Page 152 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

132 4 Business-to-Business E-Commerce

3. Discuss and compare all of the mechanisms that group- 3. Match a B2B business model with the services on each
purchasing aggregators can use. site listed in the previous question.
4. Should desktop purchasing only be implemented through 4. Visit ebay.com and identify all of the activities related to
an internal marketplace? its small business auctions. What services are provided
5. Compare and contrast a privately owned exchange with a by eBay? Then, enter eBay Business & Industrial area
private e-marketplace. at ebay.com/rpp/business-industrial. What kind of
6. Compare external and internal aggregation of catalogs. e-marketplace is this? What are its major capabilities?
7. Relate social commerce to B2B group buying. 5. Enter ondemandsourcing.com and use the free regis-
8. Compare an organizational buyer to an individual con- tration to view the product demo. Prepare a list of bene-
sumer. fits to small- and medium-sized organizations.
9. It is said that c-commerce signifies a move from a trans- 6. Enter bitpipe.com and find recent B2B vendor reports
action focus to a relationship focus among supply chain related to e-procurement. Identify topics not covered in
members. Discuss. this chapter.
7. Visit iasta.com and cognizant.com. Examine the major
tools they sell for conducting various types of e- procure-
TOPICS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION ment. List and analyze each tool.
AND DEBATES 8. Enter blog.marketo.com and find eight recent success-
ful applications of social B2B. Prepare a list of topics
1. Discuss B2B opportunities in social networking. covered at the site. Write a brief summary about the con-
2. Discuss the risks in B2B social networking. tent, including tips and guides and lessons learned.
3. Discuss how globalization is related to B2B. 9. Enter smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce and sum-
4. Relate B2B to the four Ps of marketing (product, pric- marize one of the “Success Stories.”
ing, placement, and promotion) and the four Cs (con- 10. Enter eprocurement.nc.gov. What e-procurement meth-
tent, connection, communication, and conversion). ods does it provide? What are the benefits of each
5. Discuss potential channel conflicts in B2B. method?
6. What is the contribution of B2B directories such as 11. Enter equinix.com and identify the B2B services they
Alibaba.com to global trade? What are the potential provide.
limitations? 12. Enter collaborativeshift.com or other c-collaborative
7. Debate: Some say that exchanges must be owned by a sites, and read about recent issues related to e- colla-
third-party intermediary and that consortiums should boration. Prepare a report.
not be allowed. 13. Enter opentext.com or kintone.cybozu.com/us. Read
8. Discuss why facebook.com is not as good as linkedin. the company vision for collaborative commerce and
com in generating sales leads. view the demo. Explain in a report how the company
9. In class, watch the video “B2B Marketing in a Digital facilitates c-commerce.
World” (4:11 min) at youtube.com/watch?v=-nTkBh-
sUIRQ. Discuss the implications for a progressive mar-
keting manager.
10. Research companies that conduct liquidations. Con- TEAM ASSIGNMENTS AND PROJECTS
centrate on: liquidation.com, govliquidation.com, and
govdeals.com. Examine the similarities and unique- 1. Assignment for the Opening Case
nesses in the services provided. Discuss the value added Read the opening case and answer the following ques-
tions.
to the companies that use these services.
(a) What directory services are provided by Alibaba.
com?
INTERNET EXERCISES (b) Identify the revenue sources of Alibaba.com.
(c) Find information about the 2014 IPO. Do you think
1. Tripadvisor.com launched a B2B division in 2010. that the company valuation is realistic?
Find information about the benefits to a company using (d) Enter slideshare.net/yanhufei/case-study-alibaba-
it and to its business customers. final-v-11 and review the Alibaba.com case study.
2. Examine the following sites: ariba.com, ibm.com, and Expand on the answers to questions which are desig-
ibxplatform.com. Review their products and services. nated by your teacher.
How do they support mobile marketing and social (e) Describe Alibaba’s business model.
commerce?