Chapter 8 Ethical, Social, and Political Issuses in E-commerce

Chapter 8

1.    What basic assumptions does the study of ethics make about individuals?

The basic assumptions the study of ethics make about individuals are that individuals are free moral agents who are in a position to make choices.

2.    What are the three basic principles of ethics? How does due process factor in?

The three basic principles of ethics are responsibility, accountability, and liability.
Due process is the ability to appeal to a higher court to make sure the law was applied correctly.

3.    Explain Google’s position that YouTube does not violate the intellectual property rights of copyright owners.

Google’s position is Google do not allow the users to make money off the downloads to You Tube.

4.    Define universalism, slippery slope, the New York Times test, and the social contract rule as they apply to ethics.

Universalism is if an action is not right for all situations, then it is not right for any situation.
Slippery Slope is if an action could not be taken repeatedly, the it should not be taken at all.
The New York Times test is assume that the results of your decision on a matter would be the lead article in the New York Times the next day.
The Social contract rule is would you like to live in a society where the principle you are supporting would become an organizing principle of the entire society.

5.    Name some of the personal information collected by Web sites about their visitors.

Some of the personal information collected by Web sites about their visitors are name, address, phone number, zip code, email address, social security number, bank account, credit card numbers, gender, age, occupation, and education.

6.    How does information collected through online forms differ from site transaction logs? Which potentially provides a more complete consumer profile?

Information collected through online forms are given voluntarily by the users for exchange for some kind of benefit, while the site transaction logs collect and analyze detailed information on page content viewed by users. Online forms provide a more complete consumer profile.

7.    Name three ways online advertising networks have improved on, or added to, traditional offline marketing techniques.

Three ways online advertising networks have improved on, or added to, traditional offline marketing techniques are:
First, they have the ability to precisely track not just customer purchases, but all browsing behavior on the Web at thousands of the most popular member sites, including browsing booklist, filling out preference forms, and viewing content pages.
Second, they can dynamically adjust what the shopper sees on the screen—including prices.
Third, they can build and continually refresh high-resolution data images or behavioral profiles of customers.

8.    Explain how Web profiling is supposed to benefit both consumers and businesses.

Profiling permits targeting of ads, ensuring that customers see advertisements mostly for products and services in which they are actually interested. Businesses benefit by not paying for wasted advertisements sent to customers who have no interest in their product or services.

9.    How could the Internet potentially change protection given to intellectual property?

Once intellectual works become digital, it becomes difficult to control access, use, distribution, and copying.

10.  What capabilities make it more difficult to enforce intellectual property law?

The Internet technically permits millions of people to make perfect digital copies of various works and then to distribute them nearly cost-free to hundreds of millions of Web users.

11.  What are some of the tactics illegal businesses, such as betting parlors and casinos, successfully use to operate outside the law on the Internet?

The sites are located offshore so the can operate beyond the jurisdiction of state and federal prosecutors.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

1.    What are the eight key components of an effective business model?

The eight key components of an effective business model are: value proposition, revenue model, marketing opportunity, competitive environment, competitive advantage, market strategy, organizational development, and management team.

2.    Describe the five primary revenue models used by e-commerce firms.
The advertising revenue model is used when Web sites offers it users content, services, and/or products also providing a forum for advertisements and receives fees from advertisers.
In the subscription revenue model, a Web site that offers its users content or services charges a subscription fee for access to some or all of its offerings.
In the transaction fee revenue model, a company receives a fee for enabling or executing a transaction.
In the sales revenue model, companies derive revenue by selling goods, information, or services to customers.
In the affiliate revenue model, sites that steer business to an “affiliate” receive a referral fee or percentage of the revenues from any resulting sales.

3.    Why is targeting a market niche generally smarter for a community provider than targeting a large market segment?
Targeting a market niche generally is smater for a community provider because the community provider should start on a level in which the provider is familiar with. The provider should start with a niche that can be supplied and then move to a bigger market.

4.    Besides the examples given in the chapter, what are some other examples of vertical and horizontal portals in existence today?
Examples of vertical and horizontal portals in existence today are alot.com, itunes, michaelbasiden.com, and blackamericanweb.com.

     5.     What are the major differences between virtual storefronts such as Drugstore.com   and bricks-and-clicks operations such as Walmart.com? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Virtual storefronts customers only have to connect to the Internet to check their inventory and place an order. The bricks-and-clicks are subsidiaries or divisions of existing physical stores and carry the same products.