E-Commerce &
Internet Applications
BBA (Hons) 7th
Course Overview &
Introduction
Lectures 1,2,3
Course Lecturer: Farhan Mir
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Lectures 123 Administration
Introducing Myself (which you already know)
Course Introduction
Few Words on Articles & Additional Readings
Suggestions and criticism about previous
semesters
Suggestion for future course of action
E-Business Overview
My Own Website as Online Resource Center
(www.themirs.net)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Course Lecturer (Brief Introduction)
Farhan Azmat Mir
MIMS [Monash University Melbourne]
MBA (MIS) [B.Z.U] Gold Medal
Some Words regarding my
Academic and Professional Life
1.5 Years at Melbourne
Almost 5 Years at IMS (as Lecturer)
Some Words on the Future
Working on Research papers
Compiling Case Studies in the areas
of MIS, E-Business & HRM
Going for Professional Training
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Current Responsibilities at IMS
Advisor Students (Evening)
All issues and queries relating to evening programs
including BBA-IT, MBA-IT, MBA (Banking) and MBA
(Executive)
Coordination of all academic and extra-curricular
functions relating to evening programs including “Formal
Orientations", "Welcome & Farewells Parties"
Coordinator BBA-IT Program
Curriculum Development and Review
All office documentation (Course Files and Quality
documents)
Coordination with Permanent & Visiting Faculty members
Student application and documentation evaluation
Class Scheduling and Monitoring
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Current Responsibilities at IMS
Incharge Seminar & Drama Society
Development of Seminar Calendar in close
coordination with all faculty members
All logistic and coordination support for
Seminars, Conferences, Workshops & Drama
activities
Arrangement and Liaison-keeping with
Speakers and Guest Lecturers
© Farhan Mir
2007
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© Farhan Mir
2007
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Current Responsibilities
At University Level
Part of many committee
Convocations & Major Events
Sports
Currently working on a mega project
(BGC)
Bahauddin Zakariya University Golf Club
© Farhan Mir
2007
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BZU Golf Club
© Farhan Mir
2007
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My Introduction: Consultation Method
 Best through e-mail address
(farhanmir_99@hotmail.com)
OR
In case of submission of assignment through email
(farhanmir_99_pk@yahoo.com)
 After/before lectures on lecture day OR
Announced Timings in case of Assignments or Reports

Consultation Timings:
11:00 am to 12:00 pm Thursday-Friday
© Farhan Mir
2007
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My Introduction: Interests
Sports
Creativity
& New
Ideas
History &
Art
Social &
Cultural
Change
Religion
Personality
Development
© Farhan Mir
2007
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My Inspirations
© Farhan Mir
2007
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My Inspirations
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Favourite Quotes
"Champions aren't made in
gyms. Champions are made
from something they have
deep inside them: A desire,
a dream, a vision. They
have to have last-minute
stamina, they have to be a
little faster, they have to
have the skill and the will.
But the will must be stronger
than the skill." -
Muhammad Ali
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Favourite Quotes
“You are educated. Your certification
is in your degree. You may think of it
as the ticket to the good life. Let me
ask you to think of an alternative.
Think of it as your ticket to change the
world”.
(Tom Brokaw)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Favourite Quotes
“You’re not a wave, you’re a part of the
ocean.”
Love lost is still love. It takes a different
form, that’s all. Memory. Memory becomes
your partner. You nurture it. You hold it.
Life has to end. Love doesn’t.
Mitch Albom
"A minute's success pays the failure of
years"
Robert Browning
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Favourite Quotes
Anyone who has never made a mistake
has never tried anything new.
~Albert Einstein
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Course Administration &
Requirements
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Course Administration
Exams and Assessment
Basically 2 exams method Mid & Final
30 Mid
50 Final
20 Sess
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Lecture Notes
Available from Photostat shop before lectures or preferably
one day before the start of new week
Usually the lecture material will cover the topics of
one week
Lecture Notes also now available online on the
given website address (www.themirs.net/ec.html)
Lecture Notes will not be in detail format rather these will
contain topics of discussion and important announcements
regarding assessments.
Most Importantly Lecture Notes are just a supporting
material and students must not forget to read books for
detail and complete understanding (In case of Management
as a subject you need to do extensive reading on topics
under discussion & look for majority of web sites for
practical know how)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Course Administration
Sessionals
Written assignments (Small Tasks) (details in
coming lectures)
Idea is to initiate research oriented writing not
“cut-copy-paste”
Attendance, Presentations, Quiz & Class
Discussion & Participation (as a regular activity)
Volunteer presentations (you must not be that
familiar with this kind of stuff but you need to
respond to it quickly!)
Sessional’s loot sale
Formal Presentations in groups and if you want
to take it one step ahead you could arrange
small seminars for other classes (preferably
© Farhan Mir
your juniors) on given “Research Topics”
2007
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How to get more marks?
Requirements
Overall Class Attitude
Things to Avoid (Referencing, Cut-CopyPaste Culture, Carelessness, leg-pulling)
Things to do (Innovation, Confidence, Work
Attitude)
Sense of Maturity and continuous learning
© Farhan Mir
2007
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One of the Major Sessionals
Case Study Presentation
Students in groups of 5-7 will choose an e-Business
(Preferably a Pakistani Organization)
Case should be developed on the given format (A model
format will be discussed in upcoming lectures)
Students need to develop a proper case study using the
case study development guidelines
Eventually will present their findings in the shape of a
Presentation in front of the class or classes on Multimedia
Students need to submit both Hard (Printed) and Soft copies
(Computer files) of the Case itself and that of the PowerPoint
Presentation
This is day 1 so you can start working now!
I will myself present at least one Case Study well before the
presentation schedule so that you people have an idea
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Another Important Project
E-Commerce Business Development
Need to choose one Industry and develop a
Business Model for an Online Business
Business Model will include
Purpose of Business
Product & Services
Potential customers
Marketing & Promotional Strategies
Competition Analysis
A Static Website as a final Outcome using
Microsoft FrontPage
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Last Year Case Studies
Harley Davidson (Motor Bike Company)
PIA (Travel Industry)
UBL (Banking Online)
World Expeditions (Tourism & Travel)
Mobilink (Telecommunication)
IBM (Computer Giant)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Course Orientation
Basically Theoretical focus
Introduction of Concepts and Issues regarding EBusiness (This subject is developed in case study mode: it
means that there are lot of case studies)
But
The practical orientation will also be also be a major focus of
the course (this will include practical demonstration on
multimedia)
Lecture notes will include more graphical explanation of
things to give more practical orientation about concepts &
applications especially the websites of major e-Businesses
Formal Presentation from Students will also work in this
regard
Video or Audio Presentation will also be part of the lectures
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Examination
I personally believe in “thorough studies” so
usually no choices given in the exam
Every thing discussed, during the class or
given as reading material, could be part of the
exams
Questions will be formulated in a way to
examine both bookish as well as conceptual
thinking
Other details will be given close to Mid
I will try to follow my simple rule that is
“ I’ll be very friendly in the lectures and very strict in
the exam hall (believe me no chance of
misconduct…)”
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Text & References
Focus will be on topics rather Chapters of
any text
Many Text/books are available in market
Efraim Turban, Joe Lee, David King & Michael Chung.
(2004). “Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective”.
Prentice Hall International
Mostly things will be taught from the Text but
students need to broaden their view and consult as
many additional references as possible (Preferably
available in local market and from the Internet)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Competency &
Skills
Learning not
Teaching
Miscellaneous
(Regularity,
Consultancy,
Support etc)
Neutral
Assessment
(Objective)
Guidelines
for me as
an
Instructor
True
Knowledge
not stories
Class
Environment
Updated
Teaching
Methodology
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Overview of
Electronic Commerce & EBusiness
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Learning Objectives
Define electronic commerce (EC) and
describe its various categories
Describe the content and frameworks of
EC
Describe the major types of EC
transactions
Discuss the benefits of EC to
organizations, consumers, and society
Describe the limitations of EC
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Learning Objectives
Describe the role of the digital
revolution in EC and the economic
impact of EC
Discuss the contribution of EC in
helping organizations respond to
business pressures
© Farhan Mir
2007
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EC Definitions & Concepts
Electronic Commerce (EC) is the
process of buying, selling, or
exchanging products, services,
and information via computer
networks
© Farhan Mir
2007
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E-Business Definitions &
Concepts
E-business is a broader definition of EC that
includes not just the buying and selling of
goods and services, but also
Servicing customers (Value Added Information)
Collaborating with business partners
Conducting electronic transactions within an
organization (Intra-Business Activities)
Non-Profit Activities (Community Building)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Basic Definition & Concepts
E-Business & E-Commerce defined from these
perspectives
Communications
Business process
Service
Online Collaborations
Community
© Farhan Mir
2007
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E-Business
Quote for Lou Gerstner, IBM’s CEO:
“E-Business is all about speed,
globalization, enhanced productivity,
reaching new customers, and sharing
knowledge across institutions for
competitive advantage.”
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Basic Concepts & Definition
So what is E-Business?
Simple definition: Any business carried out
in electronic form.
“The complex fusion of business
processes, enterprise applications, and
organizational structure to create a highperformance business model.” (Kalakota
and Robinson)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Examples of E-Business
Yahoo
eBay
Amazon
Priceline
Sears
Virtual University of Pakistan
ATM machines???
© Farhan Mir
2007
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© Farhan Mir
2007
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EC Definitions & Concepts
Traditional commerce: all
dimensions are physical
Brick-and-mortar
organizations
Old-economy
organizations
(corporations)
Perform all business
off-line
Sell physical products
by means of physical
agents
© Farhan Mir
2007
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EC Definitions & Concepts
Pure EC: all dimensions are
digital
Pure online (virtual)
organizations
New-economy organization
Sell products or services only
online
Partial EC: a mix of digital and
physical dimensions
Click-and-mortar organizations
Conduct EC activities
Do their primary business in
the physical world
© Farhan Mir
2007
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The Dimensions of Electronic
Commerce
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Physical to Virtual Interfacing
Old-economy companies are extending their
reach by offering on-line services (catalogs,
commodities, and e-services),
Office Depot (Office supplies; #2 web retailer, after
Amazon) (www.officedepot.com) & (www.amazon.com)
LL Bean (Catalog sales; Dogs are in at LL Bean)
(www.llbean.com)
Barnes and Noble(Booksellers) (www.bn.com)
Boeing Parts Network (24/7 parts for airlines)
(www.boeing.com/assocproducts/direct/bd_home.html)
Outreach to customers.
Commodities sell well in e-space.
© Farhan Mir
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© Farhan Mir
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© Farhan Mir
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© Farhan Mir
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EC Definitions & Concepts
Internet vs. Non-Internet EC
Internet EC
Use of Websites to advertise, Buy & Sell
Much cheaper and highly accessible
Non-Internet EC
VANs—value-added networks
LANs—local area networks
Single computerized machines
Using a smart card in a vending machine
Using a cell phone to make an online
purchase
© Farhan Mir
2007
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The EC Framework and Field
An EC Framework
EC applications supported by infrastructure
and 5 support areas
People
Public policy
Technical standards and protocols
Business partners (mutual collaboration)
Support services
© Farhan Mir
2007
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A Framework for EC
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Classification of EC by the
Nature of the Transaction
Business-to-business (B2B) : EC model in
which all of the participants are businesses or
other organizations
Business-to-consumer (B2C): EC model in
which businesses sell to individual shoppers
Business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C):
EC model in which a business provides some
product or service to a client business; the
client business maintains its own customers,
to whom the product or service is provided
© Farhan Mir
2007
IMS
Examples!
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) - (aggregator) leading portal
and most visited e-space!
E-Trade (www.etrade.com) On-line investing and
banking; moving to click-and-mortar outposts.
McAfee (www.mcafee.com) Software subscription
services for virus scanning.
Software purchase, delivery and update, example is:
Copernic (www.copernic.com)
Digital Content Services; example is: Sony Music
(www.sony.com)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Classification of EC by the
Nature of the Transaction
2
Consumer-to-business(C2B): individuals
who use the Internet to sell products or
services to organizations and /or seek
sellers to bid on products or services they
need
Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) : consumers
sell directly to other consumers
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Examples!
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
Ebay (www.ebay.com) - (facilitator) electronic auctions
with consumers handling transaction and shipping.
Napster (www.napster.com) - (facilitator) peer-to-peer
music exchange; courts not happy.
Groove Networks (www.groove.com) (facilitator)
secure peer-to-peer collaboration services. Founded
by Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes.
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Classification of EC by the
Nature of the Transaction
3
Mobile commerce (m-commerce)—EC
transactions and activities conducted in a
wireless environment
Location-commerce—(l-commerce)
m-commerce transactions targeted to
individuals in specific locations, at specific
times
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Classification of EC by the
Nature of the Transaction
4
Intrabusiness (organizational) EC: EC
category that includes all internal
organizational activities that involve the
exchange of goods, services, or
information among various units and
individuals in an organization
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Classification of EC by the
Nature of the Transaction
5
Business-to-employee (B2E): EC model in which an
organization delivers services, information, or
products to its individual employees
Collaborative commerce (c-commerce): EC model in
which individual or groups communicate or collaborate
online
E-government: Government-to-citizens (G2C): EC
model in which a government entity buys or
provides good, services, or information to
businesses or individual citizens
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Interdisciplinary Nature of
EC
Marketing
Computer sciences
Consumer behavior
and psychology
Finance
Economics
Management
information systems
Accounting and
auditing
Management
Business law and
ethics
Others
© Farhan Mir
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Brief History of ECommerce
Some major shifts from 70s till now
© Farhan Mir
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Brief History of EC
EC applications first
developed in the early
1970s
Electronic funds
transfer (EFT)
Limited to:
Large corporations
Financial institutions
A few other daring
businesses
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Brief History of EC
Electronic data
interchange (EDI)—
electronic transfer of
documents:
Purchase orders
Invoices
E-payments between
firms doing business
2
Enlarged pool of
participants to include:
Manufacturers
Retailers
Service providers
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Brief History of EC
3
Interorganizational systems (IOS)
Stock trading
Travel reservation systems
Internet became more commercialized
in the early 1990s
Almost all medium-and large-sized
organization in the world now has a
Web site
Most large corporations have
comprehensive portals
© Farhan Mir
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Brief History of EC
EC Successes
Pure online
eBay
VeriSign
AOL
Checkpoint
Click-and-mortar
GE
IBM
Intel
Schwab
4
EC Failures
E-tailors began to fail
in 1999
This does not mean
that EC’s days are
numbered
Large EC companies
like Amazon.com are
expanding but success
or failure is not certain
© Farhan Mir
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The Benefits of EC
Benefits to Organizations
Expands the marketplace to national and
international markets
Decreases the cost of creating, processing,
distributing, storing and retrieving paperbased information
Allows reduced inventories and overhead
by facilitating pull-type supply chain
management
© Farhan Mir
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Benefits of EC
The pull-type processing allows for
customization of products and services
which provides competitive advantage to
its implementers
Supports business processes
reengineering (BPR) efforts
Lowers telecommunications cost - the
Internet is much cheaper than value added
networks (VANs)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Benefits of EC
Benefits to consumers
Enables consumers to shop or do other
transactions 24 hours a day, all year
round from almost any location
Provides consumers with more choices
Provides consumers with less
expensive products and services by
allowing them to shop in many places
and conduct quick comparisons
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Benefits of EC
Allows quick delivery of products and
services (in some cases) especially with
digitized products
Consumers can receive relevant and detailed
information in seconds, rather than in days
or weeks
Makes it possible to participate in virtual
auctions
Allows consumers to interact with other
consumers in electronic communities and
exchange ideas as well as compare
experiences
Facilitates competition, which results in © Farhan Mir
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substantial discounts
2007
Benefits of EC
Benefits to society
Enables more individuals to work at home,
and to do less traveling for shopping,
resulting in less traffic on the roads, and
lower air pollution
Allows some merchandise to be sold at lower
prices, benefiting less affluent people
Enables people in Third World countries and
rural areas to enjoy products and services
which otherwise are not available to them
Facilitates delivery of public services at a
reduced cost, increases effectiveness, and/or
© Farhan Mir
improves quality
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The Limitations of EC
Technical limitations
There is a lack of universally accepted standards for
quality, security, and reliability
The telecommunications bandwidth is insufficient
Software development tools are still evolving
There are difficulties in integrating the Internet and EC
software with some existing (especially legacy)
applications and databases.
Special Web servers in addition to the network
servers are needed (added cost).
Internet accessibility is still expensive and/or
inconvenient
© Farhan Mir
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The Concept of Digital
Economy
An Introduction
© Farhan Mir
2007
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The Digital Revolution and
the Economic Impact of EC
In the Digital Revolution the economy is
based on digital technologies including:
Digital communication networks
Computers
Software
Other related information technologies
Also called:
Internet economy
New economy
Web economy
© Farhan Mir
2007
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The Digital Revolution and
the Economic Impact of EC
Digital networking and communication
infrastructures provide a global platform
where people and organizations:
Interact
Communicate
Collaborate
Search for information
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The Digital Revolution and
the Economic Impact of EC
3
The global platform includes these
characteristics
A vast array of digitizable products
Consumers and firms conduct financial
transactions digitally
Microprocessors and networking
capabilities embedded in physical goods
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The Digital Revolution and
the Economic Impact of EC
The term digital economy also refers
to the convergence of computing and
communication technologies on the
Internet and other networks and the
resulting flow of information and
technology that is stimulating ecommerce and vast organizational
changes
© Farhan Mir
2007
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The Digital Revolution and
the Economic Impact of EC
This convergence enables all types of
information (data, audio, video, etc.) to
be stored, processed, and transmitted
over networks to many destinations
worldwide
Web-based EC systems are accelerating
the digital revolution by providing
competitive advantage to organizations
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Contributions of EC
towards modern
Organizations
Types of Pressures and EC as a
solution
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Business Pressures
The term business environment refers to the
social, economic, legal, technological, and
political actions that affect business activities
Business pressures are divided into the
following categories:
Market (economic)
Societal
Technological
© Farhan Mir
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Major Business Pressures & the
Role of EC
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Organizational Responses
Strategic Planning and Systems
Provide organizations with strategic
advantages, enabling them to:
Increase their market share
Better negotiate with their suppliers
Prevent competitors from entering into their
territory
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Organizational Responses
2
Continuous improvement efforts
Many companies continuously conduct
programs to improve:
Productivity
Quality
Customer service
Business process reengineering (BPR)
Strong business pressures may require a
radical change
Such an effort is referred to as business
process reengineering (BPR)
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Organizational Responses
3
Business alliances
Alliances with other companies, even competitors, can
be beneficial
Virtual corporation—electronically supported
temporary joint venture
Special organization for a specific time-limited
mission
Electronic markets
Optimize trading efficiency
Enable their members to compete globally
Require the collaboration of the different companies
and competitors
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Organizational Responses
4
Reduction in cycle time and time to market
Cycle time reduction—shortening the time
it takes for a business to complete a
productive activity from its beginning to
end
Extremely important for increasing
productivity and competitiveness
Extranet-based applications expedite steps
in the process of product or service
development, testing, and implementation
© Farhan Mir
2007
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Organizational Responses
5
Empowerment of employees and
collaborative work
Employees given the authority to act and
make decisions on their own improves
Productivity
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Empowered sales people and customer
service employees:
Make customers happy quickly
Help increase customer loyalty
© Farhan Mir
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Organizational Responses
6
Supply chain improvements
Help reduce supply chain delays,
inventories and eliminate other
inefficiencies
Mass customization—production of
large quantities of customized items
Business problem is how to efficiently
provide customization
EC is an ideal facilitator of mass
customization by enabling electronic
ordering to reach the production facility
© Farhan Mir
in minutes
2007
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Putting It All Together
The first step is to put in the right
connective networks
The vast majority of EC is done on
computers connected to:
Internet
Intranet--An internal corporate or government network
that uses Internet tools, such as Web browsers, and
Internet protocols
Extranet--A network that uses the Internet to link
multiple intranets
© Farhan Mir
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Putting It All Together
Major concern of today’s companies—how
to transform themselves to take part in
digital economy
Example:Toys, Inc.
Uses intranet for internal communications,
collaboration, dissemination of information
Networked to e-marketspaces and large
corporations
Corporate portal for communication and
collaboration with business partners
© Farhan Mir
2007
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© Farhan Mir
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