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6 Part 1 Introduction

2 We talk about these businesses being ‘successful’, but what is success for a new
e-business?
3 What do these sites have in common that you think has made them successful?
Answers to activities can be found at www.pearsoned.co.uk/chaffey

The impact of the electronic communications on traditional businesses

Social network During the same period managers at established businesses have had to determine how to
A site that facilitates peer- apply new electronic communications technologies to transform their organisations. As we
to-peer communication
within a group or between will see later in this chapter, existing businesses have evolved their approaches to e-business
individuals through through a series of stages. Innovation in e-business is relentless, with the continuous intro-
providing facilities to
develop user-generated duction of new technologies, new business models and new communications approaches. So
content (UGC) and to all organizations have to review new electronic and Internet-based communications
exchange messages and
comments between approaches for their potential to make their business more competitive and also manage
different users. ongoing risks such as security and performance . For example, current opportunities which
many businesses are reviewing the benefits, costs and risks of implementing include:
Virtual worlds
An electronic environment the growth in popularity of social networks such as Bebo, Facebook (Case Study 1.1) and
which simulates
interactions between MySpace, virtual worlds such as Habbo Hotel and Second Life, and blogs created by many
online characters known individuals and businesses;
as avatars. Also known as
Massively Multiplayer rich media such as online video and interactive applications into their web sites;
Online Roleplaying selection of mobile commerce services which exploit the usage of mobile phones and other
Games (MMORPG).
portable wireless devices such as laptops around the world. The potential of mobile
Blog commerce is evident from research by Wireless Intelligence (2008) which found that at the
Personal online diary, end of 2007, globally there were 3 billion subscriber connections (representing half the
journal or news source
compiled by one person, planet’s population) with penetration rates in developing countries such as India (21%) and
an internal team or China (41%) showing the potential for future growth;
external guest authors.
Postings are usually in using location-based tracking of goods and inventory as they are manufactured and
different categories. transported.
Typically comments can
be added to each blog You can see that an organization’s capability to manage technology-enabled change is the
posting to help create
interactivity and feedback. essence of successfull y managing e-business. The pace of change and the opportunities for
new communications approaches make e-business and e-commerce an exciting area of busi-
Rich media
ness to be involved in.
Digital assets such as ads
are not static images, but In E-Business and E-Commerce Management we will explore approaches managers can use
provide animation, audio to assess the relevance of different e-business opportunities and then devise and implement
or interactivity as a game
or form to be completed. strategies to exploit these opportunities. We will also study how to manage more practical
risks such as delivering a satisfactory service quality, maintaining customer privacy and
Mobile commerce
(m-commerce) managing security. We introduce some of the opportunities and risks later in this chapter.
Electronic transactions In this chapter we start by introducing the scope of e-business and e-commerce. Then we
and communications review the the main opportunities and risks of e-business together with the drivers and bar-
conducted using mobile
devices such as laptops, riers to adoption of e-business services. Finally, we will look at some of the organizational
PDAs and mobile phones, challenges of managing e-business using the classic McKinsey 7S strategy framework.
and typically with a
wireless connection.