Page 84 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

62 2 E-Commerce: Mechanisms, Platforms, and Tools

11. Enter go.sap.com/index.html and find the key capabili- (g) Discuss the issues of measurements, metrics, and
ties of its enterprise portals. List the benefits of using CSFs.
five of the capabilities of SAP’s portals. (h) Optional: View Part 2 (youtube.com/watch?v=U0Js
12. Enter networksolutions.com. View the shopping cart T8mfZHc#t=15) and Part 3 (youtube.com/watch?
demo. What features impress you the most and why? v=AeE9VWQY9Tc) (6:50 and 10:24 min, respec-
What related services does it provide? Compare it to tively), and summarize the major topics discussed.
storefront.net, nexternal.com, and ecwid.com. 4. The team’s mission is to analyze Pinterest’s U.S. and
13. Enter the website of a social network service of your global competition, including similar companies in China
choice. Build a homepage. Add a chat room and a mes- and Brazil. Start by reading McKenzie (2012) about the
sage board to your site using the free tools provided. Chinese social sites Meilishuo and Mogujie and compare
Describe the other capabilities available. Make at least them to Pinterest. Do the same for weheartit.com. Look
five new friends. at another country of your choice. Comment on the cul-
14. Enter vivapets.com and dogster.com and compare their tural differences. Write a report.
offerings. 5. There are many applications of augmented reality. Find
15. Enter w3.org. Find material about Semantic Web (SW); current ones and classify them by areas (e.g., marketing).
check their RDF/FAQ and search for some applications. Make a class presentation.
Write a report.

CLOSING CASE: MADAGASCAR’S
TEAM ASSIGNMENTS AND PROJECTS PORT MODERNIZES CUSTOMS
WITH TRADENET
1. Assignments Related to the Opening Case
(a) Why is Pinterest considered a social network? Madagascar is an island-state in Africa whose port is critical to
(b) What are the company’s business and revenue models? its trade activities and the overall economy. The country’s cus-
(c) How can manufacturers advertise on Pinterest? toms operations play an essential part in the port operations.
(d) Compare Pinterest and We Heart It. Pay attention to
the business models.
(e) Pinterest has a large amount of money. How does it The Problem
use this money on its website to increase its competi-
tive advantage? The trade administration process in this underdeveloped
2. Assign each group a large e-tailer (e.g., Amazon.com, country used to be cumbersome and slow. This limited the
Walmart.com, Target.com, Dell.com, Apple.com, and trade volume and the customs revenue. Madagascar’s
HP.com). Trace the purchasing process. Look at the cata- “Trading Across Borders” indicator position was one of the
logs, search engines, shopping carts, Web 2.0 features, world’s lowest (143rd ranking). The country’s Logistics
and any other mechanisms that improve e-shopping. Performance Index was also low (120th place).
Prepare a presentation that includes recommendations for
improving the existing process. The Business Process
3. Compare the shopping carts from Shopify, Big Commerce,
and Open Cart. Distinguish between hosted and self- According to CrimsonLogic (2014), “Everyone exporting to
hosted carts. Watch the O’Reilly Media video titled Madagascar must first register and fill in an electronic form,
“Online Communities: The Tribalization of Business” called Advance Cargo Information—ACI…, for each con-
(Part 1 is 6:15 min; Parts 2 and 3 are optional) at youtube. signment. The exporter attaches copies of the trade docu-
com/watch?v=qQJvKyytMXU and answer the follow- ments, such as the commercial invoice, bill of lading and
ing questions: certificate of origin to the BSC and these are then transmitted
(a) Why is the term tribalization used in the video? electronically to the Customs in Madagascar to be verified
(b) What are virtual communities? for consistency and risk profiling.”
(c) How can traditional businesses benefit from online Once completed, the importer or customs broker can sub-
communities? mit the customs declaration electronically.
(d) What is the value of communities for the customers? Once submitted, the approval process begins. It may
(e) Compare social vs. marketing frameworks. involve several government agencies, port container terminal
(f) How are virtual communities aligned with the management, commercial banks, and the country’s Central
businesses? Bank and Treasury. While the submission portion was com-