is the business done on the Internet with customers, while e-business is business done inside a firm with employees only over a Intranet system. E-commerce intersect with e-business at the business firm bounder.

2. What are some of the unique features of e-commerce technology?

Some of the unique features of e-commerce technologty are ubiquity, global reach, universal Standards, richness, interactivity, information density, personalization/customization, social technology.

3. What is Web 2.0? Give examples of Web 2.0 sites and explain why you included them in your list.

Web 2.0 is a set of applications and technologies that allows users to create, edit, and distribute content, share prefences, bookmarks, and online personas; participate in virtual lives; and build online communities. Some examples of Web 2.0 are You Tube, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Photobucket, WordPress, Twitter, Goggle, Second Life, Wikipedia, and Digg. I would include them in my list because: they relay on user- and consumer-generated content; easy seaarch capability is a key to their success; they create new opportunities for people to socialize with one another; they rely on broadband connectivity to the Web; they are currently marginally profitable, and their business models unproven despite considerable investment; and they attract extremely large audiences.

4. Give examples of B2C, B2B, C2C, and P2P Web sites besides those listed in the chapter materials.

B2C-- Walmart; B2B -- samsclub.com; C2C -- oodle.com; P2P -- limewire.com.

5. What factors will help define the future of e-commerce over the next five years?

Factors that will help define the future of e-commerce over the next five years are: expensive technology, sophisticated skill set, persistent cultural attraction of physical markets and traditional shopping experiences, persistent global inequality limiting access to telephones and personal computers, and saturation and ceiling effects.