If companies do any of the following business over the web they are likely to be conducting e-business:
- Communicating with customers, clients or suppliers via email
- Sending emails to other companies to order products and services
- Selling products or services via the company website
- Using the web to find information such as prices or phone numbers
- Using the web for research purposes
- Using the company website to provide information on products or services
- Using the internet for online banking or paying bills
As you can see from this list not having a website doesn’t necessarily mean that a company can’t conduct e-business. For example sending emails about products or services does not require the company to have a website.
However having a website would probably help companies sell their products. This is because it would advertise the company’s products on the website and because the web is popular and with the use of search engines it would help raise sales.
The bullet points above also suggest that you don’t have to have a website to conduct e-business and there are more ways of conducting e-business such as using emails, doing research and paying for bills online
A more complicated meaning of e-business is:
"E-business transforms the exchange of goods, services, information and knowledge through the sue of Internet-based technology. By leveraging the power of speed and reach to new markets and customers"
This quote shows that there isn’t one clear definition on what the term e-business really means. It really depends on the size of the business and the industry nature to what certain companies may define e-business as.
Conclusion
In conclusion I have found out that e-business basically means conducting business over the internet. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a company has to have a website though to do this as buying products over email or using the internet for research purposes also suggests that the company is conducting e-business.
Bibliography
(2004) [Online], [Accessed 21 September 2004]. Available from World Wide Web:
<http://www.darwinmag.com/learn/ebusiness/basics.html>
Commonwealth of Australia (2004) [Online], [Accessed 21 September 2004] Available from the World Wide Web:
<http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/ebusinessguide/what.htm>
Petroleum Development Oman (2004) [Online], [Accessed 23 September 2004] Available from the World Wide Web:
<http://www.pdo.co.om/PDO/CommercialInfo/EBusiness/>
Mark Jones
September 2004
Lynnette Cadamarteri
