Virtual Communities 31606
Workshop 6
Virtual Communities & e-Business
Team Vlans






Anthony Nguyen
Don Le
Richard Nim
King Lam
Anamur Tran
Long Nguyen
Overview






Virtual Communities
e-Business
History of e-Business
Virtual Communities & e-Business
Benefits
Four dynamics to capture and increase
revenue in VCs
Overview (cont.)






Four Stages of Member Development
Advantages/Disadvantages of eBusiness
Issues of e-Business
Success factors of e-Business
Conclusion
References
Virtual Communities

Definition: Groups of people with
similar interests who communicate and
interact in an electronic or online
environment. (E. Lawrence pg 388 )
e-Business

A Definition:



“An e-Business is a business on the Internet”
Dmitry Nanev.
E-business means any Internet or networkenabled business activity.
E-business is connecting customers, suppliers and
partners across the Internet using tools and
standards that work cooperatively to achieve the
required outcome in a secure manner.
e-Business

Purposes





Increase Revenue
Appeal to a global market
Integrating dissimilar business processes
Traverse organisational boundaries and
extend to partners, suppliers and
customers.
Share information or allow external access
e-Business

Categories

Business 2 Business (B2B)


Business 2 Consumer (B2C)


Dell, IBM
Peter Alexander
Consumer 2 Consumer (C2C)

Stuff.com.au
History of e-Business

Early 70s

Government and big organizations make good use
of IT, and computers in general


Banks use EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) to speed up
payments
Late 70s, early 80s

E-business beginnings

Electronic messaging technologies to carry out business
transactions


EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
Inter organizational e-mail
History of e-Business

Late 70s, early 80s (cont.)

EDI, e-mail


Reduce paperwork, speed up transactions, facilitate
communications, etc.
BUT



Only for large companies (manufacturers, retailers)
Complex, expensive
Late 80s

Small companies join the game



Using e-mail to communicate with big companies
Small investment
A good move in order to stay in the game
History of e-Business

Late 80’s, early 90s

Online services become popular



educational & technical institutions, special interest groups
join the game
TCP-IP used as a common communications backbone


e-mail, news, chat
Birth of the Internet
1995



Online services for the large public (AOL)
The browser (and HTML) is commercialized
The home page: a new channel for doing business
History of e-Business

Late 90’s



Companies began to build home pages to serve as
online corporate brochures
As web technologies matured, the first ecommerce transactions were taking place
Around 2000

The “dot-com” revolution: use the web as a
primary channel for product distribution


Huge impact on established consumer markets
Huge impact on the supply chain (SC)

SC: the chain of processes behind all consumer purchases
History of e-Business

1970
Source: Digital Think & ACM Professional
Development Center (digitalthink.com, acm.org)
1980
E-commerce
begins
1990
1995
2000
Online services
emerge
Browser
Dot-coms
Virtual Communities & eBusiness
Virtual Communities & eBusiness

General e-Business (slide 1)




ShopFast (www.shopfast.com.au)
ABC Shop (www.abcshop.com.au)
dStore (www.dstore.com.au)
e-Business that have Virtual Communities



E-bay (www.ebay.com)
Amazon (www.amazon.com)
Toms Hardware (tomshardware.com)
Example – eBay
Example - Amazon








‘Friends & Favorites’ section
Personalized Recommendations – Uses a
Recommender System
Special Occasion Reminder
Amazon Friends
Wish List – that ‘friends’ can access
Discussion Boards
‘About You’ Area – Provide information about
yourself to others
Suggestions Given – Provide ideas to Staff
Benefits

Benefits of Virtual Communities to eBusiness

Customer benefits



Main benefit: Customer generated content
Access to competing vendors
Commercial orientation
Benefits (cont.)

Vendor benefits




Enhanced ability to target
Better Marketing abilities
Increase propensity for buying
Lower marketing costs
Four dynamics to capture and
increase revenue in VCs

Content attractiveness

Generate product reach, attract customers
and foster the virtual community
Member-to-member
interaction
Hours On-line
Content
Attractiveness
Member-generated
content
Members
Marketing
effectiveness
Member
churn
Four dynamics to capture and
increase revenue in VCs

Member profile

“Personalised” profiles through intelligent
agents & data mining - recommender agents,
etc
Data-collecting
capabilities
Targeted
transaction offerings
Advertising
revenue
Transaction volume
Member Profiles
Advertising
click through
Targeted
advertising
Four dynamics to capture and
increase revenue in VCs

Member loyalty

Customer retention through VCs and
competitive advantage
member-generated
content
Hours On-line
Member
relationships
Members in VC
Member Loyalty
Member
churn rate
Customised
interaction
Four dynamics to capture and
increase revenue in VCs

Transaction offerings

Deliver value added G+S and focus on
customer pulling power
Vendor marketing
spending
Vendors in VC
Vendor marketing
effectiveness
Transaction Offerings
Members in VC
Attractiveness to
vendors
Member willingness
to spend
Four stages of Member
Development

Attract members



Promote participation


Incorporate VC features & functionality
Build loyalty


Market the eBusiness to the target
Attractive website with competitive pricing
Foster community and reward users
Capture value


Develop vendor and customer relationships
Expansion and continual innovation
Advantages of e-Business

Benefits for Consumer







Cheaper products
Greater range and variety of products
Easier Accessibility
Dynamic Support
Shop 365 days a year, 24 hours a day
Shop at your own pace in your own privacy
No lines, crowds, or annoying salespeople
Advantages of e-Business
(cont.)

Benefits for Vendors





Cheaper Operating Costs
Financial Returns
Global Market Place
Business operates 24 Hours, 7 Days of the
Week
Flexible time Commitment
Disadvantages of e-Business

for Consumer




Social Aspects
Loss of Senses – touch, smell, sight, taste, aural
Can be Bandwidth Intensive
for Vendor



Multiple Legal Systems
Greater Competition
Consumers have immediate access to Competitors
Success Factors






Increased interaction between potential consumers
Mutual trust between buyer and seller
Representation & specification of the product
Appropriate functionality within the market place
Reaching out to a global marketplace with a
competitive advantage through competitive pricing
and value added products
Provide an eBusinesss solution that builds on the
customer’s trust and confidence
Success Factors (cont.)







Have an eBusiness operation that is scalable, secure,
manageable and flexible
Utilize the knowledge and experience of the
employees in the organisation
“Engage customers & suppliers into thinking up new
ways to improve the business” (Leung M. 2002)
Enhanced customer experience through automation
Adapt to constant and continual change in the
Internet
Foster the virtual community and customer loyalty
Customer interfaces
Issues - Trust


A dynamic process that deepens or
weakens according to experience.
[Lawrence pg 274]
Customers have different concerns


Security, Privacy and Rights
Current law isn’t enough to protect us
Issues - Security



Security concerns include viruses,
trojan, spams
Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks
MafiaBoy

A 15 year old tennager hacking into CNN
Issues – Implementing
Security





Update the Operating System
Virus Scanners
Digital Certificates
Secured Network Infrastructure
Security Policy
Issues – Law



Law conflicts due to International
Market
ISP responsibility in Australia
Implement An Agreement of Terms
Conclusion




VC & e-Businesses improve the overall
aim and goals of a business as a whole
Thank you for your time!
Hope you enjoyed the last Workshop
Brought to you by V-Lans© 2003.
References






Technology of the Internet Business, Elaine Lawrence
2002
Digital Think & ACM Professional Development Center
(digitalthink.com, acm.org)
Internet Commerce – Digital Models for Business,
Elaine Lawrence 2000
Electronic Commerce Technology Briefing July 10,
1996
Communities in E-Business March 9 - 11, 2003
The E-Business Community must be embraced, Don
Tapscott September 28, 1998
References (cont.)






Enabling Knowledge Exchanges For E-Business
Communities, Dr. Yogesh Malhotra, 2002
Richard Turnbill - eROI
anonymous - key success factors for new businesses
ebiz.enable - Success Factors
Michelle Leung - What are the success factors for
eBusiness?
Faruk Waja - So whats this about a anew economy?