E-Business, Ninth Edition provides complete coverage of the key business and technology elements of electronic commerce. The book does not assume that readers have any previous electronic commerce knowledge or experience.
In 1998, having spent several years doing electronic commerce research, consulting,and corporate training, I began developing undergraduate and graduate business school courses in electronic commerce. Although I had used a variety of books and other materials in my corporate training work, I was concerned that those materials would not work well in university courses because they were written at widely varying levels and did not have the organization and pedagogic features, such as review questions, that are so important to students.
After searching for a textbook that offered balanced coverage of both the business and technology elements of electronic eommeree, I concluded that no such book existed. The first edition of E-Business was written to fill that void. Since that first edition, I have worked to improve the book and keep it current with the rapid changes in this dynamic field.
New to this Edition
This edition includes the usual updates to keep the content current with the rapidly occurring changes in electronic commerce. The ninth edition also includes new material on the following topics:
Expanded discussion of first-mover advantage (Chapter 1)
Multiple marketing channels (Chapter 3)
Revenue models for specialized information Web sites (Chapter 3)
The future of electronic books and newspaper Web sites (Chapter 3)
Free for many, fee for a few revenue models (Chapter 3)
Online delivery of television shows and movies (Chapter 3)
E-procurement software for smaller companies (Chapter 5)
Social networking business opportunities (Chapter 6)
Growth of mobile commerce applications on smart phones (Chapters 3, 6)
Re-emergence of group shopping Web sites (Chapter 6)
Growing use of Web services and other Web 2.0 technologies in electronic
commerce (Chapters 6, 7)
Expanded coverage of database management software (Chapter 7)
Specialized customer relationship management software (Chapter 7)
New major viruses and security threats (Chapter 8)
. Secure Sockets Layer-Extended Validation digital certificates (Chapter 8)
Mobile banking and mobile payment services (Chapter 9)
Use of credit card verification numbers in electronic commerce (Chapter 9)
Expanded coverage of jobs in electronic commerce (Chapter 10)
E-Business: Ninth Edition introduces readers to both the theory and practice of conducting business over the Internet and World Wide Web. The book is organized into four sections: an introduction, business strategies, technologies, and integration.
Introduction
The book's first section includes two chapters. Chapter l, "The Second Wave of Global E-Business," defines electronic commerce and describes how companies use it to create new products and services, reduce the cost of existing business processes, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations. The concept of the second wave of electronic commerce is presented and developed in this chapter. Chapter 1 also describes the history of the Internet and the Web, explains the international environment in which electronic commerce exists, provides an overview of the economic structures in which businesses operate, and describes how electronic commerce fits into those structures.Two themes are introduced in this chapter and recur throughout later chapters: examining a firm's value chain can suggest opportunities for electronic commerce initiatives, and reductions in transaction costs are important elements of many electronic commerce initiatives.
Chapter 2, "E-Business Technology Basics," introduces the technologies used to conduct business online, including topics such as Internet infrastructure, protocols, and packet-switched networks. Chapter 2 also describes the markup languages used on the Web (HTML and XML) and discusses Internet connection options and tradeoffs, including wireless technologies.
Business Strategies for Electronic Commerce
The second section of the book includes four chapters that describe the business strategies that companies and other organizations are using to do business online.
Chapter 3, "E-Business Revenue Models," describes revenue models that companies are using on the Web and explains how some companies have changed their revenue models as the Web has matured. The chapter explains important concepts related to revenue models, such as cannibalization and coordinating multiple marketing channels. The chapter also describes how firms that understand the nature of communication on the Web can identify and reach the largest possible number of qualified customers.
Chapter 4, "Selling to Consumers Online," provides an introduction to Internet marketing and online advertising. It includes coverage of market segmentation, technology-enabled customer relationship management, rational branding, contextual advertising, localized advertising, viral marketing, and permission marketing. The chapter also explains how online businesses can share and transfer brand benefits through affiliate marketing and cooperative efforts among brand owners.
Chapter 5, "Selling to Businesses Online," explores the variety of methods that companies are using to improve their purchasing and logistics primary activities with Internet and Web technologies. Chapter 5 also provides an overview of EDI and explores how the Internet provides an inexpensive EDI communications channel that allows smaller businesses to reap EDI's benefits. Chapter 5 describes how businesses are using technologies such as eprocurement, radio-frequency identification, and reverse auctions in the practice of supply chain management online.
Chapter 6, "Virtual Communities," outlines how companies now use the Web to do things that they have never done before, such as creating social networks, engaging in mobile commerce, and operating auction sites. The chapter describes how businesses are developing social networks and using existing social networking Web sites to increase sales and do market research. The emergence of mobile commerce in meaningful volumes after many years of anticipation is outlined. The chapter also explains how companies are using Web auction sites to sell goods to their customers and generate advertising revenue.Technologies for Electronic Commerce
The third section of the book includes three chapters that describe the technologies of electronic commerce and explains how they work.
Chapter 7, "Web Hosting and E-Business Software," describes the basic functions that all electronic commerce Web sites must accomplish and explains the various software options used to perform those functions by companies of various sizes. This chapter includes an overview of Web services (Web 2.0 technologies), database management, shopping eart, and other types of software used in electronic eommerce. The chapter also includes a diseussion of Web hosting options for online businesses of various sizes. Chapter 8, "Online Security," discusses security threats and countermeasures that organizations can use to ensure the seeurity of client computers, communications channels, and Web servers. The chapter emphasizes the importance of a written security policy and explains how eneryption and digital certificates work. The role of industry organizations in promoting computer, network, and Internet security is also outlined.
Chapter 9, "Online Payment Systems," presents a discussion of electronic payment systems, including mobile banking, electronic cash, electronic wallets, and the technologies used to make stored-value ear&, eredit cards, debit cards, and charge cards work. The chapter describes how payment systems operate, including approval of transactions and disbursements to merchants, and describes how banks are using Internet technologies to improve check clearing and payment-processing operations. The use of mobile technologies for making small payments today and in the future is outlined. The chapter also includes a discussion of the threats that phishing attacks and identity theft crimes pose for individuals and online businesses.
Integration
The fourth and final section of the book includes one chapter that integrates the business and technology strategies used in electronic commerce. Chapter 10, "Implementing E-Business Initiatives," presents an overview of key elements that are typically included in business plans for electronic commerce implementations, such as the setting of objectives and estimating project costs and benefits. The chapter describes outsourcing strategies used in electronic commerce and covers the use of project management and project portfolio management as formal ways to plan and control tasks and resources used in electronic commerce implementations. This chapter includes a discussion of change management and outlines specific jobs available in organizations that conduct electronic commerce.