Internet-based Electronic Commerce Research Articles

Design and Implementation of a Web-Based Electronic-Commerce System

The Internet opens up a new horizon for us and has a tremendous impact on our daily lives, including shopping. The Internet-based electronic commerce (e-commerce) has given the business and shopping concept a new dimension that makes buying and selling necessary goods and products more convenient and accessible. There is no doubt that e-commerce will play a prominent role in the eventual success of future businesses, and the efficient architecture of the e-commerce system will play a significant role in that success. In this paper, we present a design and implementation of a web-based e-commerce system called campus accessories that focuses on the four fundamental business issues of attracting, interacting, acting, and reacting. The system presented here focuses on the business-to-customer e-commerce system to provide a more efficient approach to handling online shopping. Because of this application, university students can make an easy approach for buying and selling necessary products.

Unleashing the Power of mCRM: Investigating Antecedents of Mobile CRM Values from Managers’ Viewpoint

ABSTRACTMobile technology together with Internet-based electronic commerce has transformed the way businesses operate. Mobile Customer Relationship Management (mCRM) combines mobility and CRM (customer relationship management) to enable organizations to increase their business performance by delivering better products/services to their customers. Incorporating location-based information into CRM systems has created new values and business opportunities. Using location information, for example, businesses can offer more personalized and real-time location-based services (LBS) to their customers. In this study, we investigate how the IT infrastructure and LBS support of mCRM, as technical resource capabilities, and mCRM knowledge and education, as human resource capabilities, can enhance business performance of the organization by improving mCRM’s quality dimensions. We propose a research model that integrates the resource-based view (RBV) of a firm and DeLone and McLean IS success model to investigate the effects of mCRM quality dimensions on business performance. To validate the proposed research model, we collected a set of empirical data from managers in a wide range of organizations that use mCRM in South Korea. The results indicate that the IT infrastructure of an organization as a technical resource, along with mCRM users’ knowledge, as a human resource capability can significantly influence managers’ perceptions of quality along various dimensions of mCRM: customer data quality, system quality, and service quality. Consequently, improving these quality dimensions will significantly influence the performance of an organization in terms of financial performance, productivity, and customer satisfaction. The present study would help both academic and professionals to understand and improve business performance by employing the appropriate resources that can harness the full potential of mCRM.

Editor’s Introduction: Twentieth Anniversary of International Journal of Electronic Commerce

The inaugural issue of the International Journal of Electronic Commerce (IJEC) appeared in the fall of 1996, some three to four years after the inception of Internet-based electronic commerce (EC),...

Technology Readiness and E-Commerce Adoption among Entrepreneurs of SMEs in Bandung City, Indonesia

The emergence of internet-based electronic commerce offers considerable opportunities for companies to expand their customer base, enter new product markets, and rationalize their business. The Indonesian government has initiated and implemented a series of plans and activities to promote technology use to increase SMEs’ performance. Despite such efforts, technology adoption rate are still low. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors affecting an entrepreneurs’ decision on internet adoption, by measuring technology readiness (TR). The purpose of this study is to investigate TR and the extent to which E-commerce is adopted amongst entrepreneurs. This study is replication of Parasuraman’s study on the Technology Readiness Index (TRI). Questionnaires were distributed using a convenience sampling method to 190 entrepreneurs of SME in Bandung city. The findings indicate that entrepreneurs are moderate in terms of their TR. There are significant differences in terms of TR across entrepreneurs’ backgrounds (gender, age, education, and income). In relation to internet adoption by those surveyed, as their use of media promotion is still low, there were only 36.3 percent who adopted it. The results clearly indicate the need to provide support to SMEs to adopt and use e-commerce. These results have implications not only for managers of SMEs but also for government agencies in developing countries such as Indonesia. The findings have implications for researchers and practitioners by identifying TR drivers (optimism and innovativeness), and barriers (discomfort and insecurity), that contribute to effectively leveraging the Internet in an important area for SMEs.

The wholesaler's role in the marketing channel: Disintermediation vs. reintermediation

The demise of wholesalers as a major distributive institution in marketing channels has been predicted for many decades. The advent of internet-based electronic commerce has been predicted to accelerate the demise of wholesalers through a process of disintermediation. But reality has not conformed to these prognostications. What appears to be occurring is a reconfiguring or realignment of wholesalers in distribution channels, sometimes referred to as reintermediation. This article examines several underlying paradigms that may explain why wholesalers as a major distributive institution (will) continue to play an important role in marketing channels.

Factors Influencing the Extent of Deployment of Electronic Commerce for Small-and Medium Sized Enterprises

This study surveys the perceptions and experiences of Australian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the implementation of Internet-based Electronic Commerce (EC) as seen from the perspective of the extent of deployment. With a sample of 115 small businesses in Australia, this article uses regression modelling to explore and establish the factors that are related to the extent of deployment in EC. A multiple regression analysis shows that seven factors: perceived relative advantage, trialability, observability, variety of information sources, communication amount, competitive pressure, and non-trading institutional influences, significantly influence the extent of EC deployment by SMEs in Australia. The managerial implications are discussed.

The impact of e-commerce on the role of IS professionals

Understanding the knowledge, skills and abilities of information systems professionals has been a longstanding goal of information systems research. An IS professional's ability to perform in his or her role is vital to the utilisation of information systems within an organisation. This research addresses the question: in what ways has the recent ascension of Internet-based electronic commerce altered the competency requirements of IS professionals? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen participants from a variety of public and private organizations, who are currently participating or had participated in e-commerce projects. The findings indicate that the implementation of e-commerce in organisations has introduced three main types of business changes: expectations, perceptions, and compliance. These three changes have in turn driven project changes and subsequent changes in the competency requirements and role of the IS professional. The implications of these changes for IS professionals and the organizations for which they work are discussed.

Strategic Orientation, Competition, and Internet-Based Electronic Commerce

This paper investigates the relationship between strategic orientation, competition, and Internet-based electronic commerce. We propose that firms use the Internet to support their strategy, and in...

A framework for developing a unified B2B e-trading construction marketplace

With its great explosion and the advancement of related technology and services, such as the World Wide Web (WWW), the Internet has provided a rich environment for developing Internet-based electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications in construction. Among the different types of e-commerce, business-to-business (B2B) is the most widely used. The B2B e-trading marketplaces (also called B2B-exchanges), which have sparked a revolution in the way of trading products between buyers and suppliers, are an essential component of B2B applications. However, many e-trading marketplaces have been developed and hosted by different construction products and services providers, and each forms a closed system with their own customers and clients. In this paper, the concept of e-union is presented, which integrates the services provided by different e-trading construction sites to provide an open e-trading service. The design of a mobile agent-enabled framework for building such an open e-trading marketplace environment is described, along with a prototypical implementation.

Workflow support for electronic commerce applications

Internet-based electronic commerce is becoming the next frontier of new business opportunities. However, commerce on the Internet is seriously hindered by the lack of a common language for collaborative commercial activities. Although Extensible Markup Language (XML) allows trading partners to exchange semantic information electronically, it does not provide support for document routing. In this paper, we describe various inter-organizational electronic commerce applications and discuss their needs for workflow support. Then, we propose a blueprint for XRL, an Extensible Routing Language that enables routing of commercial documents over the Internet and helps in creating truly intelligent documents. This routing language is simple, yet powerful enough to support flexible routing of documents in the Internet environment.

Internet based auctions

Web based auctions and negotiations have become quite popular due to their implementation and integration in electronic commerce applications. Online auctions have become an effective approach in the buying and selling process, employed in the rapidly emerging Internet-based electronic commerce platforms. The goal of this paper is to outline research efforts in relation to online Internet-based auctions modeling and applications. The key research topics in the area are identified and the paper focus on the issues of auction modeling, use of agents in Web-based auction implementations, auctions computational and combinatorial analysis as well as on security issues involved in online auctioning. The most popular implementations, applications and servers are also referenced and discussed.

An Assessment for Internet-Based Electronic Commerce Development in Businesses of New Zealand

As a preliminary study of our research project this paper investigates the status of Internet-based electronic commerce (EC) development and applications in businesses of New Zealand. This paper also analyses the features of EC activities between different industry sectors and finds that there is an obvious difference between different sectors in EC activities. Finally, Internet-based EC activities are assessed and customer satisfaction for Internetbased EC applications to business is measured. This paper is based on a desk survey of 400 randomly selected New Zealand business websites. As a further work, the factors to successful Internet-based EC development are explored by identifying cost, benefit and business satisfaction, then a relationship model between cost, benefit and success of EC is currently undertaken.

Redesigning Contracted Service Procurement for Internet-Based Electronic Commerce: A Case Study

This paper describes a case study focused on redesigning procurement processes for research grants management at the U.S. Office of Naval Research. These processes focus on the procurement of R&D services, and how they can be redesigned and supported using Web-based capabilities. Through the application of empirical results and theoretical concepts from business process reengineering, electronic commerce, and IT-based process management, we gain insight into issues and challenges to be addressed in redesigning the procurement of contracted services with Web-based EC capabilities. Accordingly, four research questions are identified and addressed which build from these results and concepts. Finally, in collaboration with other participants in this effort, the case study reveals that we could contribute to a substantial reduction in process cycle time and operational costs associated with the annual funding of thousands of research grant procurement actions at ONR.

Information Technology and Changing Supply Chain Behavior: Discussion

industrialization and the vertical integration of the agrifood supply chain. While imperfect information and transaction costs are often cited as key incentives for vertical coordination of a supply chain, the role of information technology has largely been ignored. Undoubtedly, as the capabilities of electronic commerce improve, the agrifood supply chain will undergo further dramatic structural change. Most intriguing, the direction of structural change may reverse from closely aligned hierarchal relationships to a greater market orientation (Steinfield, Kraut, and Plummer). The primary reason is that Internet-based electronic commerce and electronic logistics have the potential to provide a competitive alternative to more formal supply chain relationships, such as tying agreements, contractual coordination, and vertical integration. The fast-paced advancements in information technology capabilities, the rise of the Internet, and the emergence of business-to-business (B2B) commerce makes this a highly fertile area for research in imperfect information and organizational structure. The papers by Kinsey and Salin directly address the status of information technology and its implications for supply chain management. Ward attempts to find evidence of structural changes to the supply chain (albeit not directly attributable to information technologies) by focusing on vertically related prices. Kinsey focuses her paper on an overview of electronic commerce systems and their effect on the manufacture-distributionwholesale-retail segment of the supply chain. Kinsey begins with an assessment of why electronic data interchange (EDI) systems mostly underperformed expectations. She also provides useful insights on how EDI al ered strategic investment in the supply chain. Beyond this historical perspective, Kinsey raises several key market issues related to the adoption of electronic information systems. This includes a discussion of the positive network externalities of information systems, the role of standardization in improving market efficiency, and lowering bar iers to entry and the potential uses of standardized information for cooperative planning, forecasting, and replenishment in the supply chain. The Internet provides a common platform with interconnectedness as an inherent feature. This makes obsolete

Transaction Streams: Theory and Examples Related to Confidence in Internet-Based Electronic Commerce

This paper analyses how transactions related to the exchange of goods and services are being performed on the Internet. The adoption of electronic markets in an industry has a disintermediation potential because it can create a direct link between the producer and the consumer (without the need for the intermediation role of distributors). Electronic markets lower the searches cost allowing customers to choose between more providers. This ultimately reduces both the costs for the customer and the profits for the producer. In this paper it is contended that electronic markets on the Internet have the opposite effect, resulting in an increase in intermediators. It introduces transaction streams which model how transactions are being conducted and helps explain the types of new intermediators that are appearing on the Internet. The mechanisms by which companies are exploring ways of extending transaction streams are also described. To illustrate the model, the paper briefly analyses transaction streams in the insurance industry and provides examples related to confidence in electronic commerce.

Transaction streams: theory and examples related to confidence in internet-based electronic commerce

This paper analyses how transactions related to the exchange of goods and services are being performed on the Internet. The adoption of electronic markets in an industry has a disintermediation potential because it can create a direct link between the producer and the consumer (without the need for the intermediation role of distributors). Electronic markets lower the searches cost allowing customers to choose between more providers. This ultimately reduces both the costs for the customer and the profits for the producer. In this paper it is contended that electronic markets on the Internet have the opposite effect, resulting in an increase in intermediators. It introduces transaction streams which model how transactions are being conducted and helps explain the types of new intermediators that are appearing on the Internet. The mechanisms by which companies are exploring ways of extending transaction streams are also described. To illustrate the model, the paper briefly analyses transaction streams in the insurance industry and provides examples related to confidence in electronic commerce.

Digital payment systems for Internet commerce: The state of the art

This paper presents a comprehensive survey of digital payment systems for Internet-based electronic commerce. A new taxonomy and classification covering most, if not all, Internet payment methods, schemes and protocols is introduced. A set of evaluation and analysis criteria, both internal and external to a particular system, is used to analyze system representatives of each class. Principal characteristics are synthesized in a comparative table. Different approaches for future developments are proposed, including a new digital envelope transport protocol named TRANZIX, used in the context of generic “transport and transfer of value”. A comprehensive electronic resource list is also included.

PCASSO: a design for secure communication of personal health information via the internet

The Internet holds both promise and peril for the communications of person-identifiable health information. Because of technical features designed to promote accessibility and interoperability rather than security, Internet addressing conventions and transport protocols are vulnerable to compromise by malicious persons and programs. In addition, most commonly used personal computer (PC) operating systems currently lack the hardware-based system software protection and process isolation that are essential for ensuring the integrity of trusted applications. Security approaches designed for electronic commerce, that trade known security weaknesses for limited financial liability, are not sufficient for personal health data, where the personal damage caused by unintentional disclosure may be far more serious. To overcome these obstacles, we are developing and evaluating an Internet-based communications system called PCASSO (Patient-centered access to secure systems online) that applies state of the art security to health information. PCASSO includes role-based access control, multi-level security, strong device and user authentication, session-specific encryption and audit trails. Unlike Internet-based electronic commerce ‘solutions,’ PCASSO secures data end-to-end: in the server; in the data repository; across the network; and on the client. PCASSO is designed to give patients as well as providers access to personal health records via the Internet.

Competitor and vendor influence on the adoption of innovative applications in electronic commerce

The rapid growth of the Internet over the past 5 years has greatly increased interest in its potential use of the Internet for electronic commerce (EC), particularly as a vehicle for transactions between customers and suppliers. Today, Internet-based EC applications are in their infancy and investments in innovative information technology (IT) applications are risky and expensive. The managerial decision, to adopt these EC applications early or wait for the technology to become more established, is not trivial. Early adoption poses significant demand and technological risks, but the rewards could be great. We report on an empirical investigation of the influences on the adoption decision for one of the earliest EC applications, the automated teller machine (ATM) system, to determine whether marketing efforts by hardware and software vendors, imitation of competitors or a mixture of influences affected these decisions among bank managers. We develop a time series of cumulative ATM adoption estimates for 1971–1992 and use these data to fit three models from the diffusion of innovation literature, the external, internal and mixed influence models. The results suggest that imitation and communication among industry competitors was most important, but marketing efforts by the technology vendors were also important in the first few years after the introduction of the technology.

Electronic commerce comes to the ‘Net‘

While the fundamental business-to-business (e.g. supply chain) trading model has not significantly changed in hundreds, if not thousands, of years, many of the underlying business processes and trading practices have changed and continue to evolve. In some cases, these changes have been more successful than others. While the primary purpose to this paper is to discuss the effect of Internet-based electronic commerce on supply chain business processes and trading practices, if also provides a historical review of electronic commerce. As George Santayana once said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."