New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
Computer and Information Science Department (CIS)
CIS677:
Information System Principles
Professor: Michael
Bieber
Nabil Adam, Professor, Management Science/CS Department, Rutgers University (adam@adam.rutgers.edu; http://cimic3.rutgers.edu/~adam)
{electronic commerce marketplace example slide}
- commerce:
- electronic commerce:
Electronic Commerce features:
Electronic Commerce issues:
{figure: Electronic Commerce Areas}
Market components: players (or agents), products and processes.
Commerce takes place physically or digitally (virtually).
Market players are sellers, buyers, intermediaries, governments, consumer advocacy groups, etc. Players can be real (physical) or digital. Shoppers in a real mall are physical. On-line shoppers are digital. (Note: "agents" in the figure are really people.)
Products can be physical or digital. A paper newspaper is real. An on-line newspaper is digital. CD-ROMs are in-between: digital products in a physical container.
Processes are the interactions between market players and market activities, such as searching for products, selecting products, production, ordering products, payment, delivery, and market research. Processes can happen physically or digitally. Visiting a real store is a physical process. Searching on the Web is a digital process.
Michael R. asks regarding physical vs. digital
products(15:53)
There are some products out there that can be considered
intangible products such as insurance policies, and even stocks now
traded through on-line brokers. They really aren't physical, and they
really are not digital. Are they virtual products?
Michael R. continues (16:55)
They will mail you a receipt, that says that you bought
it.
(1) amazon.com
(2) ebay.com (auction site)
Angel G. asks (20:23)
Would you consider ebay as electronic commerce although money does
not change hands? Just that you can express your wishes
electronically, but then physically have to mail the money?
Various exchanges including: (21:23)
Michael R. states regarding what eBay is:
That's not what eBay does. Actually I'd almost classify it as a
web-based discussion group.
Marium M. notes:
Selling on ebay: If he is interested, he has to send a check to
me.
(3) Pea Pod (supermarket)
Mark P. asks, in general: (23:58)
Within this framework, would you consider "portals" that offer
free content, like Yahoo, part of e-commerce?
Mark S. continues the discussion of portals (24:36)
In that case, e-commerce would be the making of money by the
portal companies from the advertiser, not using that purchasing model
where the customer is buying goods. So would that also fit under the
e-commerce umbrella?
Mark S. then asks (25:35)
The thing I've picked up from the readings is that there seems
a lack of definition or framework of what e-commerce is, that it
could be very broad or very narrow depending on who is talking about
it.
Michael R. continues (26:15)
I think the Yahoo model actually is closer to a normal
e-commerce model because, eventually the push advertisers who do it
all have links to the company's Web page where you can buy the
product. So even though it is just advertising from Yahoo's
standpoint, you can get at that parent company's homepage so you can
actually buy the product. You do get full circle to where you do the
buying.
{Slide: Internet Business Models}
* Virtual Storefront
* Marketplace Concentrator
* Information Brokers
* Transaction Brokers
* Electronic Clearinghouses
* Digital Product Delivery
Bob S. notes (32:25)
… you can subscribe to a number of times you can use the
source code and this decreases the size of your graphic files on a
Web site…
* Content Provider
Bob S. then notes on sex sites as a content provider… (33:27)
* On-Line Service Provider
Mark S. notes: (35:40)
What fits real well in the virtual storefront is
prescriptions. And there is drug-store.com which was bought by
amazon.com.
Michael R. notes (36:19)
Right now Rite Aid allows you to refill prescriptions on-line,
which is really neat.
{slide: Electronic Commerce Framework}
- Network Infrastructure:
These are the cables and other network hardware that transport messages over the Internet and other networks. The players in the Network Infrastructure industry include the telephone companies, cable companies, those controlling satellite communications, etc.
- Multimedia Content & Network Publishing Infrastructure:
This is the content that actually gets sent over the networks. The most well-known infrastructure here is World Wide Web servers and browsers. This infrastructure layer also includes the content itself.
- Messaging & Information Distribution Infrastructure:
These are the protocols for sending, receiving and interpreting the content. Protocols are specific agreed-upon, standard formats. The protocol format tells computer systems what type of message content to expect, so they can then interpret the message content correctly. Since your document or email message is converted to a bunch of digital 1s and 0s, something needs to tell the destination point how to interpret these 1s and 0s as the original content. This infrastructure layer includes the HTTP format for Web servers, and EDI message formats for EDI systems.
*** EDI (electronic data interchange):
Mark S. asks regarding EDI standards: (42:20)
Yes, and there is the cost of the VAN [proprietary value-added
networks], the dedicated lines, and all that, and now the
Internet makes this possible. Over the Internet do they use the same
standard ANSI datasets and all that they used [over proprietary
networks]?
- Common Business Services Infrastructure:
This layer contains a series of services for organizations conducting EC, i.e., for facilitating buying and selling. This includes encryption techniques, digital cash and other electronic payment schemes, etc.
- Public Policy:
Public policy issues include universal access, privacy, copyright and pricing of information, and pricing of the various services in the different layers of this framework.
Mei Q. asks concerning auction sites (46:05)
My immediate concern about electronic commerce is payments. And my
second concern is about wrong information, For example, I heard some
stories that some people bid on the Web for a toy collection,
received a fake one, but paid $1000 for that. They could not see the
other site physically, so they could not know it.
Bob S. asks (49:37):
… During electronic exchange of money, if the money is
illegal, the money will not be deposited, so people can manage their
money frankly …
MB asks:
What do you see to be the enduring issues in EC, i.e., the
issues that will still be with us in 5 or 10 years?
This page: http://www.cis.njit.edu/~bieber/CIS677/lecture-notes/lecture10.html