E-business Technologies Research Articles

U-commerce: introducing the new challenges for e-business

The evolving e-business systems and technologies have been astonishing. With the advances of technologies, the demand for electronic systems that provides higher computing performance, compatibilities, operational efficiencies, and superior customer services is on the rise. Currently, with the adoption of m-commerce in the e-business realm, the newer concept of e-business is to merge and integrate the physical and virtual world. This calls for the standardisation of network infrastructures, standardised wireless communication protocol, compatibility of systems software, and the issues and the complexities of the emerging systems with u-commerce capabilities.

Core Web Technologies for New E-Commerce Employees

Realizing that the Internet has changed the way business is conducted, many business schools have designed, or are in the process of designing, electronic commerce (e-commerce) courses, course sequences, or an entire e-commerce curriculum. More often than not this coursework includes topical coverage of web technologies. In the highly volatile e-commerce marketplace, identifying the core electronic business (e-business) technology for inclusion into the technical curricular component can be a real challenge. To assist Information Technology (IT) educators with e-commerce program design, this research examines the importance, content, and extent of the technology component of e-commerce coursework from the Information Systems (IS) professional's perspective. This research presents a brief overview of e-commerce technology and utilizes a survey, based on this overview to garner insights from IS professionals at leading e-commerce firms. The opinions of IS professionals from the Interactive 500 are examined and summarized. Implications for the technology component of e-commerce education are presented, as well as directions for future research.

A research framework for analysing eBusiness models

As eBusiness is moving towards maturity, research interests shift to the investigation of opportunities for market exploitation of eBusiness technologies. As a result, the debate around business models naturally becomes more topical. However, while many researchers and practitioners are contemplating business models, there is an alarming lack of theoretical tools in the literature to structure and codify knowledge in the area. This paper draws on an extensive review of the literature to propose an analytic framework that decomposes the area of business models into eight research sub-domains. The proposed framework is then applied to organize and critically review existing research under each sub-domain as well as to define an agenda of future challenges on business model research. The framework can benefit future research by allowing researchers to better concentrate their efforts and place their contributions in an overall context, thus assisting in building a coherent body of knowledge in the challenging research domain of business models.

Determinants of the adoption of e-business technologies

The paper identifies and analyses factors that discriminate firms using different types of e-business technologies in the manufacturing sector in India. The study is based on primary data collected from 51 firms located in the National Capital Region. Entrepreneurial characteristics, historical data of firms, and other firms-specific factors such as size of operation, export intensity, international orientation, wage rates, and profit margins were included in the analysis. The findings of the study suggest that the firms managed by informed and qualified entrepreneurs have adopted more advanced e-business tools. The study captures the role of bandwidth in diffusion of e-business. The results show that variables such as size of operation and wage rates differ significantly between portal using firms and others. International orientation of firms represented by variables such as exports intensity and technological collaboration with foreign firms have also emerged as significant factors that distinguished advanced e-business technology using firms from the rest.

Are we ready? The state of wireless e-business in the USA

Recent evidence shows that in the United States, electronics and information technology (IT) businesses generate nearly one-third of their revenues from e-business, yet spend less than 5% on IT. While there have been many published studies on the adoption of e-business using wired Internet technologies, the adoption of wireless e-business by US firms remains relatively unexplored. The purpose of this study is to report on the current state of adoption of wireless e-business technologies in the US Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector and the factors likely to affect the utilization of these technologies in the future Survey results show that the US ICT sector is not very far along in its use and application of wireless e-business technologies.

The e-business capability of small and medium sized firms in international supply chains

The reality of trade is that it takes two or more parties to do business, and therefore the capabilities of both selling and buying firms are important. Where over 60% of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the USA and Canada have adopted some form of business process through a computer mediated network, such as the Internet, other countries have significantly lower adoption rates. In Asia and Latin America, where as many as 99% of all firms are classified as SMEs, low adoption rates may be an impediment to increased international trade. This paper takes a critical look at the existing research on adoption of e-business technology by SMEs internationally. In particular, we identify the gap in our knowledge about what makes SMEs in different countries capable of using the technology in their domestic and international supply chains. We present a typology of the business processes networked over computer-mediated processes from our preliminary empirical field research, interviewing 40 SMEs in Canada, Japan, China and Mexico. This is used to propose a model of international SME capability to guide future empirical research.

SMEs and the Take-Up of E-Business

This paper explores some of the principal issues surrounding the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) and e-business technologies and techniques by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The paper reviews the nature and extent of the take-up of these technologies by small firms, models of e-business adoption by SMEs, barriers to adoption and factors of success, and the major role played by human capital. Time specific issues are discussed in the context of e-retailing. It is concluded that the take-up of e-business by SMEs should be seen in context as a means to an end and not as an end in itself. The paper suggests that the naive preoccupation of governments' policies with the technology of e-commerce and its take-up as a mechanism to achieve economic growth through SMEs needs to be tempered with a sharper focus on how small businesses function; how they identify business opportunities, generate profits and create wealth.

E-business technology education: a preliminary model

In this paper, we describe a preliminary model proposing that the e-business technology (EBT) should be one area of many specialization areas within Computing Science & Information Technology (CSI taught many times by the authors during the past decade) from the viewpoint of the preliminary model developed in this paper. One of the original contributions of this paper is that the authors have coined two new terms to reflect the latest technological developments and proposed educational changes: the “mobile PC telephone”, and the “e-business centric programming”.

Design of a demand-driven collaborative supply-chain planning and fulfilment system for distributed enterprises

E-Business technologies have provided new ways of working and thus revolutionized how business is conducted. E-Business technologies touch every aspect of business: from order processing to logistics execution. Such technologies are relevant to businesses of all sizes and types, and can potentially offer significant advantages including the means and models to help companies reshape their value proposition and integrate their business with customers. An emerging area of focus is that of collaborative supply-chain planning and fulfilment in distributed enterprises. This paper addresses the design issues of a demand-driven planning and fulfilment system enabling collaboration across distributed enterprises.

Call for Papers: Impact of eBusiness Technologies

Call for Papers: Impact of eBusiness Technologies

Using competitive strategy patterns to determine ideal supply chain management information systems capabilities

Supply chain management information systems (SCM IS) have become vital tools for synchronising information among the customers and suppliers of a supply chain. However, recent advances in inter-enterprise systems and e-business technologies have led to a confusing variety of SCM IS alternatives, each with varying capabilities. This paper demonstrates how a business unit's competitive strategy patterns can be identified and used to determine the levels of support an SCM IS should provide to enable operational efficiency, flexibility, and planning and analysis capabilities. An exploratory pilot study using the emergent model illustrates its utility and assesses various measures of its operationalisation.

Dynamic inventory database management (DIDM): a summary of an internet-based solution for managing complexity of inventory databases

In recent years, fast growth in the development and application of e-business technologies has generated vast interest among practising managers and management scholars in inventory database management. E-business technologies enable an inventory manager to make coordinated decisions on the basis of regularly updated and timely ordered information. The dynamic features of the inventory items and inventory locations make a rationally organised time schedule of regular and irregular updates for inventory databases difficult. Using a game theory strategy of optimal regular updates for dynamic databases can significantly lower costs associated with the database update process. This article describes an internet-based solution of creation, maintenance, update, and query of a computerised inventory database for inventory items and their locations with time-dependent (dynamic) and time-independent (static) attributes. Further research opportunities in inventory database management using e-business applications are discussed.

An empirical investigation of the economic payoffs of e-business and CRM innovations

While the question of the benefits of e-business initiatives has been an issue in both the academic and business worlds, there has been little empirical research on the value created from such initiatives. Using Information Week's annual data set of innovative IT users, this study empirically examines the contribution of e-business initiatives to firm performance, measured by gross margin, revenue per employee, ROA, and ROE. The measure of e-business initiatives is constructed by combining e-business and CRM innovations. Data are analysed for the full sample and for both the manufacturing and service industry sectors for the 2 years of 1999 and 2000. The results show that e-business and CRM innovations contribute to firm performance significantly. The results indicate that when firms deploy e-business technologies and practices early and creatively, namely when their e-business initiatives are innovative, they can generate significant economic returns.

Organisational logic in the new age of business: the case example of knowledge management at Valtech

Valtech is a Paris-based consulting firm established in 1993 and devoted to e-business technologies. The company was initially structured as a distributor of new information technologies to the French and European market which secondarily provided training in the use of its products. Valtech now positions itself as a pure knowledge-transfer firm which instructs clients in the strategic use and development of cutting-edge electronic technologies. Valtech organised itself according to KM principles in 1993, but only became aware of KM as a formal organising framework in 1998. While the adoption of KM is often "pushed" onto companies by the academic or consulting communities, Valtech pulled itself toward KM organising logics by the New Age of business it defined for itself. The following introduces Valtech and traces its development over nine years.

Development of an electronic-business planning model for small and medium-sized enterprises

Many companies want to conduct more business and improve performance using electronic, computer-based and telecommunication-enabled business processes. However, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have little understanding of, and cannot comprehend, future technological developments. This paper presents the findings of a research project funded by the Centre for Enterprise in 2000–2001 into developing an e-business planning model for SMEs. The model architecture is top-down in the sense of moving from a high-level strategic appraisal of e-business opportunities in level 1 to the selection of particular e-business technologies in level 4; but it is also critical for a company to integrate the different levels of decision-making from the identification of business value to the implementation of relevant technologies in order to facilitate the delivery of products/services to customers. The paper also reports the findings of a case study conducted in a SME in order to illustrate how the e-business planning model proposed is applied in a practical context. This shows how the model can be used to generate an action plan for taking a business from its current position to a strategically desired state. #Editor's note: The editor regrets to inform readers of this article that the lead author, Dr. Tang, passed away suddenly on Saturday, 1st November 2003.

Emerging e-business technologies for electronic medical records

The software industry is currently undergoing a revolutionary transition from software as products to software as services. In this paper, we introduce emerging e-business technologies including application services, web services, and grid services. We show how these technologies help surmount economic and technical obstacles to adopting electronic medical records, and propose a service provision model for implementing the infrastructure for sharing medical records. Finally, by extending the technology acceptance model, we show how cognitive factors impact the acceptance of application services by healthcare workers.

E‐Business and Supply Chain Management

ABSTRACTIn recent years, the area of Supply Chain Management has generated a substantial amount of interest both by managers and researchers. This interest has also been fueled by the growth in the development and application of e‐business technologies. These technologies enable the supply chain manager to make coordinated decisions by integrating the diverse and sometimes conflicting objectives of the various trading partners in a chain. The purpose of this paper is to: (a) highlight strategic and tactical issues for analyzing supply chains in an e‐business setting based on papers published in this special issue; and (b) describe future research opportunities in this emerging interdisciplinary area.

The challenge of e-business for the South African apparel sector

Innovation-intensive growth is exemplified by new information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as the internet and internet applications like e-business. E-business plays an important role in facilitating innovation by fostering greater networking in the economy, and making possible faster diffusion of codified knowledge and ideas. This paper explores the potential of e-business to provide a necessary lever to enhance competitiveness of the South African (SA) apparel sector. In particular, the paper critically discusses the opportunities, challenges and risks of e-business for the apparel sector. Despite strong theoretical arguments suggesting that e-business has much to offer the garments industry, the empirical evidence would seem to suggest that e-business in the SA apparel sector is still in its infancy. The paper proposes a number of policies designed to create an enabling and nurturing environment aimed at promoting and accelerating the diffusion of e-business technologies and strategies in the SA apparel sector.

E-business in the Greek Apparel Industry: A proposed business model

This paper presents a proposed business model for Virtual Organisations of the Greek Apparel Industry. It covers aspects such as subcontracted production, electronic business enabled information flow and dynamic relationships between business processes and partners built on various standards and rules. Initially, the supporting systems used from the companies operating in the Apparel industry are determined (Systems View). The next step is the elaboration of the core processes presented with the use of a business model (Process View). Each of these processes is further analysed with the use of process charts. The enabling e-business technologies for the efficient realisation of the identified activities are highlighted, integrating the process and the systems view. The constructed business model was based on the experience gained from reengineering efforts in four companies operating in the Greek Apparel Industry.

E-business and manufacturing sector: a study of small and medium-sized enterprises in India

The paper identifies and analyses the determinants of the adoption of e-business technologies in the manufacturing sector in India. The study is based on primary data collected from 51 firms located in the National Capital Region. Entrepreneurial characteristics, historical data of firms, and other firms-specific factors such as size of operation, export intensity, international orientation, wage rates, and profit margins were included in the analysis. The study reveals that the firms that are more internationally oriented have adopted more advanced e-business tools. More qualified entrepreneurs manage firms that have adopted advanced e-business tools and pay higher wages to workers. The study captures the role of bandwidth in diffusion of e-business. The results reveal evidence of efficiency in business transactions and an augmentation in the competitiveness of firms due to the adoption of e-business tools.