If an organization is involved in illegal and unethical practices such a monopolizing to beat competition, sharing confidential customer information for personal/business gains, promoting illegal information (terrorism, pornography and others.) or misleading the public the lack of adherence to government regulations will drive away the customers/business partners, break their trust and eventually head for a downfall. Once, an organization has been dragged into the controversy of indulging in unethical business practices, it will never be able to survive again. As we have seen in the class of Financial Analysis, Enron and WorldCom are best examples of this.
Why is it important to keep abreast of technology trends when running an e-Business?
E-business is a very competitive and dynamic industry where trends, new technologies emerge on a continuous basis, making it very difficult for companies that are not proactive and slow to react or adapt to changes. Thus, in such a dynamic and fast-paced industry, it is extremely important for companies to keep themselves abreast of technology trends in order to survive the onslaught from competitors and survive in the industry.
For example, one the recent trends have been the increasing use of e-purchases such as Paypal. Now, in order to provide utmost satisfaction and convenience to its customers, it has become imperative for e-businesses such as shopping portals to accept such payments from e-purses such as Paypal, Moneybookers, and others, in order to survive in the industry.
Why is benchmarking an important activity in the analysis of e-Business Web sites?
According to Merriam-Webster’s web site (www.m-w.com) benchmark is defined as: “the study of a competitor's product or business practices in order to improve the performance of one's own company.” Benchmarking is a practice that is particularly useful to today’s professional because of the vast selection of information being captured and leading practices being tested. To understand the definition of benchmarking is to better understand how one company can use the science and art of benchmarking to better their company’s position in today’s competitive business environment or even how one professional can get the budget, resources and management support needed.
Benchmarking is an important activity in the analysis of e-Business web sites because by observing the standards set up the most successful and best websites, one can critically analyze the websites with respect to various aspects such as security, features, can easily, and effectively compare the quality of the website. It also helps to point out the mistakes/errors and weaknesses present in the website by comparing it with the benchmarks and standards, thus making it sure that the website being analyzed is following the best practices in the industry.
Ethical, Legal, and Regulatory Issues on B2C and B2B Sites
To most consumers web access is a natural piece of all business. Some applications, like bill paying over the Internet have been successful beyond anyone's imagination and it just continues to grow. As for the companies that are part of the commerce in the Web, have emerged urging necessities to manage the liabilities that can result of online business environment. This environment includes laws and ethical factors that are sometimes different from those in the brick and mortar setting. Since Internet technologies enable companies to build Web sites that can be customized to meet the specific needs, online customers have much more interactive and complex relationships with online businesses than they do with traditional companies. Usually, online businesses use this property of the online environment to manage the legal and ethical requirements of both business and consumer clientele.
Ethical Issues
Ethics is the discipline that arises from a set of moral principles or values of conduct governing an individual or group. B2C and B2B sites generally deal with different ethical issues. Keeping e-mail addresses secret and hiding from third parties to avoid unsolicited emails and spam is considered as an ethical responsibility for B2C sites.
Cookies are small data items that contain information about us and our computer including IP addresses. Websites may use first party cookies to recognize their old customers. They contain information that is encrypted so others cannot read the content, insuring in that way the customer’s privacy. Although, it is not meant to be, sometimes third party cookies are allowed to be read by other websites.
On the other hand, B2B customers tend to care less about privacy except special circumstances because they generally use corporate identities during memberships or transactions. B2C customers are generally unaware of intellectual copyrights when compared to B2B customers. B2B customers mostly avoid these violations as a part of business ethics and know the common courtesy that should be used for polite interaction over the Internet.
In the B2C framework, ethics are important because they establish and promote the credibility of the business to its online customers. B2C merchants, therefore, also must safeguard their customer’s information, but without the level of customization offered by B2B businesses. Apple.com, for example asks for a username and password each time a site visitor asks for any type of customer I-Tunes account information, but they do not offer customized pricing for each customer as a B2B site would.
B2B merchants must prevent unauthorized access to customer information on their Web sites, and protect the privacy of their customers both technically and legally. Businesses such as Samsung Electronics, many of whose customers and partners are other businesses, accomplish this by having customized pages for each partner, which are accessible only through login and password combinations issued by Samsung.
Legal Issues
Legal issues such as liability, contract validity and jurisdiction are equally important in both B2B and B2C frameworks, but they are slightly different because of the varying needs of B2B versus B2C customers.
In cases of fraud, it is usually easier on a B2B site to prove because they deal with actual companies, and most times do not have as many customers or transactions as those using a B2C site. B2C sites find it very difficult to sue consumers when they violate laws, because with so many customers and transactions, it is almost impossible to sue all of them. Protection against fraud is an important issue for both B2C and B2B sites, but because B2C has to deal with so many more transactions than B2B it will always have difficulty dealing with those types of problems.
In addition, a B2C web site could face the legal issue of identity theft of a consumer and Internet fraud. According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. Identity theft is a serious crime. People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years (not to mention money), trying to clean up their name and credit record. Victims may lose job opportunities, are refused loans, education, housing or cars, or even are arrested for crimes they did not commit.
Regulatory Issues
The Internet has few regulations, and its operation is largely left to the free will of the market. It is, therefore, incumbent upon businesses to self regulate their behavior on the Internet. Most of the issues regarding the regulation of eCommerce are both controversial and are mostly unresolved. B2C sites are generally driven by self-regulation within the industry or market rules. Government generally favors self-regulation as much as possible; therefore, the jurisdiction plays a more important rule as a regulatory body for B2B sites in instances where self-regulation is unpractical.
One of the better-known Internet regulations is the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which sets up requirements for businesses that send commercial email, lays out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam, and grants consumers the right to demand that businesses stop spamming them (spamlaws.com, 2007). Commercial emails are generally the domain of B2C businesses that usually comply with the terms of the law through posting a compliance statement on their commercial emails and websites, as well making it easy for consumers to remove themselves from the company’s email databases.
On B2B sites ethics are regulated by mutual formal agreements signed by all partners, while on B2C sites these ethics are governed by user agreements and privacy policies, which users must agree to comply with as a condition for using the merchant’s web site.
There seem to be as many similarities between the B2B and B2C sites as there may be differences when they handle the ethical, legal and regulatory issues on their web sites. The bottom line is that they all are striving to be the best sites possible and to protect their users from any harm that may arise from careless acts.
Conclusion
In any given transaction made on the Internet, customers seek trust. Now days, companies can only be advised to do the right thing to ensure all business transactions are safe guarded a hundredth percent. It is incumbent upon businesses to supply the trusting environment in which business can transact and business relationships can grow. It is especially important that building this environment of trust online include a thorough knowledge of the laws, regulations and ethical factors that affect a particular company’s ability to serve the needs of its customers.
References
benchmark. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s . Springfield, MA : Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved May 29, 2007, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi- bin/dictionary
Federal Trade Commission – Web Site. Protecting America’s Consumers. Retrieved May 29, 2007 from: .
Spam Laws – Web Site. CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Retrieved May 28, 2007 from: http:// www.spamlaws.com/ federal/summ108.shtml#s877.
University of Phoenix (Ed.). (2004). E Business [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Electronic Commerce: The Second Wave, Course Technology Publishing. Retrieved May 29, 2007, from University of Phoenix, Resource, EBUS/400 – E Business Web site: https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp.
