Homework #1

Six Sigma : is a registered trademark of Motorola. It is a business management strategy created in 1981. The aim of this management is to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. The method six Sigma was first applied to industrial processes before being widened to every types of process (administrative, logistic, commercial, energy saving…).

SME : Small and medium enterprises are companies whose headcount or turnover falls below certain limits.

Pay for click : also known as pay per click, it is an internet advertising model, in which advertisers pay only when a consumer clicks on an ad or link from a search engine page

SEO : the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a website by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.

The 5 attitudes that Northwest consider before they hire a consultant are:

1. Improve quality

2. Improve communication and relationships with customers

3. Keep up with progress

4. Increase customers base

5. Increase range of products

The 5 barriers that Northwest consider before they hire a consultant are:

1. Lack of knowledge

2. Set-up cost

3. Lack of board interest

4. Lack of skills

5. Poor reliability

The 3 characteristics of Information according to the ‘Strategies and the New Economics of Information’ by Evans and Wurster 1997 are:

– Reach: refers to the potential number of customers a business can interact with.

– Richness: internet enables more detailed information about products, prices and availability to be made available.

– Affiliation: refers to the effectiveness of links with partners.

The definition of E-commerce: all electronically mediated information exchanges between an organization and its external stakeholders.

The 4 Ranges of perspective of Electronic commerce:

1. A communication perspective

2. A business process perspective

3. A service perspective

4. An online perspective

What is the difference between Sell-Side and Buy-Side ecommerce?

– Buy-side e-commerce : E-commerce transactions between a purchasing organization and its suppliers.

– Sell-side e-commerce : E-commerce transactions between a supplier organization and its customers.

List and provide an live link example of each of the 4 main types of sell-side ecommerce.

1. Transactional e-commerce side : amazon.com

2. Services-oriented relationship-building web sites : audi.com

3. Brand building sites : nike.com

4. Portal or media sites : pricegrabber.com

What is the definition of E-business and what does the book believe is the definition of the relationship between e-commerce and e-business?

– E-business : all electronically mediated information exhancges, both within an organization and with external stakeholders supporting the range of business processes.

– There are 3 definitions of the relationship between e-commerce and e-business :

1. Electronic commerce has some degree of overlap with electronic business

2. Electronic commerce is broadly equivalent to electronic business

3. Electronic commerce is a subset of electrnic business.