Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Chapter 5



1.      Why is it less risky to steal online? Explain some of the ways criminals deceive consumers and merchants.

dIt is less risky to steal online because the Internet makes it possible to rob people remotely and almost anonymously.  A few of the ways criminals deceive consumers and merchants are by Trojans, phishing, data theft, or identity theft.

2.      Give an example of security breaches as they relate to each of the six dimensions of
e-commerce security. For instance, what would be a privacy incident?

Integrity (ability to ensure that information being displayed on a Web site or transmitted or received over the Internet has not been altered in any way by an unauthorized party), Non repudiation (the ability to ensure that e-commerce participants do not deny their online actions), and Authenticity (the ability to identify the identity of a person or entity with whom you are dealing on the Internet).

3.      How would you protect your firm against a Denial of Service attack?

I would protect my firm against a Denial of Service attack by assigning a duty to part of my company to watch for these attacks to start coming in and block them immediately.

4.      How does spoofing threaten a Web site’s operations?

Spoofing threatens a Web site's operations by for ex if hackers redirect customers to a fake Web site they can then collect and process orders, effectively stealing business from the true site.

5.      What are some of the steps a company can take to curtail cybercriminal activity from within a business?

Some steps a company can take to curtail cybercriminal activity from within a business by using firewalls or a proxy server so that they will be caught before they're able to destroy everything.

6.      Identify and discuss the five steps in developing an e-commerce security plan.

Five steps in developing an e-commerce security plan is perform a risk assessment (an assessment of the risks and points of vulnerability), develop a security policy (a set of statements prioritizing the information risks, identifying acceptable risk targets, and identifying the mechanisms for achieving these targets), develop an implementation plan (the action steps you will take to achieve the security plan goals), create a security organization (educates and trains users, keeps management aware of security threats and breakdowns, and maintains the tools chosen to implement security), and perform a security audit (which involves the routine review of access logs).

7.      What are tiger teams, who uses them, and what are some of the tactics they use in their work?

 Tiger teams are groups of hackers that are used by corporate security departments to test their own security measures. White hats are the good hackers who help organizations locate and fix security flaws.  Black hats are hackers who act with the intention of causing harm,  Grey hats are hackers who believe they are perusing some greater good by breaking in and revealing system flaws.

8.      How do the interests of the four major payment systems stakeholders impact each other?

The interests of the four major payment systems stakeholders impact each other because the stakeholders may have different preferences with respect to the different dimensions.  The main stakeholders in payment systems are consumers, merchants, financial intermediaries, and government regulators.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Chapter 4


1.      Name the six main pieces of the e-commerce site puzzle.

The six main pieces of the e-commerce site puzzle are human resources, site design, organizational capabilities, hardware architecture, software, and telecommunications.

2.      Define the systems development life cycle and discuss the various steps involved in creating an e-commerce site.

The systems development life cycle are system analysis/planning, systems design which is a description of the main components in a system and their relationship to one another, building the system which is outsourcing, testing which contain unit testing, system testing, and acceptance testing  and implementation is the last step in the cycle which is putting it to work.

3.      What are the three main factors to consider when choosing the best platform for your Web site?

The three main factors to consider when choosing the best platform for your Web site are Page deliver, page generation and page content.

4.      Why is Web server bandwidth an important issue for e-commerce sites?

Web server bandwidth is an issue for e-commerce sites because you have to make sure that you have enough room for all of your customers to hit your site at the same time.

5.      Compare and contrast the various scaling methods. Explain why scalability is a key business issue for Web sites.

Horizontal scaling is when you are employing multiple computers to share the workload.  Vertical scaling is increasing the processing power of individual components.  Scalability is a key business issue because it refers to the ability of a site to increase in size as demand warrants.

6.      What are the eight most important factors impacting Web site design, and how do they affect a site’s operation?

Eight most important factors impacting Web site design is functionality (pages that work, load quickly, and point the customer toward your product offerings), informational (links that customers can easily find to discover more about you and your products), ease of use (simple fool-proof navigation), redundant navigation (alternative navigation to the same content), ease of purchase (one or two clicks to purchase), multi-browser functionality (site works with the most popular browsers), simple graphics (avoids distracting, obnoxious graphics and sounds that the user cannot control), and legible text (avoid backgrounds that distort text or make it illegible)

7.      Name and describe three tools used to treat customers individually. Why are they significant to e-commerce?

Three tools used to treat customers individually are personalization which is the ability to treat people based on their personal qualities and prior history with your site, customization which is the ability to change the product to better fit the needs of the customer and speaking directly to the customer on a one-to-one basis.

8.      What are some of the policies e-commerce businesses must develop before launching a site and why?

A few policies e-commerce businesses must develop before launching a site are a privacy policy which is a set of public statements declaring to your customers how you treat their personal information that you gather on the site and accessibility rules which are a set of design objectives that ensure disabled users can effectively access your site.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Chapter 3



1.   Why isn’t the Internet overloaded? Will it ever be at capacity?

The internet isn’t overloaded because more and more servers are being added and the Internet architecture is built in layers so that each layer can change without disturbing development in other layers.  The internet will never be at capacity if more layers continue to be produced.

2.   Compare and contrast intranets, extranets, and the Internet as a whole.

Intranet is a TCP network that is located within a single organization for purposes of communications and information processing.  An extranet is formed when firms permit outsiders to access their internal TCP/IP networks.  An example of a user of an intranet would be Microsoft and it is far less expensive to run on an Intranet.  An extranet would be like General Motors which allows parts suppliers to gain access to GM’s network.

3.   What are some of the challenges of policing the Internet? Who has the final say when it comes to content?

There is not one single governing organization that controls activity on the Internet, instead there are several organizations that influence the system and monitor its operations.

4.   Why was the development of the browser so significant for the growth of the Web?

It allowed people to share files, information, graphics, sound, video, and other objects across all computer platforms in the world, regardless of operating system.

5.   Name and describe five services currently available through the Web.

E-mail which allows messages containing text, picture, images, or sound to be transferred from one Internet user to another.  Instant messaging which allows messages to be instantly sent between two users allowing for a two-way conversation.  Search engines which identify Web pages that match a query submitted by a user.  Blogs which are personal Web pages that typically contain a series of chronological entries by the author and links to related Web pages.  Wikis which are Web applications that allow a user to easily add and edit content on a web page (ex. Wikipedia).

6.   What are at least three new services that will be available through the next generation of the Internet?

RSS-an XML format that allows users to have digital content automatically sent to their computers over the Internet.
M-commerce applications which permit mobile consumers to make payments easily from their cell phones.
Online software and services, such as web apps, widgets, gadgets, and distribution of software applications and distributed storage offered by ASP’s.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Chapter 2

1. What are the eight key components of an effective business model?

Eight key components of an effective business model are value proposition, revenue model, market opportunity, competitive environment, competitive advantage, market strategy, organizational development and management team.

2. Describe the five primary revenue models used by e-commerce firms.

The five primary revenue models used by e-commerce firms are advertising revenue model which is when a company provides a forum for advertisements and receives fees from advertisers. Subscription revenue model which is when a company offers its users content or services and charges a subscription fee for access to some or all of its offerings. Transaction fee revenue model is when a company receives a fee for enabling or executing a transaction. Sales revenue model is when a company derives revenue by selling goods, information, or services and affiliate revenue model which is when a company steers business to an affiliate and receives a referral fee or percentage of the revenue from any resulting sales.

3. Why is targeting a market niche generally smarter for a community provider than targeting a large market segment?

It is smarter to target a market niche rather than targeting a large market segment because there are many market niche’s within a large market segment and it is a lot easier to get into the company by dominating the market niche before you try to take over the whole market segment.

4. Besides the examples given in the chapter, what are some other examples of vertical and horizontal portals in existence today?

Some examples of vertical portals would be theartsportal.com or themusicportal.com. An example of an horizontal portal would be Net vibes or MSNBC.

5. What are the major differences between virtual storefronts such as Drugstore.com and bricks-and-clicks operations such as Walmart.com? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Storefronts are an online version of the retail store, where customers can shop at any hour of the day or night without leaving their home or office. Bricks-and-clocks operations are online distribution channels for a company that also has physical stores so you have your choice of either physically going to the store or shopping online. Advantages of bricks-and-clicks are if you see an item and you like it but you wanted to see it in person before you bought it you could go to the store and see it first. Or the other way if you see a product in the store that you really like and you decide that you wanted it after your home you could just get online and order it instead of having to go back to the store. The disadvantages could be they might get your order wrong ordering offline.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Chapter 1 Questions

Chapter 1



1.    What is e-commerce? How does it differ from e-business? Where does it intersect with e-business?

E-commerce is the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to transact business.  E-business refers primarily to the digital enabling of transactions and processes within a firm.  These two intersect when they both are using the internet to conduct business.

2.    What are some of the unique features of e-commerce technology?

A few unique features of e-commerce technology are ubiquity which means the internet technology is available everywhere, global reach which means the technology reaches across national boundaries around the Earth, universal standards which means there is one set of technology standards, richness which is video, audio and text messages are possible, and interactivity which means the technology works through interaction with the user.

3.    What is Web 2.0? Give examples of Web 2.0 sites and explain why you included them in your list

Web 2.0 is many of the unique features of e-commerce and the Internet combined together in a set of applications and social media technologies.  A few examples of Web 2.0 would be facebook, myspace, google, etc.  All of these allow users to create, edit, and share content.

4.    Give examples of B2C, B2B, C2C, and P2P Web sites besides those listed in the chapter materials.

An example of B2C would be chegg.com; they sell products to consumers.  Example of B2B would be a wholesaler selling raw materials to another company to produce they’re final product to sell.  An example of C2C would be like gowilkes.com.  An example of P2P would be like youtube.com.

5.    What factors will help define the future of e-commerce over the next five years?

Factors that will help define the future of e-commerce over the next five years are online sales growing, technology such as new phones or new Xbox 360.  The overall revenues by the number of online shoppers, which includes the real costs of doing business on the web rising.  Also, the number of successful pure online companies will remain smaller than integrated online/offline stores.