Page 286 - Electronic Commerce

Business-to-Business Activities: Improving Efficiency and Reducing Costs

8. Briefly define “knowledge management” and, in one or two paragraphs, explain how a
company might use Internet technologies to perform knowledge management.
9. In two paragraphs, explain how the challenges facing smaller companies that wanted to
participate in electronic data interchange (EDI) were changed by widespread use of the
Internet.
10. In about 100 words, explain how using EDI can lead to supply chain efficiencies.
11. In one or two paragraphs, explain the differences between direct connection EDI and indi- 261
rect connection EDI.
12. Write a paragraph that explains the advantages of using RFID technology instead of bar
code scanning technology in managing a business unit’s supply chain.
13. In a paragraph or two, explain how the Web helps build and maintain trust among partici-
pants in a specific supply chain.
14. In one or two paragraphs, describe the key elements of an independent industry
marketplace.

Exercises

1. Some business and political leaders argue that offshoring is dangerous because it can
move jobs from developed countries to less-developed countries. Others argue that
although offshoring might displace workers in the short run, in the longer term,
everyone benefits by having developing economies create new industries, products,
and markets for products and services that create high-level service and managerial
jobs in the developed world. In recent years, some economists have argued that off-
shoring today is having a negative impact on service and professional employment in
highly developed countries. Using resources in your library or online, present two
arguments for and two arguments against a U.S. company offshoring the management
of its customer relationships to technical and managerial personnel in a less-
developed country.
2. Using your library or your favorite search engine, identify the main reason a large transpor-
tation company might want to use p-cards for its MRO spending. Summarize your findings
in two or three paragraphs.
3. You have just started work as an intern in the purchasing department of Westridge Sys-
tems, a manufacturer of electronic control systems for manufacturing assembly lines. You
do not know much about electronic equipment, but your supervisor has given you the task
of identifying vendors who sell oscilloscopes that interface with personal computers. Use
the ThomasNet Web site to locate at least three vendors who offer such a product. For
each company, determine whether it offers products for sale on a Web site that discloses
prices and details about the products’ specifications. Summarize what you have learned
from your research about how each vendor sells its oscilloscopes online in a report of
approximately 150 words.
4. Internet access from mobile devices (especially smartphones and tablets) has greatly
improved the work environment of long-distance truck drivers in recent years. Using your

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