Page 83 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Internet Exercises 61

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ban the use of Facebook, YouTube, and other such sites
at work.
1. Compare physical marketplaces with marketspaces. What 10. Debate the business value of social networking.
are the advantages and limitations of each? 11. Debate: Facebook and Twitter compete for advertisers’
2. Discuss the competitive advantage of Craigslist using money. Which one has a better chance to get more ad
classified ads. money and why?
3. Describe the advantages of Web 3.0 over Web 1.0 and 12. Some of the largest social media networks exist in China
Web 2.0. (qq.com, qzone.qq.com, us.weibo.com, weixin.qq.com,
4. Discuss the need for portals in EC. and renren.com). Find information about these networks
5. How do business-oriented networks differ from regular and list their properties. How do they differ from U.S.
social networks such as Facebook? social networks?
6. Why are social marketplaces considered to be a Web 2.0
application?
7. Discuss the following statement: “Technically, you can
put together a portal in a weekend, but culturally there are INTERNET EXERCISES
a slew of things to consider; therefore it takes much
longer.” 1. Enter tiwinnovations.com and tranzactive.com and
8. Discuss the pros and cons of selling cars via auctions. compare their translation capabilities.
9. Discuss the differences between virtual reality and aug- 2. Examine how bartering is conducted online at trade-
mented reality. away.com, barterquest.com, and u-exchange.com.
Compare and contrast the functionalities and ease of use
of these sites.
TOPICS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION 3. Enter volusion.com and identify all specific e- commerce
AND DEBATES mechanisms (or solutions) provided by the company.
4. Enter respond.com and request a product or a service.
1. Compare and contrast the efficiency of traditional mar- Once you receive replies, select the best deal. You have
kets with that of digital markets. no obligation to buy. Write a short report based on your
2. Some claim that social networking, especially micro- experience.
blogging and social network sites, displaces the tradi- 5. Enter dtsearch.com and find its capabilities. What
tional electronic bulletin board systems. Discuss. type(s) of search does it conduct (e.g., desktop, enter-
3. Discuss the advantages of dynamic pricing strategy over prise, general)?
fixed pricing. What are the potential disadvantages of 6. Enter cars.com. List all services available to both sellers
dynamic pricing? and buyers of cars. Compare it to carsdirect.com.
4. Enter Facebook and search for companies that do auc- Finally, identify the revenue sources of both sites.
tions on the site. Identify the different types of auctions 7. Enter ups.com.
on the site. (a) Find out what information is available to customers
5. What is the advantage of a business using eBay instead before they send a package.
of conducting auctions from its own site? Distinguish (b) Find out about the “package tracking” system; be
between C2C and B2B cases. specific.
6. Debate: Should companies build in-house social net- (c) Compute the cost of delivering a 10″ × 20″ × 15″
works for external activities or use existing public social box, weighing 40 pounds, from your hometown to
networks (e.g., see Roberts 2008)? Long Beach, California. Compare the cost for the
7. Debate: Should Craigslist and YouTube monitor and fastest delivery option with the lowest possible
control what users publish there? Who will pay the cost? delivery cost.
8. Debate: Social network services can provide good secu- (d) Prepare a spreadsheet using Excel for two different
rity to enterprise social networks. However, security types of calculations available on the UPS site.
may limit users’ creativity and disrupt the business. Enter data to solve for two different calculations.
Should a company use such a service? 8. Enter magicleap.com and find the company’s activities
9. Debate: Some research suggests that the use of public in augmented reality. Write a report.
social networks by employees during work hours can be 9. Enter truecar.com and review the services they provide
good for a business because employees develop relation- to car buyers. Write a report.
ships and share information, which increases productiv- 10. Enter ibm.com and oracle.com. Prepare a list of the
ity and innovation. Others say it is a waste of time and major products available for building corporate portals.