The use of electronic technology to facilitate business functions is called e-business. E-business involves customers, clients, suppliers, dealers, organizations, and processes. The practice aimed towards improving the sales performance of a product or service is called e-business. The Internet has contributed to the change in the business environment (Papazoglou & Ribbers, 2006). Large conglomerates and industries in the 90s used the Internet to transfer business funds. Military governments acquired the technology for communication. The commercial use of the Internet began in 1990. By 1994, Amazon developed a system of communication between customers and suppliers. E-business facilitated the buying and selling of goods and services (Papazoglou & Ribbers, 2006). The stages of e-business evolution include external communication, internal communication, e-commerce, e-business, e-enterprise, and transformation. Corporate transactions characterized the early use of the Internet. Large organizations used the Internet to transfer business funds and send messages. The control of the Internet created arguments between Internet managers and clients. By 1996, the journey of e-business reached its second stage (Papazoglou & Ribbers, 2006). Internal communication between business organizations was established.
The London business school provided leadership training and seminars on the next course of change. Buying and selling were introduced by big organizations such as eBay and Amazon. The challenges of transportation and product updates characterized this stage. The challenges of e-commerce contributed to the evolution of e-business. IT consultants examined the lapses and challenges of many business organizations with their customers. They fashioned a way of reorganizing and redesigning the Internet for better communication. The engineering and restructuring of the entire business process are called e-business. Today, e-business is practiced worldwide. Companies, banks, schools, to mention a few provide an Internet platform to facilitate the flow of business transactions. The evolution of E-business is now an enterprise. IT managers introduced a cyber management model and training to improve Internet engineering. Internet technology providers generated different models to understand the trends in the business environment.
Compare and contrast the differences between e-business and e-commerce
Supply chain management involves all supply transactions of a firm carried out during a business deal. It involves supply activities between and among suppliers, producers, and customers. The supply chain management coordinates business activities in the business processes. The similarities between e-commerce and e-business as it relates to supply chain management can be categorized into buying and selling transactions. Business activities between a firm and its supplier connote buy business activities, while business activities between the supplier and the consumer connote sell business activities (Turban, King, Lee, & Viehland, 2005). E-business combines buy and sell activities in four perspectives.
- Communication perspective: Involves the communication processes and payment channels.
- Business perspective: The use of advanced systems during business transactions.
- Service perspective: Facilitates the quality of each business transaction.
- Online perspective: An environment for buying and selling of products and services.
E-business combines each perspective to achieve customer satisfaction. The organization of each department before and after each business transaction is called e-business. E-business coordinates the supply chain between suppliers and the organization (Huff, Schneberger, & Wade, 2002). It regulates issues concerning supply management. E-business framework improves the supply of products and services at the right time. Thus, e-business provides value for the suppliers and the final consumer.
Differences between e-business and e-commerce
E-business links online activities between buyers and sellers. E-commerce activities include business to consumers and business to the business outlet. The coordination of all business processes of an organization is called e-business. E-commerce deals with buying and selling of products, while e-business is a combination of all aspects of the business deal (Huff, Schneberger, & Wade, 2002).
Limitations between e-business and e-commerce
The limitations of e-commerce include security, insufficient inspection channels, legal challenges, inadequate communication between suppliers and the customers, poor software management, cost of updating web servers, poor integration policies, customer’s security, and privacy. The limitations of e-business include ethical issues, supplier anonymity, proximity to the purchased items, and order time.
The proximity between the customer and the purchased item is a limitation of e-commerce. Items purchased may take a longer time to reach the consumer. The quality of the purchased item may depreciate upon delivery. The confidentiality of the supplier limits business transactions. Inadequate information about the supplier limits e-business and e-commerce. The complex Internet protocol may limit inexperienced Internet surfers during business transactions (Voss, 2000). System damage may hinder product delivery. The final stage of the business transaction could be obstructed by power failure or system damage. Relevant data may be lost during system failure thus, limiting the delivery of purchased items to the consumer.
Conclusion
Finally, e-commerce is part of e-business. Traditional methods of retailing goods and services can be transformed into automated technology using an e-business model. The evolution of the e-business model improved organizational culture and management of online products and services. The evolution of e-business technology from intranet networks used by big organizations to a portal for commercial use is a positive change. However, the limitations can be reduced using improved management information.
References
Huff, L., Schneberger, S., & Wade, M. (2002). Cases in electronic commerce (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Papazoglou, M., & Ribbers, P. (2006). E-business: Organizational and technical foundations. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J., & Viehland, D. (2005). Electronic commerce 2006: A managerial perspective (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Voss, C. (2000). Developing an e-service strategy: Business strategy review. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.