Sunday, September 26, 2010

e-Business

 1. What is an IP Address?  What is it’s main function?
An IP Address is defined as the basic communication language or protocol of the internet. It can also be  used as a communications protocol in a private network.
IP (internet protocol) this defined as the way that data is transferred from one computer to another basic function in transporting data between computers.

2.  What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?
Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the internet- a more mature, distinctive medium characterised by user participation on, openness and network effects. Web 2.0 is referred to as the live web. Users can collaborate and build there own content. Business are using web2.0 to enable access to critical business  application for employees and customers.

 

3.  What is Web 3.0?

Web 3.0 is defined as a semantic web that encompasses the following:
  • Transforming the web into a database.
  • An evolutionary path to artificial intelligence.
  • Search for information using different medias.
  • Evolution toward 3D.

Web 3.0 uses the concept of Tagging to build information about you, your devices talk to each other and build intelligence about you.


 4.  What is e-Business, how does it differ from e-Commerce?

            E-business - the conducting of business on the internet including, not only buying and selling,
            but also serving customers and collaborating with business partners.
           This  looks into the business activities that may take place.
           The benefits of this are as follows:

  • Highly accessible
  • Increased customer loyalty
  • Improved information content
  • Increased convenience
  • Increased global reach
  • Decreased cost

          E-commerce - the buying and selling of good and services over the internet.
          E.g. Partial and pure.

5. What is pure and partial e-Commerce

Pure vs. Partial EC:
  • The product can be physical or digital.
  • The process can be physical or digital
  • The delivery agent can be physical or digital.

Virtual organizations are companies that are engaged only in EC. (Also called pure play). While click-and-mortar organizations are those that conduct some e-commerce activities, yet their business is primarily done in the physical world. i.e. partial EC

6.  List and describe the various e-Business models?

  • Business-to-business (B2B) - applies to business buying from and selling to each other over the internet.
  • Business-to-consumer (B2C) - applies to any business that sells its products or services to customers over the internet.
  • Consumer-to-business (C2B) - applies to any consumer that sells a product or service to a business over the internet.
  • Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) - applies to sites primarily offering goods and services to assist consumers interacting with each other over the internet.

          
          7. List and describe the major B2B models?




Three most important are the sell-side B2B, buy-side B2B and electronic exchange.

          8. Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online?

                Two opportunities include the following:
  • Highly accessible - businesses can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
  • Decreased costs - conducting business over the internet is substantially smaller than traditional forms of business communication.

               Two challenges include the following:
  • Protecting customers - customers must be protected against unsolicited goods and communication, illegal or harmful goods, insufficient information about goods or their suppliers, invasion of privacy and cyber fraud.
  • Providing security - companies must protect their assets against accidental or malicious misuse. Customer information also needs to be protected from internal or external misuse.

Strategic Decision Making

1. Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages?
TPS=  a transaction processing system is the basic business system that serves the operational level (analysis) in an organisation.
DSS= a decision support system models information to support managers and business professionals during the decision-making process.

2. Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems?

  • Sensitivity analysis  - this is the study of the impact that changes in one (or more) parts of the model have on other parts. Users change the value of one variable repeatedly and observe the resulting changes in other variables.
  • What if analysis - what will happen if this changes. Looks at the impact of the change within the organisation. Users repeat this analysis until they understand all the effects of various situations.
  • Goal seeking analysis - right to left/left to right. Start with on sequence and carry out the operation until the companies target is met. This sets a target value (a goal) for a variable and then repeatedly changes other variables until the target value is achieved.

3. Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation?

A business process is a standardised set of activities that accomplish a specific task, such as processing a customers order. A business process is  aimed to convert input within the company to outputs. It is hidden for the user and by using a business process productivity is increased. The importance of this is by knowing your business process organisation goals will be achieved.



4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering?

  • Business process improvement - this attempts to understand and measure the current process and make  performance improvements accordingly.

Document as
Is process
Establish
Measurement
Follow process
Measure
Performance
Identify and implement
improvement


The loop repeats over and over again as it is continuously improved.

  • Business process re-engineering - this is the analysis and the redesign of workflow within and between enterprises.  The basic steps involved include the following:

Set project scope
Stud competition.
Create new processes.
Implement solution.
5. Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process  models?

Business process modelling (or mapping) is the activity of creating a detailed flowchart or process map of a work process, showing its inputs, tasks and activities in a structured sequence. A business process model is a graphic description of a process showing the sequence of process tasks, which is developed for a specific purpose and from a selected view point. The purpose of a process model is:
  • Expose process detail gradually and in a controlled manner.
  • Encourage conciseness and accuracy in describing the process model.
  • Focus attention on the process model interfaces.
  • Provide a powerful process analysis and consistent design vocabulary.

Information Systems

1. Explain information technology's role in business and describe how u measure success?
The positive impact of information technology on a business is that it reduces costs, improves productivity and generates growth. IT is very critical within organisations as various initiatives aid in facilitating communication and increasing business intelligence.

Success is measured through both efficiency IT metrics and effective IT metrics. Efficiency IT Metrics measures the performance of the IT system itself including throughput, speed and availability. Getting the most from each resource. Effectiveness IT Metrics measures the impact IT has on the business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, sell-through increases. Setting the right goals and seeing they are accomplished.



2. List and describe each of the forces in Porter's Five Forces Model?


Ø Buyer power- high when buyers have many choices of whom to buy from and low when their choices are few. One way to reduce buyer power is through loyalty programs, which rewards customers based on the amount of business they do with a particular organisation.

Ø Supplier power- high when one supplier has a concentrated power over an industry. Buyers have few choices of whom to buy from and low when their choices are many.

Ø Threat of substitutes- high when there are many alternatives to a product or service and low when there are few alternatives.

Ø Threat of new entrants- high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market and low when there are significant entry barriers.

Ø Rivalry among existing competitors- high when competition in fierce in a market and low when competition is more complacent. Reducing switching costs is one way to "steal" your competitors' customers.

3. Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains?

Information technology needs to ensure that support works well so primary activities are running well within the organisation.

4. Compare Porter's three generic strategies?




Industry force
Cost leadership
Differentiation
Focused
Entry barriers
Ability to cut price in relation deters
potential entrants.
Customer loyalty can discourage potential entrants.
Focusing develops core competencies that can act as an entry barrier.
Buyer power
Ability to offer lower price to powerful buyers.
Large buyers have less power to negotiate because of few close alternatives.
Large buyers have less power to negotiate because of few alternatives.
Supplier power
Better insulated from powerful suppliers.
Better able to pass on supplier price increases to customers.
Suppliers have power because of low volumes, but a differentiation-focused firm is better able to pass on supplier price increases.
Threat of substitutes
Can use low price to defend against substitutes.
Customers become attached to differentiating attributes, reducing threat of substitutes.
Specialised products and core competency protect against substitutes.
Rivalry
Better able to compete on price.
Brand loyalty to keep customers from rivals.
Rival cannot meet differentiation-focused customer needs.