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246 Part 1 Introduction

Summary 1 Environmental scanning and analysis are necessary in order that a company can
respond to environmental changes and act on legal and ethical constraints on its
activities.
2 Environmental constraints are related to the micro-environment variables reviewed
in Chapter 5 and the macro-environment variables in this chapter using the SLEPT
mnemonic.
3 Social factors that must be understood as part of the move to the Information
Society include buyer behaviour characteristics such as access to the Internet and
perceptions about it as a communications tool.
4 Ethical issues include the need to safeguard consumer privacy and security of
personal information. Privacy issues include collection and dissemination of
customer information, cookies and the use of direct e-mail.
5 Legal factors to be considered by e-commerce managers include: accessibility,
domain name registration, copyright and data protection legislation.
6 Economic factors considered in the chapter are the regional differences in the use
of the Internet for trade. Different economic conditions in different markets are
considered in developing e-commerce budgets.
7 Political factors involve the role of governments in promoting e-commerce, but also
trying to control it.
8 Rapid variation in technology requires constant monitoring of adoption of the tech-
nology by customers and competitors and appropriate responses.

Exercises Self-assessment questions

1 Why is environmental scanning necessary?
2 Give an example how each of the macro-environment factors may directly drive the
content and services provided by a web site.
3 Summarize the social factors that govern consumer access to the Internet. How
can companies overcome these influences once people venture online?
4 What actions can e-commerce managers take to safeguard consumer privacy and
security?
5 What are the general legal constraints that a company acts under in any country?
6 How do governments attempt to control the use of the Internet?
7 Summarize adoption patterns across the continents.
8 How should innovation be managed?

Essay and discussion questions
1 You recently started a job as e-commerce manager for a bank. Produce a check-
list of all the different legal and ethical issues that you need to check for compli-
ance on the existing web site of the bank.
2 How should the e-commerce manager monitor and respond to technological inno-
vation?
3 Benchmark different approaches to achieving and reassuring customers about
their privacy and security using three or four examples for a retail sector such as
travel, books, toys or clothing.