Gender Roles, Race, And Inequality - 1966 Words

Feminism is the approach to gender roles, race, and inequality in women. It also refers to individuals or organizations that promote changes to society to end the issues involving women. Feminism addresses economic, social, political and cultural differences of power and rights. Sexism plays a huge role in feminism. Generally, people are inferior if they are identified as a black woman and those identified as white women are superior and experience more advantages. Society has formed a culture where white women are treated differently than women of any other race, mainly black women, which makes a black woman seem to be â€Å"less than† a white woman. Many people believe that it is just â€Å"the way that it is supposed to be†, but every women†¦show more content†¦Women wanted to have a voice and a say so to economic, social, political, and cultural changes, now it has altered into a movement for equality in women. Race feminism is used to address the issues of inequality in women from different racial groups. There are different types of feminism, liberal, radical, socialist and cultural feminism. Liberal feminism advocates individuals to use the democratic process to help women from different racial groups become equal in society and the eyes of the law. Radical feminism is a movement that believes the only way to get rid of feminism is to get rid of gender and race completely, radical feminism mainly focuses on sexism. Socialist feminism is a movement that believes that capitalism is the main issue causing race feminism. Socialists focuses on economics and politics. Cultural feminism believes in encouraging feminine behavior rather than masculine behavior (Feminism, 2007). The feminist movement is usually defined in three ‘waves’. The first wave of feminism took place in the nineteenth century. During this time, women were dominated by white middle and upper class Anglo-American women, women of color were excluded. The second wave began in the 1960s, this wave focused on addressing social groups among women based on their race. Feminist attempted to make the issue between women and race aware but resulted in a fragmentation of feminism. The main focus was to pass the Equal Rights Amendment to theShow MoreRelatedQuestions On Inequalities Of Gender Inequality1625 Words   |  7 Pages1. Inequalities of Gender 1. Discuss the various forms of Gender inequality 2. Choose and discuss two theoretical perspectives used to analyze gender inequality 3. Make sure to compare the perspectives and choose which one you align yourself with Kerbo (1994) refer to gender as the socially constructed definition of what it mean to be female or male. Sex and gender are two separate terms. Sex refers to the biological characteristics. However, gender is completely different. Gender is sociallyRead MoreRacial Segregation And The Educational Institution964 Words   |  4 Pagesevery race, gender, and background experience while growing up. Since social class is determined in large part by education, the effects of education carry forward into the rest of each person’s life even after they’ve long left the institution itself (Roy, lecture 10). In his lecture on the institution, Professor Roy adds that education allows for a path to social mobility while also reproducing inequalities. This paradox can be seen in both race and gender – albeit in varying degrees. 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Both black people and women dealt with stereotypes, like being a woman associated with being useless, a gossip, and delusional and being a black person meant you are uneducated. These stereotypes led to the word â€Å"female† or â€Å"n*gger† or black an offensive term. These connotations made being a womanRead MoreThe Impact Of Media On Society1435 Words   |  6 Pagesthis as a mediated culture where media reflects and creates the culture† (â€Å"The Role and Influence of Mass Mediaâ₠¬ , n.d, para.2). Media has affected to the most area of human life include relationship, education, careers, and entertainment. There were a lot of researches about the impacts of media to society from negative to positive effects; however, researchers were not pay attention to the impacts of media in inequality. It is also the important effect of media to society, but it show unclearly inRead MoreRacial Inequality And Gender Inequality889 Words   |  4 PagesIn today s world discrimination is a racial inequality when it come to different races in the United states. Discrimination has been around for years and have created a social inequality , economic crises and have lowered individuals into a group known as the â€Å" racial minorities â€Å".Racial minorities can be classified as older people , women , immigrants and young men and women. Women from the early 1600’s to today s women have been discriminated against for years. Women have never had the sameRead MoreEd ucation Is Not An Equal Opportunity For Everyone1473 Words   |  6 PagesAdrienne Rich’s essay, â€Å"Taking Women Students Seriously†, she speaks of the inequality mainly affecting women while subtly hinting at the inequality present in education in regards to race and class. Gender, race and class are three characteristics that work together to create either a positive or negative profile for one’s education. When delving into the content of Rich’s essay, the author clearly indicates her focus on the gender imbalance in education and how that impacts the lives of women. Women’s

Machiavelli And Plato s The Prince Essay - 1789 Words

Ancient philosophers have opened up many eyes to what we in a modern society take as basic knowledge. However, back then this was revolutionary information coming their way. Philosophers looked at how flawed certain systems or beliefs were and looked to change it for the benefit of society; Machiavelli and Plato is a good example of this. Machiavelli who wrote The Prince, looked at the flawed system of ruling a kingdom sought to change and inform current rulers how to better themselves so that the kingdom’s people would not have to suffer. Plato who wrote Socrates’ Apology, simply saw all the same people conforming to the same belief without really having any thought or choice in what they believed in. This paper will seek to accomplish how these two were accomplishing similar things, with different goals. Seeing to educate people to better advance their respective societies, just in a different level of things. Machiavelli and Plato’s works have both been harshl y criticized and shunned by people, often religious figures and people with strong religious backgrounds. Take Machiavelli’s The Prince essentially an instruction manual on how to gain and retain political power. Machiavelli had wrote The Prince for more than simply giving it to the Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, which was the current ruler at the time. Rather, Machiavelli made The Prince available to even the common non-nobility person to understand his readings. One of his primary goals when creating The PrinceShow MoreRelatedMachiavelli s The Prince And Plato s Apology1697 Words   |  7 PagesMachiavelli’s â€Å"The Prince† and Plato’s â€Å"Apology† Philosophers have unique and yet similar ways of interpreting life through a variety of different values and beliefs appointed to oneself. 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These instructions areRead MoreMachiavelli Plato Rebuplic Prince Comparison1419 Words   |  6 PagesHaà ¾im Cihan Demirkà ¶prà ¼là ¼, 20303433 Essay Question: Compare the Characteristics of the true guardians, as described by Plato (Republic, bk VII, pp.158 #8211; 61, 484b #8211; 487e) with the characteristics of the rulers, as described by Machiavelli (The Prince, ch.15, pp. 47 #8211; 49 and ch. 18, pp.54f). What is the most important difference between the two accounts? In your view, which account is better, and why? For centuries, every ruler created their own principles and rules and somehowRead More Machiavelli And Plato Essay1564 Words   |  7 Pages Niccolio Machiavelli (Born May 3rd, 1469 amp;#8211; 1527 Florence, Italy.) His writings have been the source of dispute amongst scholars due to the ambiguity of his analogy of the amp;#8216;Nature of Politics; and the implication of morality. The Prince, has been criticised due to itamp;#8217;s seemingly amoral political suggestiveness, however after further scrutiny of other works such as The Discourses, one can argue that it was Machiavelliamp;#8217;s intention to infact imply a positiveRead MoreWhat Makes A Leader?1131 Words   |  5 Pagesdifferent times, Plato, Machiavelli, and Marcus Aurelius. These leaders aren’t at all from the same era, Plato was about 400 BC, Marcus about 200 common era, and Machiavelli about 1450 AD. These leaders all have different leading methods and show them through their writings. Of these three leaders I believe Marcus Aurelius is the better leader of the three. Marcus just like Machiavelli was an actually leader. Their ideas are is it better to be feared or love? Marcus thinks love, well Machiavelli thinks fearedRead MorePolitical Theory Has Changed Over The History Of The World1608 Words   |  7 Pagesphilosopher Plato, and the Renaissance’s Niccolo Machiavelli. 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Maf 635 E Commerce Free Essays

PART 1 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning CHAPTER 2 E-commerce Business Models and Concepts Introduction to E-commerce C H A P T E R 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you will be able to:  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦ Define e-commerce and describe how it differs from e-business. Identify and describe the unique features of e-commerce technology and discuss their business significance. Describe the major types of e-commerce. We will write a custom essay sample on Maf 635 E Commerce or any similar topic only for you Order Now Discuss the origins and growth of e-commerce. Understand the vision and forces operating during the first five years of e-commerce, and assess its successes, surprises, and failures. Identify several factors that will define the next five years of e-commerce. Describe the major themes underlying the study of e-commerce. Identify the major academic disciplines contributing to e-commerce research. A m a z o n a t 1 0 : Profitable At Last A mazon. com is one of the Web’s most exciting and instructive stories. Started in a garage by Jeff Bezos in 1995, it has since grown to become the largest Internet retailer, with the highest levels of customer satisfaction, the fastest revenue growth rates, and finally, after nine years, profitable. One of the Internet â€Å"Big Four† companies, along with Yahoo, eBay and Google, few would have thought it possible when Amazon first opened for business that an online bookstore would become one of the premiere general retailers in the world. But Amazon’s ability to maintain operations at a sufficiently profitable level is a fact that continues to worry investors in 2005. Critics are of two minds: either Amazon will become the online Wal-Mart (and suffer from its huge size just as WalMart does) or it will fail to deliver superior growth and profits because it has spread itself too thin, taken on too many product lines, and given away too much revenue to customers by offering free shipping and superior service. Supporters, and Bezos himself, counter that Amazon has become the Web’s largest retailer on a revenue basis by focusing on the customer, not short-term profits, and that it will ultimately become one of the most profitable by following the same strategy. Amazon certainly has had a roller coaster ride in its ten brief years. In December 1999, Jeff Bezos graced the cover of Time magazine as its Person of the Year. In the same month, Amazon’s stock reached a peak of $113 per share. In January 2001, Amazon reported a whopping $1. 411 billion as its overall loss for the year. Its stock hit a low of $6 a share. Amazon laid off 1,300 employees, constituting about 15% of its workforce. Questions about its long-term viability abounded. Bezos promised he would make the company profitable in two years, but few believed this was possible. But, in 2003, Amazon reported soaring sales; it achieved its first annual profit ever (about $35 @ Amazon. com’s first Web site 3 4 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning million), and its stock price more than doubled to $25 a share. The good news continued into 2004 when Amazon reported profits of $588 million on $6. 92 billion in revenue. How was Amazon able to turn around its business from a $1. 4 billion annual loss to a $588 million profitable operation despite the dot. om stock market crash and the withdrawal of venture capital funding for e-commerce companies? The story of Amazon. com, the most well-known e-commerce company in the United States, in many ways mirrors the story of e-commerce itself. So, let’s take a closer look at Amazon’s path to preview many of the issues we’ll be discussing throughout this book. In 1994, Jeff Bezos, then a 29-year-old senior vice president at D. E. Shaw, a Wall Street investment bank, read that Internet usage was growing at 2,300% per year. To Bezos, that number represented an extraordinary opportunity. He quit his job and investigated what products he might be able to sell successfully online. He quickly hit upon books—with over 3 million in print at any one time, no physical bookstore could stock more than a small percentage. A â€Å"virtual bookstore† could offer a much greater selection. He also felt consumers would feel less need to actually â€Å"touch and feel† a book before buying it. The comparative dynamics of the book publishing, distributing, and retailing industry were also favorable. With over 2,500 publishers in the United States, and the two largest retailers, Barnes and Noble and Borders, accounting for only 12% of total sales, there were no â€Å"800-pound gorillas† in the market. The existence of two large distributors, Ingram Books and Baker and Taylor, meant that Amazon would have to stock only minimal inventory. Bezos easily raised several million dollars from private investors and in July 1995, Amazon. com opened for business on the Web. Amazon offered consumers four compelling reasons to shop there: (1) selection (a database of 1. million titles), (2) convenience (shop anytime, anywhere, with ordering simplified by Amazon’s patented â€Å"1-Click† express shopping technology), (3) price (high discounts on bestsellers), and (4) service (e-mail and telephone customer support, automated order confirmation, tracking and shipping information, and more). In January 1996, Amazon moved from a small 400-square-foot office into a 17,000-squar e-foot warehouse. By the end of 1996, Amazon had almost 200,000 customers. Its revenues had climbed to $15. 6 million, but the company posted an overall loss of $6. 24 million. In May 1997, Amazon went public, raising $50 million. Its initial public offering documents identified several ways in which Amazon expected to have a lower cost structure than traditional bookstores: it would not need to invest in expensive retail real estate, it would have reduced personnel requirements, and it would not have to carry extensive inventory, since it was relying in large part on book distributors. During 1997, Amazon continued to grow. It served its one-millionth unique customer, expanded its Seattle warehouse, and built a second 200,000-square-foot distribution center in Delaware. By the end of 1997, revenues had expanded to $148 million for the year, but at the same time, losses also grew, to $31 million. In 1998, Amazon expanded its product line, first adding music CDs and then videos and DVDs. Amazon was no longer satisfied with merely selling books. Its business strategy was now â€Å"to become the best place to buy, find, and discover any product or Amazon at 10: Profitable At Last 5 services available online. † It also opened Web sites in Great Britain and Germany. Amazon, pundits noted, was planning to be the online Wal-Mart. Revenues for the year increased significantly, to $610 million, but the osses also continued to mount, quadrupling to $125 million. The year 1999 was a watershed year for Amazon. Bezos’s announced goal was for Amazon to become the â€Å"Earth’s Biggest Store. † In February, Amazon borrowed over $1 billion, using the funds to finance expansion and cover operating losses. During the year, it added electron ics, toys, home improvement products, software, and video games to its product lines. It also introduced several marketplaces, including Amazon. com Auctions (similar to that offered by eBay), zShops (online storefronts for small retailers), and sothebys. amazon. om, a joint venture with the auction house Sotheby’s. To service these new product lines, Amazon significantly expanded its warehouse and distribution capabilities, adding eight new distribution centers comprising approximately 4 million square feet. By the end of 1999, Amazon had more than doubled its 1998 revenues, recording sales of $1. 6 billion. But at the same time, Amazon’s losses showed no signs of abating, reaching $720 million for the year. Although Bezos and Amazon were still riding high at the end of December 1999, in hindsight, it’s possible to say that the handwriting was on the wall. Wall Street analysts, previously willing to overlook continuing and mounting losses as long as the company was expanding into new markets and attracting customers, began to wonder if Amazon would ever show a profit. They pointed out that as Amazon built more and more warehouses brimming with goods, and hired more and more employees (it had 9,000 by the end of 2000), it strayed farther and farther from its original vision of being a †virtual† retailer with lean inventories, low headcount, and significant cost savings over traditional bookstores. The year 2000 ended on a much different note than 1999 for Amazon. No longer the darling of Wall Street, its stock price had fallen significantly from its December 1999 high. In January 2001, it struggled to put a positive spin on its financial results for 2000, noting that while it had recorded a staggering $1. 4 billion loss on revenues of $2. 7 billion, its fourth-quarter loss was slightly less than analysts’ projections. For the first time, it also announced a target for profitability, promising a â€Å"pro forma operating profit† by the fourth quarter of 2001. Few analysts were impressed, pointing out that the method by which Amazon was suggesting its profit be calculated was not in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. They also noted that growth had slowed in Amazon’s core books, music, and video business, and profit margins were slim in the faster-growing categories, such as consumer electronics. In 2001 and 2002, Bezos and fellow executives began to implement their strategy for profitability: cut prices, offer free shipping, and leverage Amazon’s investment in infrastructure and consumer brands, while lowering costs of operation significantly. By evolving and leveraging the existing business model, Amazon hoped to do what analysts thought was impossible. The â€Å"easy† part of the strategy was driving business revenues higher by offering customers the â€Å"lowest possible prices† for a broad range of goods, providing free shipping for orders greater than $25, and then multiplying sources of revenue. Amazon’s 6 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning SOURCES: â€Å"Amazon Announces Free Cash Flow Surpassed $500 Million for the First Time; Customers Joined Amazon Prime at an Accelerated Rate,† Amazon. com, February 2, 2006; Amazon. om Form 10-Q for the nine months ended September 30, 2005, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 27, 2005; †Amazon Faces the Challenges of Its Second Decade,† by Paul Festa, Cnetnews. com, July 15, 2005; â€Å"A Retail Revolution Turns 10,† by Gary Rivlin, New York Times, July 10, 2005; â€Å"Tabs on Tech: The Internet,â⠂¬  by Laurie Kawakami, Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2005; â€Å"Internet Big Four: Worth a Look As Growth Stocks,† by James B. Stewart, Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2005; â€Å"Amazon Net Falls As Rivals Take Toll, by Mylene Mangalindan, Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2005; Amazon. om, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11, 2005; â€Å"Amazon Gets the Last Laugh,† by Chip Bayers, Business 2. 0, September 2002. Merchants@ and Amazon Marketplace allow other businesses to fully integrate their Web sites into Amazon’s site to sell their branded goods, but use Amazon’s fulfillment and payment infrastructure. Nordstrom, Toys â€Å"R† Us, Gap Inc. , Target, and many other retailers use Amazon to sell their goods and then pay Amazon commissions and fees. Amazon also offers its expertise in Web site hosting through its Merchant. com program to national brands such as Target. In the Amazon Marketplace program, individuals are encouraged to sell their used or new goods on Amazon’s Web site even when they compete directly with Amazon’s sales of the same goods. Amazon reports that sales by third parties now represent 27% of revenues and that it makes as much profit on commissions from other vendors as it does from its own sales. Lowering costs proved difficult, but not impossible. In early 2001, Amazon closed two of its eight warehouses and laid off 15% of its workforce. It hired 35-year-old engineer Jeffrey Wilke and a half-dozen mathematicians to figure out how to cut costs. The team found a way to redistribute book inventory among the warehouses to reduce shipping costs; used Six Sigma quality measures to reduce errors in fulfillment; consolidated orders from around the country prior to shipping (adding an extra day to fulfillment of â€Å"free shipping† orders); and further lowered shipping costs by using its own trucks to deliver orders to postal system centers. Wilke and his team reduced fulfillment costs from 15% of revenue in 2000 down to 10% by 2003. The effort contributed to Amazon’s first ever annual profit in 2003: $35. 3 million on revenues of $5. 26 billion. The results were even better in 2004: a $588. 5 million profit on revenues of $6. 92 billion. Looking back on the last ten years, it’s clear that Wall Street and Main Street have differing views on Amazon. Amazon has been a tremendous Main Street e-commerce success story even if it took nine years to achieve profitable operations. It has changed its business model several times, focused on improving the efficiency of its operations, and maintained a steady commitment to keeping its 49 million customers satisfied. In 2005, Amazon was one of the leaders in a survey of customer satisfaction with retail Web sites, while traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Target and Costco received low marks for their online offerings. Right now, Amazon must be counted as an online retailing success story. Few would have predicted this outcome in 1995, or even in 2000. For the future, however, Amazon faces powerful competitors who keep innovating, such as eBay and Yahoo! Shopping. eBay has been profitable from its first day, while Yahoo achieved profitability in 2002. But despite Wall Street critics, Bezos has not changed his original vision: in 2005, for instance, he announced additional expenditures to increase customer convenience, such as a flat-fee shipping membership program (Amazon Prime). And although Amazon’s revenues continue to grow, profits in 2005 were down compared to 2004. So the Amazon roller coaster ride continues, and what’s around the next curve remains to be seen. E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 7 T 1. 1 he Amazon story is emblematic of the e-commerce environment of the past ten years: an early period of business vision, inspiration, and experimentation, followed by the realization that establishing a successful business model based on those visions would not be easy, which then ushered in a period of retrenchment and reevaluation, ultimately leading to a more finely tuned business model that actually produces profits. During the last two years, the fortunes of the ecommerce revolution once again have been contrary to what many people thought would happen after the stock market crash of March 2001, when the stock market value of e-commerce, telecommunications, and other technology stocks plummeted by more than 90%. After the bubble burst, many people were quick to write off ecommerce and predicted that e-commerce growth would stagnate, and the Internet audience itself would plateau. But they were wrong. E-COMMERCE: THE REVOLUTION IS JUST BEGINNING The e-commerce revolution is just beginning. For instance: †¢ Online consumer sales expanded by more than 23% in 2005 to an estimated $142–$172 billion (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a; Shop. org and Forrester Research, 2005). †¢ The number of individuals online in the United States increased to 175 million in 2005, up from 170 million in 2004 (The total population of the United States is about 300 million. ) (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b; U. S. Census Bureau, 2005). †¢ Of the total 112 million households in the United States, the number online increased to 71 million or 63% of all households (U. S. Census Bureau, 2005; eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b; Pew Research Center, 2005). †¢ On an average day, 70 million people go online. Around 140 million send e-mail, 8 million have created a blog, 4 million share music on peer-to-peer networks, and 3 million use the Internet to rate a person, product, or service (Pew Research Center, 2005; Pew Internet American Life Project, 2004). †¢ The number of people who have purchased something online expanded to about 110 million, with additional millions shopping (gathering information) but not purchasing (Pew Research Center, 2005). The demographic profile of new online shoppers broadened to become more like ordinary American shoppers (Pew Research Center, 2005; Fallows, 2004). †¢ B2B e-commerce—use of the Internet for business-to-business commerce— expanded about 30% in 2005 to more than $1. 5 trillion (U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). †¢ The Internet technology base gained greater depth and power, as more than 42 million households had broadband cable or DSL access to the Internet in 2005—about 38% of all households (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005c). 8 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning Initial public offerings (IPOs) returned, with 233 IPOs in 2004—more than the number of IPOs in 2002 and 2003 combined. The Internet stock group rebounded in value, along with the entire NASDAQ stock exchange, which is primarily composed of technology stocks. The rebound in Internet stocks was led by Google’s IPO, which raised $1. 67 billion. Google’s stock opened at $85 on the first day and has since rocketed to the $300 range (Hoovers, 2005; Rivlin, 2005; Elgin, 2005). These developments signal many of the themes in the new edition of this book (see Table 1. 1). More and more people and businesses will be using the Internet to conduct commerce; the e-commerce channel will deepen as more products and services come online; more industries will be transformed by e-commerce, including travel reservations, music and entertainment, news, software, education, and finance; Internet technology will continue to drive these changes as broadband telecommunications comes to more households; pure e-commerce business models will be refined further to achieve higher levels of profitability; and traditional retail brands such as Sears, J. C. Penney, and Wal-Mart will further extend their multichannel, bricks-and-clicks strategies and retain their dominant retail positions. At the societal level, other trends are apparent. The major digital copyright owners have increased their pursuit of online file-swapping services; states have successfully moved toward taxation of Internet sales; and sovereign nations have expanded their surveillance of, and control over, Internet communications and content. In 1994, e-commerce as we now know it did not exist. In 2005, just ten years later, around 110 million American consumers are expected to spend about $142–$172 billion purchasing products and services on the Internet’s World Wide Web (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b; Shop. org and Forrester Research, 2005; Rainie, 2005). Although the terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably, they are actually two very different things. The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks, and the World Wide Web is one of the Internet’s most popular services, providing access to over 8 billion Web pages. We describe both more fully later in this section and in Chapter 3. In 2005, businesses are expected to spend over $1. 5 trillion purchasing goods and services from other businesses on the Web (U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). From a standing start in 1995, this type of commerce, called electronic commerce or e-commerce, has experienced growth rates of well over 100% a year; although the rate has slowed and is now growing at about 25% a year. These developments have created the first widespread digital electronic marketplaces. Even more impressive than its spectacular initial growth is its future predicted growth. By 2008, analysts estimate that consumers will be spending around $232 billion and businesses about $3 trillion in online transactions (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a; 2003; U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 9 TABLE 1. 1 BUSINESS MAJOR TRENDS IN E-COMMERCE, 2006 †¢ Retail consumer e-commerce continues to grow at double-digit rates. †¢ The online demographics of shoppers continues to broaden. †¢ Online sites continue to strengthen profitability by refining their business models and leveraging the capabilities of the Internet. The first wave of e-commerce transformed the business world of books, music, and air travel. In the second wave, eight new industries are facing a similar transformation: telephones, movies, television, jewelry, real estate, hotels, bill payments, and software. †¢ The breadth of e-commerce offerings grows, especially in travel, information clearinghouses, entertainment, retail apparel, appliances, and h ome furnishings. †¢ Small businesses and entrepreneurs continue to flood into the e-commerce marketplace, often riding on the infrastructures created by industry giants such as Amazon, eBay, and Overture. Brand extension through the Internet grows as large firms such as Sears, J. C. Penney, L. L. Bean, and Wal-Mart pursue integrated, multi-channel bricks-and-clicks strategies. †¢ B2B supply chain transactions and collaborative commerce continue to strengthen and grow beyond the $1. 5 trillion mark. TECHNOLOGY †¢ Wireless Internet connections (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, and 3G telephone) grow rapidly. †¢ Podcasting takes off as a new media format for distribution of radio and user-generated commentary. †¢ The Internet broadband foundation becomes stronger in households and businesses. Bandwidth prices fall as telecommunications companies re-capitalize their debts. †¢ RSS (Really Simple Syndication) grows to become a major new form of user-controlled information distribution that rivals e-mail in some applications. †¢ Computing and networking component prices continue to fall dramatically. †¢ New Internet-based models of computing such as . NET and Web services expand B2B opportunities. SOCIETY †¢ Self-publishing (user-generated content) and syndication in the form of blogs, wikis and social networks grow to form an entirely new self-publishing forum. Newspapers and other traditional media adopt online, interactive models. †¢ Conflicts over copyright management and control grow in significance. †¢ Over half the Internet user population (about 80 million adults) join a social group on the Internet. †¢ Taxation of Internet sales becomes more widespread and accepted by large online merchants. †¢ Controversy over content regulati on and controls increases. †¢ Surveillance of Internet communications grows in significance. †¢ Concerns over commercial and governmental privacy invasion grow. Internet fraud and abuse occurrences increase. †¢ First Amendment rights of free speech and association on the Internet are challenged. †¢ Spam grows despite new laws and promised technology fixes. †¢ Invasion of personal privacy on the Web expands as marketers find new ways to track users. 10 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning THE FIRST THIRTY SECONDS It is important to realize that the rapid growth and change that has occurred in the first ten years of e-commerce represents just the beginning—what could be called the first thirty seconds of the e-commerce revolution. The same technologies that drove the first decade of e-commerce (described in Chapter 3) continue to evolve at exponential rates. Changes in underlying information technologies and continuing entrepreneurial innovation promise as much change in the next decade as seen in the last decade. The twenty-first century will be the age of a digitally enabled social and commercial life, the outlines of which we can barely perceive at this time. It appears likely that e-commerce will eventually impact nearly all commerce, or that most commerce will be e-commerce by the year 2050. Business fortunes are made—and lost—in periods of extraordinary change such as this. The next five years hold out extraordinary opportunities—as well as risks—for new and traditional businesses to exploit digital technology for market advantage. For society as a whole, the next few decades offer the possibility of extraordinary gains in social wealth as the digital revolution works its way through larger and larger segments of the world’s economy, offering the possibility of high rates of productivity and income growth in an inflation-free environment. This book will help you perceive and understand the opportunities and risks that lie ahead. By the time you finish, you will be able to identify the technological, business, and social forces that have shaped the first era of e-commerce and extend that understanding into the years ahead. WHAT IS E-COMMERCE? e-commerce the use of the Internet and the Web to transact business. More formally, digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals Our focus in this book is e-commerce—the use of the Internet and the Web to transact business. More formally, we focus on digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals. Each of these components of our working definition of e-commerce is important. Digitally enabled transactions include all transactions mediated by digital technology. For the most part, this means transactions that occur over the Internet and the Web. Commercial transactions involve the exchange of value (e. g. , money) across organizational or individual boundaries in return for products and services. Exchange of value is important for understanding the limits of e-commerce. Without an exchange of value, no commerce occurs. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS There is a debate among consultants and academics about the meaning and limitations of both e-commerce and e-business. Some argue that e-commerce encompasses the entire world of electronically based organizational activities that support a firm’s market exchanges—including a firm’s entire information system’s infrastructure (Rayport and Jaworksi, 2003). Others argue, on the other hand, that e-business encompasses the entire world of internal and external electronically based activities, including e-commerce (Kalakota and Robinson, 2003). E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 11 FIGURE 1. 1 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS E-commerce primarily involves transactions that cross firm boundaries. E-business primarily involves the application of digital technologies to business processes within the firm. We think that it is important to make a working distinction between e-commerce and e-business because we believe they refer to different phenomena. For purposes of this text, we will use the term e-business to refer primarily to the digital enablement of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm. For the most part, in our view, e-business does not include commercial transactions involving an exchange of value across organizational boundaries. For example, a company’s online inventory control mechanisms are a component of e-business, but such internal processes do not directly generate revenue for the firm from outside businesses or consumers, as e-commerce, by definition, does. It is true, however, that a firm’s e-business infrastructure provides support for online e-commerce exchanges; the same infrastructure and skill sets are involved in both e-business and e-commerce. Ecommerce and e-business systems blur together at the business firm boundary, at the point where internal business systems link up with suppliers or customers, for instance. E-business applications turn into e-commerce precisely when an exchange of value occurs (see Mesenbourg, U. S. Department of Commerce, August 2001 for a similar view). We will examine this intersection further in Chapter 12. e-business the digital enablement of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm WHY STUDY E-COMMERCE? Why are there college courses and textbooks on e-commerce when there are no courses or textbooks on â€Å"TV Commerce,† â€Å"Radio Commerce,† â€Å"Direct Mail Commerce,† â€Å"Railroad Commerce,† or â€Å"Highway Commerce,† even though these 12 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning information asymmetry any disparity in relevant market information among parties in a transaction echnologies had profound impacts on commerce in the twentieth century and account for far more commerce than e-commerce? The reason, as you shall see, is that e-commerce technology (discussed in detail in Chapters 3 and 4) is different and more powerful than any of the other technologies we have seen in the past century. While these other technologies tra nsformed economic life in the twentieth century, the evolving Internet and other information technologies will shape the twenty-first century. Prior to the development f e-commerce, the process of marketing and selling goods was a mass-marketing and sales force-driven process. Consumers were viewed as passive targets of advertising â€Å"campaigns† and branding blitzes intended to influence their long-term product perceptions and immediate purchasing behavior. Selling was conducted in well-insulated â€Å"channels. † Consumers were considered to be trapped by geographical and social boundaries, unable to search widely for the best price and quality. Information about prices, costs, and fees could be hidden from the consumer, creating profitable â€Å"information asymmetries† for the selling firm. Information asymmetry refers to any disparity in relevant market information among parties in a transaction. It was so expensive to change national or regional prices in traditional retailing (what are called menu costs) that â€Å"one national price† was the norm, and dynamic pricing to the marketplace— changing prices in real time—was unheard of. E-commerce has challenged much of this traditional business thinking. Table 1. 2 lists seven unique features of e-commerce technology that both challenge traditional business thinking and explain why we have so much interest in e-commerce. SEVEN UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY Each of the dimensions of e-commerce technology and their business significance listed in Table 1. 2 deserves a brief exploration, as well as a comparison to both traditional commerce and other forms of technology-enabled commerce. marketplace physical space you visit in order to transact Ubiquity In traditional commerce, a marketplace is a physical place you visit in order to transact. For example, television and radio typically motivate the consumer to go someplace to make a purchase. E-commerce, in contrast, is characterized by its ubiquity: it is available just about everywhere, at all times. It liberates the market from being restricted to a physical space and makes it possible to shop from your desktop, at home, at work, or even from your car, using mobile commerce. The result is called a marketspace—a marketplace extended beyond traditional boundaries and removed from a temporal and geographic location. From a consumer point of view, ubiquity reduces transaction costs—the costs of participating in a market. To transact, it is no longer necessary that you spend time and money traveling to a market. At a broader level, the ubiquity of e-commerce lowers the cognitive energy required to transact in a marketspace. Cognitive energy refers to the mental effort required to complete a task. Humans generally seek to reduce cognitive energy outlays. When given a choice, humans will ubiquity available just about everywhere, at all times. marketspace marketplace extended beyond traditional boundaries and removed from a temporal and geographic location E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 13 TABLE 1. 2 SEVEN UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS SIGNIFICANCE The marketplace is extended beyond traditional boundaries and is removed from a temporal and geographic location. â€Å"Marketspace† is created; shopping can take place anywhere. Customer convenience is enhanced, and shopping costs are reduced. Commerce is enabled across cultural and national boundaries seamlessly and without modification. â€Å"Marketspace† includes potentially billions of consumers and millions of businesses worldwide. There is one set of technical media standards across the globe. Video, audio, and text marketing messages are integrated into a single marketing message and consuming experience. Consumers are engaged in a dialog that dynamically adjusts the experience to the individual, and makes the consumer a co-participant in the process of delivering goods to the market. Information processing, storage, and communication costs drop dramatically, while currency, accuracy, and timeliness improve greatly. Information becomes plentiful, cheap, and accurate. Personalization of marketing messages and customization of products and services are based on individual characteristics. E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY DIMENSION Ubiquity—Internet/Web technology is available everywhere: at work, at home, and elsewhere via mobile devices, anytime. Global reach—The technology reaches across national boundaries, around the earth. Universal standards—There is one set of technology standards, namely Internet standards. Richness—Video, audio, and text messages are possible. Interactivity—The technology works through interaction with the user. Information density—The technology reduces information costs and raises quality. Personalization/Customization—The technology allows personalized messages to be delivered to individuals as well as groups. choose the path requiring the least effort—the most convenient path (Shapiro and Varian, 1999; Tversky and Kahneman, 1981). Global Reach E-commerce technology permits commercial transactions to cross cultural and national boundaries far more conveniently and cost-effectively than is true in traditional commerce. As a result, the potential market size for e-commerce merchants is roughly equal to the size of the world’s online population (over 1 billion in 2005, and growing rapidly, according to the Computer Industry 14 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning reach the total number of users or customers an e-commerce business can obtain Almanac) (Computer Industry Almanac, Inc. , 2006). The total number of users or customers an e-commerce business can obtain is a measure of its reach (Evans and Wurster, 1997). In contrast, most traditional commerce is local or regional—it involves local merchants or national merchants with local outlets. Television and radio stations, and newspapers, for instance, are primarily local and regional institutions with limited but powerful national networks that can attract a national audience. In contrast to e-commerce technology, these older commerce technologies do not easily cross national boundaries to a global audience. Universal Standards One strikingly unusual feature of e-commerce technologies is that the technical standards of the Internet, and therefore the technical standards for conducting e-commerce, are universal standards—they are shared by all nations around the world. In contrast, most traditional commerce technologies differ from one nation to the next. For instance, television and radio standards differ around the world, as does cell telephone technology. The universal technical standards of the Internet and e-commerce greatly lower market entry costs—the cost merchants must pay just to bring their goods to market. At the same time, for consumers, universal standards reduce search costs—the effort required to find suitable products. And by creating a single, one-world marketspace, where prices and product descriptions can be inexpensively displayed for all to see, price discovery becomes simpler, faster, and more accurate (Bakos, 1997; Kambil, 1997). And users of the Internet, both businesses and individuals, experience network externalities—benefits that arise because everyone uses the same technology. With e-commerce technologies, it is possible for the first time in history to easily find many of the suppliers, prices, and delivery terms of a specific product anywhere in the world, and to view them in a coherent, comparative environment. Although this is not necessarily realistic today for all or many products, it is a potential that will be exploited in the future. universal standards standards that are shared by all nations around the world Richness richness the complexity and content of a message Information richness refers to the complexity and content of a message (Evans and Wurster, 1999). Traditional markets, national sales forces, and small retail stores have great richness: they are able to provide personal, face-to-face service using aural and visual cues when making a sale. The richness of traditional markets makes them a powerful selling or commercial environment. Prior to the development of the Web, there was a trade-off between richness and reach: the larger the audience reached, the less rich the message (see Figure 1. 2). interactivity technology that allows for two-way communication between merchant and consumer Interactivity Unlike any of the commercial technologies of the twentieth century, with the possible exception of the telephone, e-commerce technologies allow for interactivity, meaning they enable two-way communication between merchant and consumer. Television, for instance, cannot ask viewers any questions or enter into conversations E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 15 FIGURE 1. 2 THE CHANGING TRADE-OFF BETWEEN RICHNESS AND REACH E-commerce technologies have changed the traditional tradeoff between richness and reach. The Internet and the Web can deliver, to an audience of millions, â€Å"rich† marketing messages with text, video, and audio, in a way not possible with traditional commerce technologies such as radio, television, or magazines. SOURCE: Evans and Wurster, 2000. ith them, and it cannot request that customer information be entered into a form. In contrast, all of these activities are possible on an e-commerce Web site. Interactivity allows an online merchant to engage a consumer in ways similar to a face-to-face experience, but on a much more massive, global scale. Information Density The Internet and the Web vastly increase information density—the total amount and quality of information ava ilable to all market participants, consumers, and merchants alike. E-commerce technologies reduce information collection, storage, processing, and communication costs. At the same time, these technologies increase greatly the currency, accuracy, and timeliness of information—making information more useful and important than ever. As a result, information becomes more plentiful, less expensive, and of higher quality. A number of business consequences result from the growth in information density. In e-commerce markets, prices and costs become more transparent. Price transparency refers to the ease with which consumers can find out the variety of prices in a market; cost transparency refers to the ability of consumers to discover the actual costs merchants pay for products (Sinha, 2000). But there are advantages for merchants as well. Online merchants can discover much more about consumers; this allows merchants to segment the market into groups willing to pay different prices and permits them to engage in price discrimination—selling the same goods, or nearly information density the total amount and quality of information available to all market participants 16 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning the same goods, to different targeted groups at different prices. For instance, an online merchant can discover a consumer’s avid interest in expensive exotic vacations, and then pitch expensive exotic vacation plans to that consumer at a premium price, knowing this person is willing to pay extra for such a vacation. At the same time, the online merchant can pitch the same vacation plan at a lower price to more price-sensitive consumers (Shapiro and Varian, 1999). Merchants also have enhanced abilities to differentiate their products in terms of cost, brand, and quality. Personalization/Customization ersonalization the targeting of marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a person’s name, interests, and past purchases customization changing the delivered product or service based on a user’s preferences or prior behavior E-commerce technologies permit personalization: merchants can target their marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a person’s name, interests, and past purchases. The technology also permits customization— changing the delivered product or service based on a user’s preferences or prior behavior. Given the interactive nature of e-commerce technology, much information about the consumer can be gathered in the marketplace at the moment of purchase. With the increase in information density, a great deal of information about the consumer’s past purchases and behavior can be stored and used by online merchants. The result is a level of personalization and customization unthinkable with existing commerce technologies. For instance, you may be able to shape what you see on television by selecting a channel, but you cannot change the contents of the channel you have chosen. In contrast, the online verson of the Wall Street Journal allows you to select the type of news stories you want to see first, and gives you the opportunity to be alerted when certain events happen. Now, let’s return to the question that motivated this section: Why study e-commerce? The answer is simply that e-commerce technologies—and the digital markets that result—promise to bring about some fundamental, unprecedented shifts in commerce. One of these shifts, for instance, appears to be a large reduction in information asymmetry among all market participants (consumers and merchants). In the past, merchants and manufacturers were able to prevent consumers from learning about their costs, price discrimination strategies, and profits from sales. This becomes more difficult with e-commerce, and the entire marketplace potentially becomes highly price competitive. In addition, the unique dimensions of e-commerce technologies listed in Table 1. 2 also suggest many new possibilities for marketing and selling—a powerful set of interactive, personalized, and rich messages are available for delivery to segmented, targeted audiences. E-commerce technologies make it possible for merchants to know much more about consumers and to be able to use this information more effectively than was ever true in the past. Potentially, online merchants could use this new information to develop new information asymmetries, enhance their ability to brand products, charge premium prices for high-quality service, and segment the market into an endless number of subgroups, each receiving a different price. To complicate matters further, these same technologies make it possible for merchants to know more about other merchants than was ever true in the past. This presents the possibility that merchants might collude on prices rather than compete and drive overall average prices up. This strategy works especially well when there are just a E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 17 TABLE 1. 3 MAJOR TYPES OF E-COMMERCE EXAMPLE Amazon. com is a general merchandiser that sells consumer products to retail consumers. ChemConnect. com is a chemical industry exchange that creates an electronic market for chemical producers and users. eBay. com creates a marketspace where consumers can auction or sell goods directly to other consumers. Gnutella is a software application that permits consumers to share music with one another directly, without the intervention of a market maker as in C2C e-commerce. Wireless mobile devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) or cell phones can be used to conduct commercial transactions. TYPE OF E-COMMERCE B2C—Business-to-Consumer B2B—Business-to-Business C2C—Consumer-to-Consumer P2P—Peer-to-Peer M-commerce—Mobile commerce few suppliers (Varian, 2000b). We examine these different visions of e-commerce— friction-free commerce versus a brand-driven imperfect marketplace—further in Section 1. 2 and throughout the book. TYPES OF E-COMMERCE There are a variety of different types of e-commerce and many different ways to characterize these types. Table 1. 3 lists the five major types of e-commerce discussed in this book. 1 For the most part, we distinguish different types of e-commerce by the nature of the market relationship—who is selling to whom. The exceptions are P2P and m-commerce, which are technology-based distinctions. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce The most commonly discussed type of e-commerce is Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce, in which online businesses attempt to reach individual consumers. Even though B2C is comparatively small ($140–$170 billion in 2005), it has grown exponentially since 1995, and is the type of e-commerce that most consumers are likely to encounter. Within the B2C category, there are many different types of business models. Chapter 2 has a detailed discussion of seven different B2C business mod1 Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce online businesses selling to individual consumers Business-to-Government (B2G) e-commerce can be considered yet another type of e-commerce. For the purposes of this text, we subsume B2G e-commerce within B2B e-commerce, viewing the government as simply a form of business when it acts as a procurer of goods and/or services. 18 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning els: portals, online retailers, content providers, transaction brokers, market creators, service providers, and community providers. Business-to-Business (B2B) E-commerce Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce online businesses selling to other businesses Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce, in which businesses focus on selling to other businesses, is the largest form of e-commerce, with over $1. trillion in transactions in the United States in 2005. There was an estimated $13 trillion in business-to-business exchanges of all kinds, online and offline, in 2002, suggesting that B2B e-commerce has significant growth potential (eMarketer, Inc. , 2003). The ultimate size of B2B e-commerce could be huge. There are two primary business models used within the B2B arena: Net marketplaces, which include e-distributors, e-procurement companies, exchanges and industry consortia, and private industrial networks, which include single firm networks and industry-wide networks. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) E-commerce Consumer-toConsumer (C2C) e-commerce consumers selling to other consumers Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce provides a way for consumers to sell to each other, with the help of an online market maker such as the auction site eBay. Given that in 2005, eBay generated more than $44 billion in gross merchandise volume around the world, it is probably safe to estimate that the size of the global C2C market in 2006 will be over $50 billion (eBay, 2006). In C2C e-commerce, the consumer prepares the product for market, places the product for auction or sale, and relies on the market maker to provide catalog, search engine, and transaction-clearing capabilities so that products can be easily displayed, discovered, and paid for. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) E-commerce Peer-to-peer technology enables Internet users to share files and computer resources directly without having to go through a central Web server. In peer-to-peer’s purest form, no intermediary is required, although in fact, most P2P networks make use of intermediary â€Å"super servers† to speed operations. Since 1999, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have attempted to adapt various aspects of peer-to-peer technology into Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce. To date there have been very few successful commercial applications of P2P e-commerce with the notable exception of illegal downloading of copyrighted music. Napster. com, which was established to aid Internet users in finding and sharing online music files, was the most well-known example of peer-to-peer e-commerce until it was put out of business in 2001 by a series of negative court decisions. However, other file-sharing networks, such as Kazaa and Grokster, quickly emerged to take Napster’s place. These networks have also been subjected to legal challenge. For instance, in 2002, the Recording Industry of America, a trade organization of the largest recording companies, filed a federal lawsuit against Kazaa and Grokster for violating copyright law by enabling and encouraging members to exchange copyrighted music tracks without compensation to the copyright holders. The Supreme Court issued a decision in the case against the file-sharing networks in June 2005. Read the case study at the end of the chapter for a further look at how file-sharing networks work and the legal issues surrounding them. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce use of peer-to-peer technology, which enables Internet users to share files and computer resources directly without having to go through a central Web server, in e-commerce E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 19 Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, refers to the use of wireless digital devices to enable transactions on the Web. Described more fully in Chapter 3, m-commerce involves the use of wireless networks to connect cell phones, handheld devices such Blackberries, and personal computers to the Web. Once connected, mobile consumers can conduct transactions, including stock trades, in-store price comparisons, banking, travel reservations, and more. Thus far, m-commerce is used most widely in Japan and Europe (especially in Scandinavia), where cell phones are more prevalent than in the United States; however, as discussed in the next section, m-commerce is expected to grow rapidly in the United States over the next five years. obile commerce (m-commerce) use of wireless digital devices to enable transactions on the Web GROWTH OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB The technology juggernauts behind e-commerce are the Internet and the World Wide Web. Without both of these technologies, e-commerce as we know it would be impossible. We describe the Internet and the Web in some detail in Chapter 3. The Internet is a worl dwide network of computer networks built on common standards. Created in the late 1960s to connect a small number of mainframe computers and their users, the Internet has since grown into the world’s largest network, connecting over 500 million computers worldwide. The Internet links businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, and individuals together, and provides users with services such as e-mail, document transfer, newsgroups, shopping, research, instant messaging, music, videos, and news. Figure 1. 3 illustrates one way to measure the growth of the Internet, by looking at the number of Internet hosts with domain names. An Internet host is defined by the Internet Software Consortium, which conducts this survey, as any IP address that returns a domain name in the in-addr. arpa domain, which is a special part of the DNS namespace that resolves IP addresses into domain names. ) In January 2005, there were over 317 million Internet hosts in over 245 countries, up from a mere 70 million in 2000. The number of Internet hosts has been growing at a rate of around 35% a year since 2000 (Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. , 2005). The Internet has shown extraordinary growth patterns when compared to other electronic technologies of the past. It took radio 38 years to achieve a 30% share of U. S. households. It took television 17 years to achieve a 30% share. Since the invention of a graphical user interface for the World Wide Web in 1993, it took only 10 years for the Internet/Web to achieve a 53% share of U. S. households. The World Wide Web (the Web) is the most popular service that runs on the Internet infrastructure. The Web is the â€Å"killer application† that made the Internet commercially interesting and extraordinarily popular. The Web was developed in the early 1990s and hence is of much more recent vintage than the Internet. We describe the Web in some detail in Chapter 3. The Web provides easy access to over 8 billion Web pages created in a language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language). These HTML pages contain information—including text, graphics, animations, and other Internet Worldwide network of computer networks built on common standards World Wide Web (Web) the most popular service that runs on the Internet; provides easy access to Web pages 20 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning FIGURE 1. 3 THE GROWTH OF THE INTERNET, MEASURED BY NUMBER OF INTERNET HOSTS WITH DOMAIN NAMES Growth in the size of the Internet 1993-2005 as measured by the number of Internet hosts with domain names. SOURCE: Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. (www. isoc. org), 2005. objects—made available for public use. You can find an exceptionally wide range of information on Web pages, ranging from the entire catalog of Sears Roebuck, to the entire collection of public records from the Securities and Exchange Commission, to the card catalog of your local library, to millions of music tracks (some of them legal), and videos. The Internet prior to the Web was primarily used for text communications, file transfers, and remote computing. The Web introduced far more powerful and commercially interesting, colorful multimedia capabilities of direct relevance to commerce. In essence, the Web added color, voice, and video to the Internet, creating a communications infrastructure and information storage system that rivals television, radio, magazines, and even libraries. There is no precise measurement of the number of Web pages in existence, in part because today’s search engines index only a portion of the known universe of Web pages, and also because the size of the Web universe is unknown. Google, the Web’s most popular and perhaps most comprehensive Web search engine, currently E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 21 FIGURE 1. 4 THE GROWTH OF WEB CONTENT AS MEASURED BY PAGES INDEXED BY GOOGLE The number of Web pages indexed by Google has grown from about 1 billion in 1998 to over 8 billion in 2005. SOURCE: Based on data from Google Inc. , 2005. indexes over 8 billion pages. There are also an estimated 600 billion Web pages in the so-called â€Å"deep Web† that are not indexed by ordinary search engines such as Google. Nevertheless, it would be accurate to say that Web content has grown exponentially since 1993. Figure 1. 4 describes the growth of Web content measured by the number of pages indexed by Google. Read Insight on Technology: Spider Webs, Bow Ties, Scale-Free Networks, and the Deep Web on pages 22–23 for the latest view of researchers on the structure of the Web. ORIGINS AND GROWTH OF E-COMMERCE It is difficult to pinpoint just when e-commerce began. There were several precursors to e-commerce. In the late 1970s, a pharmaceutical firm named Baxter Healthcare initiated a primitive form of B2B e-commerce by using a telephone-based modem that permitted hospitals to reorder supplies from Baxter. This system was later expanded during the 1980s into a PC-based remote order entry system and was widely copied throughout the United States long before the Internet became a commercial environment. The 1980s saw the development of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 22 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning INSIGHT ON TECHNOLOGY SPIDER WEBS, BOW TIES, SCALE-FREE NETWORKS, AND THE DEEP WEB The World Wide Web conjures up images of a giant spider web where everything is connected to everything else in a random pattern, and you can go from one edge of the web to another by just following the right links. Theoretically, that’s what makes the Web different from a typical index system—you can follow hyperlinks from one page to another. In the â€Å"small world† theory of the Web, every Web page is thought to be separated from any other Web page by an average of about 19 clicks. In 1968, sociologist Stanley Milgram invented small-world theory for social networks by noting that every human was separated from any other human by only six degrees of separation. On the Web, the small world theory was supported by early research on a small sampling of Web sites. But recent research conducted jointly by scientists at IBM, Compaq, and AltaVista found something entirely different. These scientists used AltaVista’s Web crawler â€Å"Scooter† to identify 200 million Web pages and follow 1. 5 billion links on these pages. The researchers discovered that the Web was not like a spider web at all, but rather like a bow tie (see figure below). The bow-tie Web had a â€Å"strongly connected component† (SCC) composed of about 56 million Web pages. On the right side of the bow tie was a set of 44 million OUT pages that you could get to from the center, but could not return to the center from. OUT pages tended to be corporate intranet and other (continued) E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 23 Web site pages that are designed to trap you at the site when you land. On the left side of the bow tie was a set of 44 million IN pages from which you could get to the center, but that you could not travel to from the center. These were recently created â€Å"newbie† pages that had not yet been linked to by many center pages. In addition, 43 million pages were classified as â€Å"tendrils,† pages that did not link to the center and could not be linked to from the center. However, the tendril pages were sometimes linked to IN and/or OUT pages. Occasionally, tendrils linked to one another without passing through the center (these are called â€Å"tubes†). Finally, there were 16 million pages totally disconnected from everything. Further evidence for the non-random and structured nature of the Web is provided in research performed by Albert-Lazlo Barabasi at the University of Notre Dame. Barabasi’s team found that far from being a random, exponentially exploding network of 8 billion Web pages, activity on the Web was actually highly concentrated in â€Å"very connected super nodes† that provided the connectivity to less wellconnected nodes. Barabasi dubbed this type of network a â€Å"scale-free† network and found parallels in the growth of cancers, disease transmission, and computer viruses. As its turns out, scale-free networks are highly vulnerable to destruction. Destroy their super nodes and transmission of messages breaks down rapidly. On the upside, if you are a marketer trying to â€Å"spread the message† about your products, place your products on one of the super nodes and watch the news spread. Or build super nodes like Kazaa did (see the case study at the end of the chapter) and attract a huge audience. Thus, the picture of the Web that emerges from this research is quite different from earlier reports. The notion that most pairs of Web pages are separated by a handful of links, almost always under 20, and that the number of connections would grow exponentially with the size of the Web, is not supported. In fact, there is a 75% chance that there is no path from one randomly chosen page to another. With this knowledge, it now becomes clear why the most advanced Web search engines only index about 6 million Web sites, when the overall population of Internet hosts is over 300 million. Most Web sites cannot be found by search engines because their pages are not well-connected or linked to the central core of the Web. Another important finding is the identification of a â€Å"deep Web† composed of over 600 billion Web pages that are not indexed at all. The pages are not easily accessible to Web crawlers that most search engine companies use. Instead, these pages are either proprietary (not available to crawlers and non-subscribers, such as the pages of the Wall Street Journal) or are not easily available from home pages. In the last few years, new search engines (such as the medical search engine Mamma. om) and older ones such as Yahoo! have been revised to enable them to search the deep Web. Because e-commerce revenues in part depend on customers being able to find a Web site using search engines, Web site managers need to take steps to ensure their Web pages are part of the connected central core, or super nodes of the Web. One way to do this is to make sur e the site has as many links as possible to and from other relevant sites, especially to other sites within the SCC. SOURCES: â€Å"Deep Web Research,† by Marcus P. Zillman, Llrx. com, July 2005; â€Å"Momma. om Conquers Deep Web,† Mammamediasolutions. com, June 20, 2005; â€Å"Yahoo Mines the ‘Deep Web,’† by Tim Gray, Internetnews. com, June 17, 2005; Linked: The New Science of Networks by Albert-Lazlo Barabasi. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing (2002); â€Å"The Bowtie Theory Explains Link Popularity,† by John Heard, Searchengineposition. com, June 1, 2000; â€Å"Graph Structure in the Web,† by A. Broder, R. Kumar, F. Maghoul, P. Raghaven, S. Rajagopalan, R. Stata, A. Tomkins, and J. Wiener, Proceedings of the 9th International World Wide Web Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pages 309–320. Elsevier Science, May 2000. 24 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning FIGURE 1. 5 THE GROWTH OF B2C E-COMMERCE In the early years, B2C e-commerce was doubling or tripling each year. This explosive early growth rate has since slowed. Currently, B2C e-commerce is growing at about 25% per year, with seasonal spikes showing stronger year-to-year gains. [Note: Revenue shown includes retail sales, travel and financial services revenues. ] SOURCES: Based on data from eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a; How to cite Maf 635 E Commerce, Essay examples

Corporate Governance - Ethics and CSR

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Governance, Ethics and CSR. Answer: Introduction It is widely known that management plays a significant role in shaping of an organizations future, as well as the optimum utilization of resources including the efficacy of management. Since, organizations are managed by policies, systems and guidelines. They tend to act as dynamic instruments, hence the need of them being reviewed from time to time so as to gauge the efficacy in the organization. Sometimes, it could be taken that the reviews undertaken review the said policy being sound and effectively put in place. But, as time progresses there tend to emerge wrong practices and there tends to be reasons for the problems occurring hence the need of this steps being taken forthwith. Reviews done by (Fort, 2004) show that problems have occurred in spite the existence of policies which means that policies at times need amending of modification for the best interest of the firm. Therefore, for there to be efficacy in organizations system there is the need of there being a concrete ethi cal codes and governance. As we will see in the case provided, there we will see Andrea an accountant who is told to act unethically by reducing profits in the financial books so that they could be indicated in 2018 and 2019 financial books. According to Ha?Yry, (2007), he perceives that an organization is a group of more than two people ten of thousand that work tirelessly to ensure that they have achieved a common goal or set of goals. Therefore, this shows that organizations are made up of integrated parts that work on accomplishing shared goals. Hence, through ethics business stakeholders are able to make the company resilient, as governance maintains high ethical standards in business activities which includes the collaboration of power, management of risk and enablement of business continuity and growth (Granville Dine, 2013). Drawing from our case company Cocoa, as of 2015 the firm seems to have an effective ethical code and governance which is expected to extend to 2016 and 2017. With prediction by economist that there will be economic slowdown and subsequent fall in business as of 2018 and 2019 Max the general managers tend to indulge Andrea into unethical conducts. Globally, CEOs are expected to act with utmos t integrity and transparency, but in our case the acts Max is requesting Andrea to undertake tends to be a violation of characteristics of good ethical governance. In this case, we will analyze some of the characters that Max is trying to affect in terms of corporate governance. Accountability First, there is the issue of accountability. Accountability can be both an end in itself - addressing prominence based qualities - and a strategies towards the change of more capable and convincing affiliations. Managers and open employees are given enormous power through the laws and headings they realize, resources they control and the affiliations they regulate. Duty is a key way to deal with assurance that this power is used appropriately and as a piece of comprehension with individuals by and large interest (Berleur Goujon, 2007). Duty requires clarity about who is dependable to whom for what and that administration representatives, affiliations and officials are viewed as in charge of their decisions and execution. Hence, this shows that Andrea undertaking thoughts brought about by Max affects the accountability process in ethical governance. Therefore, it is recommended that Andrea shouldnt consider Max thoughts as it would affect accountability to the shareholders developed reports. Transparency Transparency tends to be an imperative piece of good organization, and clear fundamental authority is essential for the private portion to settle on composed decisions and endeavors (Holzinger et al, 2007). Obligation and the lead of law require openness and incredible information so bigger measures of association, outside investigators and the general populace can affirm execution and consistence to law (Widdows, 2013). Hence, if Andrea decides to use another method apart from the straight line depreciation method to manipulate data. He tends to affect the transparency of the shareholders financial data. Thus, this tend to affect the decisions by shareholders during the 2018 and 2019 adverse economic conditions as stated by economist. Taking of such actions by Andrea tends to impede efficiency in an organizations decision making process. Reliability and predictability The rule of law suggests the institutional approach of setting, decoding and executing laws and various orientation (Said et al, 2014). It surmises that choices taken by government must be set up in law and that private firms and people are shielded from subjective choices. Consistency requires association that is free from distortionary motivations - through corruption, nepotism, support or catch by thin private intrigue packs; ensures property and individual rights; and completes some kind of institutionalized investment funds (Sunder Rajan, 2012). This gives a level of immovable quality and consistency that is key for firms and people to take fantastic choices. Drawing analysis from our case firm, Cocoa, undertaking of Max idea by Andrea tends to affect the degree of stability in a firm. Andrea actions based on Max thoughts of manipulating data tends to affect the reliability and predictability of Cocoa. Therefore, this shows that Andrea shouldnt consider the unethical codes that Max is persuading him to undertake. Technical and Managerial Competence Specific and managerial wellness of business employees is a prominent component of good organization. There may be to lesser degree a basic than it used to be, as access to preparing has upgraded, yet quick changes require consistent change of aptitudes (Idowu et al, 2015). Based on our case study, the plans by the manager Max tend to affect the technical and managerial competence of the firm. When technical and managerial competence becomes compromised, it means that Cocoa will be working under the prestige of downfall. Hence, this means that Andrea should critically think of the consequences of the actions that he would be undertaking. The above discussion tends to effectively discuss on the characteristics of good ethics governance. Therefore, this characteristics tend to sufficiently analyze our case study. Based on the above discussion there is need of Max understanding that he is the firms ethics officer. Ethics Officer is simply portraying him or her as the boss whose standard obligation lies in finishing a legitimate code of definitive ethics. More certainly it can be pointed out that the Ethics Officer is some person who guarantees the affiliation is doing its best to satisfy accomplices (each one of those inside and remotely related to the firm, for instance, specialists, shareholders, clients, suppliers, the area amass likewise, the overall population in general). As can be seen, this is 'an extensive measure of work' for a singular person. Considering this by Max could refrain Andrea from undertaking the initial thoughts that he had advocated since it would be a violation of his duty as the ethics officer (he is the manager). Recommendations The focus here is on providing Andrea the best solution to the situation that he is facing using the AASB116 reports. Therefore, they include: It is mandatory according to the AASB116 standards that there should be effective application of an organizations accounting for property, plants as well as the equipments expect when there is another standards that permits a different accounting treatment. Hence, this means that through the consideration of this standard he is required by law to effectively use the correct accounting method set by the firm which is straight line method of depreciation to calculate the firms profits. As a result, Andrea should not undertake the ideas Max develops because ethically and in consideration of the AASB116 standards developing the correct tends to prevent other uncertain events. The AASB116 recommends that there should be independence when it comes to development of financial records. Therefore, Andrea should understand that as an accountant being independent involves not following others peoples opinions or ideas in regards to reporting of financial data. For years we have witnessed many firms fall as a result financial data being influenced by the CEO. A good example is Enron Company in the US which fell as a result of no independency among the auditing and accounting teams. Their results were influenced by the CEO to show that the firm is profitable and attract more investors whereas that wasnt the case (Lo?Tter, 2011). Later, the people responsible in the accounting scam were held liable of their acts. Therefore, taking the case of Cocoa, Andrea should understand that the decisions made by him in regards to drafting the final financial information for the shareholders should be transparent in regards to how the business is operating. Hence, if he conside rs undertaking the unethical codes suggested by Max, if there develops any form of uncertainty and the business collapses. He will be held responsible because of the manipulation of accounting data since he failed to act independently as an accountant. The AASB116 law requires that there be transparency in the accounting process. To expound on this when there is transparency, it means that there is good corporate governance and ethics. Drawing from our case analysis, if Andrea decides to take Max thoughts he is somehow promoting unethical acts which shouldnt be accepted in firms. Therefore, if Andrea decides to stick with the organizational plan where there is accountable financial data he will be promoting some good ethical codes such as; truthfulness where employees to the firm will focus on being honest to the organizational dealings, integrity where there isnt any form of fraud in the organizations systems and effective decision making based on the financial information that has been provided (Simpson Taylor, 2013). Thus, this ensures that the firm shareholders are aware of the firms progress and in rise of any uncertainties they can effectively now on how to tackle the situation based on information provided by Andrea. In conclusion, the act of being ethical and having an effective governance tends to set high standards in a firm as well as clear and honest business report. Therefore, for all these to happen the management needs to be honest no matter what the financial information show. Hence, this tends promote a culture where employee hold a strong standards of themselves, reduction of potential scandals and even holding individuals responsible of their actions (Salmela Mayer, 2009). But, in our case study the manager Max seems to have ill motives in regards to manipulation of financial data to protect his good reputation. Therefore, this paper effectively revolves around the issue of ethics and governance in regards to how effective Andrea should make his decisions as the head accountant for the firm. Hence, this paper provides an effective analysis of ethics and corporate governance in terms of ethics and governance about Cocoa Company. There is also the recommendations on the steps Andrea sh ould take in regards to AASB116 standards. In general, the paper effectively analyzes the issue in Cocoa firm based on ethics and corporate governance. References Saint-Martin, D., Thompson, F. (2006).Public ethics and governance: standards and practices in comparative perspective. Amsterdam, Elsevier JAI. Fort, T. L. (2001).Ethics and governance: business as mediating institution. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Granville, B., Dine, J. (2013).The processes and practices of fair trade: trust, ethics and governance. New York, Routledge. Ha?Yry, M. (2007).The ethics and governance of human genetic databases: European perspectives. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Berleur, J., Goujon, P. 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