Saturday, 8 September 2012

Blog 10: Trust in E-Business


WEEK 10 Blog
Raihan Chowdhury
ID: 30097405

1) What does this meant by the following statements?

Trust is not associative (non-symmetric)
Trust is not associative (non-symmetric) - this means if an individual trusts someone, the individual they trust may not necessarily trust them back. In terms of buyers and sellers; the amount of trust for each party, isn't always the same. The sellers may have a high amount of trust that the buyer will provide the money or good agreed on for the good they are selling. While they buyer may have less trust that the seller will provide the goods or service agreed upon.


Image: Qantas and Emirates: together connecting the globe
Trust is not transitive
Trust is not transitive - this means that the relationship extended to one domain is extended automatically to any other domain that is trusted by that domain.

          
Video: Qantas and Emirates: together connecting the globe

Trust is always between exactly 2 parties
Trust needs to involve two parties. This means trust cannot happen without two parties being involved.


Trust will involve either direct trust or recommender trust
Direct trust is created by the free and deliberate act of the parties and involved. Recommended trust is placing trust in an individual because a third party indicated they were trustworthy.


2a) Have a look at the following websites. What are some of the elements that have been incorporated to increase your trust in the sites? If there are also some aspects which decrease your level of trust describe them as well.



http://www.eBay.com.au
eBay - is trustworthy because it has a buyer protection policy that protects customers from being ripped off by fellow members. This allows members to use the website with confidence and not have to worry about being a victim of fraud.



http://www.anz.com.au/
The ANZ is the well know Bank in the Australia, the Anz online customer service or online banking service is very reliable to allow purchase online or others money transfer activities. Because the Bank have the good security  access for the customer who will believe and trust the bank service security.





http://www.thinkgeek.com/
Think Geek - is also a very trustworthy website and they take customer security very seriously. At the bottom of their homepage is a customer certified badge that indicates they are a trustworthy organisation to do business with.



http://www.paypal.com.au/
PayPal - is a highly secure website because it is extremely professional and has a respected reputation all over the world. The "Security" section of the site is very thorough and illustrates that PayPal don't take the issue of customer security lightly.

2b) Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.

http://www.cheapflights.com.au/

I think this website looks untrustworthy as it has a very basic design and the prices they have advertised look too good to be true. I would not feel confident purchasing a flight on this website because there is no major airlines displayed on the site and even the website logo looks amateur.

Source:

1. http://www.alrayeswebsolutions.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ebay.jpg

2. http://designmagazine.us/wp-content/plugins/rss-poster/cache/d9d3d_ANZ-Personal-Online-Banking_1284471694119-e1284471797980.png

3. http://cdn3.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/1-big2.jpg

4. http://assistly-production.s3.amazonaws.com/ticketbooth/portal_attachments/56922/step-1_original.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJNSFWOZ6ZS23BMKQ&Expires=1347238513&Signature=7qwFSZzVWYRLaZxozr%2BYJHr668I%3D&response-content-type=image%2Fjpeg

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei4_0EK4xrg
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Blog 9: Channel Conflict


WEEK 9 Blog
Raihan Chowdhury
ID: 30097405



Channel Conflict

Channel conflict is a situation in which channel partners have 
to compete against one another or the vendor's internal sales department. Brand owners are concerned in that much of there business is already established in one channel. In terms of the issue as it is today many brand owners' main business is in established conventional retail stores and establishing a presence online is risky given newly established brands of the same product or service have set up online already. What is essentially happening is that already established business' face a huge risk of losing their business when shifting their brand online as other brands who have already been established online and thus pose as competition.

Source:

1. http://channelmarketerreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/shutterstock_102934376.jpg
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Blog 8: Online Auction


WEEK 8 Blog
Raihan Chowdhury
ID: 30097405


Q1: eBay is one of the only major Internet "pure plays" to consistently make a profit from its inception. What is eBay's business model? Why has it been so successful? 
Ans:       eBay follows the brokerage business model where eBay unites buyers and sellers and acts as an intermediary by allowing a transaction to take place. They are essentially an auction broker who carry out auctions for individuals and charge a small commission fee based on the sum of the final transaction. eBay has been so successful because they were one of the first websites to stage online auctions. Today they are a worldwide organisation that provides an excellent service for customers to safely buy and sell anything that they desire.

Image : eBay Business Model


Q2: Other major web sites, like Amazon.com and Yahoo!, have entered the auction marketplace with far less success than eBay. How has eBay been able to maintain its dominant position? 

Ans: Unlike eBay, Amazon and Yahoo have entered the marketplace with far less success than eBay. eBay has been able to maintain its dominant position by being a simple and trustworthy website that only charges a small fee for its service. Unlike other websites, eBay never runs out of stock, as it can only advertise what individuals are selling.

Image: Major Online Retailers

Q3: What method does eBay use to reduce the potential for fraud among traders on its site? What kinds of fraud, if any, are eBay users most susceptible? 
Ans:  To reduce fraud among traders, eBay have developed a feedback system that gives all members the opportunity to rate another customer, after a transaction has occurred. If a member has been difficult to deal with or has ripped another member off, a negative rating will appear on the offending member's page for everyone else to see. eBay customers rely heavily on this feedback and many will not do business with a member who has received poor feedback.

Image: eBay Buyer Protection



Q4: eBay makes every effort to conceptualize its users as a community (as opposed to, say "customers" or "clients"). What is the purpose of this conceptual twist and does eBay gain something by doing it? 
Ans:  eBay refers to its users as a community because it aspires to create a friendly culture where strangers from the around the world can do business with one other, instead of just being a straight website for merchants and customers. eBay benefits from this in the form of customers returning to the website, knowing they'll have another enjoyable and positive experience.

Video: How eBay Works

Q5: eBay has long been a marketplace for used goods and collectibles. Today, it is increasingly a place where major businesses come to auction their wares. Why would a brand name vendor set-up shop on eBay?

Ans:  A brand name vendor would set-up shop on eBay because it provides them with another avenue to expand their organisation and may reach a customer base that they wouldn't usually penetrate. It could also be cost effective for the organisation and allow their products to be seen worldwide, instead of just their native country.


Q6. I have a few businesses, and I have used eBay for about 12 years on and off. Currently I have about 600 books listed on eBay (seller name ozrural). I stopped selling on eBay for a few years but they changed the rules this July and it is viable again (for me). What do you think changed?

Ans:  In July, 2010, eBay changed their fixed price listings for books and music so it's now much cheaper for sellers than it was previously.

Source:



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Saturday, 1 September 2012

Blog 7 : Digital Automata



WEEK 7 Blog
Raihan Chowdhury
ID: 30097405


1) Check this link to my ‘intelligent’ cybertwin which I also mentioned in the Powerpoint. You may like to create your own cybertwin as well. The more you 'train' your twin, the better the responses will be. While it is just a fun exercise, Think of the opportunities. Imagine if we had a cybertwin that could answer your questions about the course. Or perhaps a shopping assistant?
Video: Annanova, Virtual news Reader

Ans: Cybertwin in daily life would be really interesting because its like a mirror reflection with artificial intelligence. It can help in business and security sectors where as real human assistance is dangerous.

Image: Annannova (Virtual News Reader)


2) Write a one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument against the Turing Test, known as the about the Chinese room. 

Ans: The Turing Test  is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour. A human judge engages in a natural language conversation with a human and a machine designed to generate performance indistinguishable from that of a human being.

Image: Turing Test

An argument against the Turing test is the "Chinese room". This theory suggests that if a system is to use Chinese symbols it will be able to effectively pass the Turing test, and will persuade the user to incorrectly believe that another human being is using the system. But with the Chinese room, the unique symbols and characters can make the information hard to read and may make little sense.

3) Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high-quality customer service over the Web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience. Write you answer on your blog page or express an opinion on this voice discussion board (it's simple to join). If you choose this option please link (live in an hour or so) to it from your blog page.

Ans: 

Image: Virtual Agent Example
I believe virtual agents can succeed in delivering high-quality customer service using the internet. An example of a virtual agent who does this is Google. Google allows users to type in a keyword/s into their search bar and within seconds thousands of related results are retrieved and available to access. Google's downfall is that it can also produce irrelevant information that may frustrate customers when they can't find exactly what they are looking for.

I have also added a voice discussion on this topic in the voice discussion board. Her's the link, Vocaroo Voice Message.

Source: 








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Saturday, 25 August 2012

Blog 6 : Digital Markets


WEEK 6 Blog
Raihan Chowdhury
ID: 30097405


Question 1

 a) What experiences have you had with shopping online?

I have plenty of experiences about online shopping online. I mostly use ebay and catchoftheday.com.au for purchasing products, because they are cheap and tax free. So, I always pay less while shopping online. 

Online Shopping


b) Describe a good experience?
I bought a Nikon DSLR from ebay website. The delivery was quick and the camera was in perfect condition. I really enjoyed that experience because.i paid really less for that DSLR comparing with the market price.

c) What did you like about the online store you used?
I like the simplicity of ebay because you can search for exactly what you’re after and pay for it with minimal fuss. They also indicate the approximate time it will take for the product to be delivered so there are not weeks of uncertainty.

d) Describe a bad experience?
A bad experience I had recently was when I purchased couple of  lenses on eBay and those were never delivered after payment. This incident has now discouraged me from using eBay and I now prefer to use real places to purchase products to avoid being disappointed and ripped off.

e) What problems did you have with the online store? 
  I encountered problems contacting the seller and after receiving no response I lodged an official complaint with eBay. I also gave the seller negative feedback rating which can be seen by other eBay’ers who buy or sell with the seller in the future.

f) What features make an online store more appealing?
 An online store is more appealing if it has thousands of products to choose from, ships internationally and has an advanced search option that is simple to use. Online stores that offer cheap prices and customer reviews are also popular with online shoppers.
Attracting Target markets through informative Web Shops

g) What features make an online store less appealing? 
An online store is less appealing to customers because they can sometimes have to wait long periods of time for their purchase to arrive. Some customers also feel reluctant about giving away their credit card details online for fear of being targeted by scammers.

h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?
 I think we should expect to see the prices of goods and services fall due to the migration of consumers online. As more and more companies operate online,  I think businesses will be forced to sell their products at cheap prices to compete with their fellow online competitors.

Question 2

a) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow?
I agree with this because consumers are always looking for the cheapest price and like to compare products with other retailers before making their purchase. This will force companies to reduce their prices in order to remain competitive.

b) The importance of brand names will decrease?

I disagree with this statement because I believe customers develop a certain loyalty to brands and like to purchase products from that brand because they have been satisfied with the brand’s items in the past and they know what sort of quality they are going to get.

c) Price competition will make all products cheaper?

I agree that price competition will make all products cheaper as companies will be forced to keep their prices low in order to keep up with the fellow competitors in their market.

Digital Markets

d) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com.?
I agree that digital markets are dominated by mega sites. Sites 
such as Amazon, eBay and other sites dominate since are well known so consumers turn to them first.

e) How do you think the balance of power between buyers and sellers will change?
I think the balance of power will favour the buyer because they have the luxury of researching a product’s price with several different websites and purchasing the product at the lowest possible price.



f) Prices are cluster online?
The price of a product online is not always the same as some companies are seeking to make a larger profit than other companies who may be looking to sell the identical product at an extremely low price to clear stock.

g) Online prices are elastic. (I.e. immune to change up and down with demand)?

The price of a product online is not always the same as some companies are seeking to make a larger profit than other companies who may be looking to sell the identical product at an extremely low price to clear stock.
Main Online Shopping Sites


h) Online prices are generally transparent (the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace.)?

Yes, prices online are generally transparent because the buyer has to be aware of how much they are paying for a certain product before they purchase it. In some cases, some websites have hidden fees such as shipping fees and credit card fees that aren’t disclosed until final payment.


Question 3

a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?
My mobile provider which is Vodafone provides such m-commerce as:
  • Paying bills online
  • Emailing
  • Bluetooth
  • Games
  • Internet

b) Which of these services do you use?
I use all of them. But Internet and Paying bills online are my favourites.
mCommerce Transaction Flow



c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell 

phone or other wireless device? 
I perform transactions on my mobile phone such as paying my phone bill and transferring money to pay my rent.

d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?
I would Like to transfer my mobile credit to another friends phone but that facility is not currently available.

Video: Introduction to mobile commerce, Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygKv-fVm_iQ


e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?
I find it particularly annoying when pop-up advertisements take over the computer screen, especially when it is something that is of no interest or relevance to me. But I understand that it can be an extremely effective tool for marketing as most people are either on their mobile phone or online every single day and are exposed to this advertising.

Sources:




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Monday, 20 August 2012

Blog 5 : Business Models


WEEK 5 Blog
Raihan Chowdhury
ID: 30097405



Describe the features of each of these business models, on your blog page, giving an example of each.
Brokerage
Advertising
Infomediary
Merchant
Manufacturer (Direct)
Affiliate
Community
Subscription
Utility.

Ans: 

Figure: Business Models

Brokerage: brokers bring buyers and sellers together and facilitate transactions. Brokers play a frequent role in business-to-business, business-to-consume,or consumer-to-consumer markets. Usually a broker charges a fee or commission for each transaction it enables.

Advertising: the advertising model is an extension of the traditional media broadcast model. The broadcaster, in this case, a web site, provides content and services mixed with advertising messages in the form of banner ads. The banner ads may be the major or sole source of revenue for the broadcaster.

Infomediary data about consumers and their consumption habits are valuable, especially when that information is carefully analyzed and used to target marketing campaigns. Independently collected data about producers and their products are useful to consumers when considering a purchase.

Merchant: wholesalers and retailers of goods and services. Sales may be made based on list prices or through auction.
Manufacturer (Direct): the manufacturer or "direct model", it is predicated on the power of the web to allow a manufacturer to reach buyers directly and thereby compress the distribution channel. The manufacturer model can be based on efficiency, improved customer service, and a better understanding of customer preferences.

Affiliate: the affiliate model, provides purchase opportunities wherever people may be surfing. It does this by offering financial incentives to affiliated partner sites. The affiliates provide purchase-point click-through to the merchant. It is a pay-for-performance model -- if an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant. 
Community: the community model is based on user loyalty. Users have a high investment in both time and emotion. Revenue can be based on the sale of ancillary products and services or voluntary contributions; or revenue may be tied to contextual advertising and subscriptions for premium services.

Subscription: users are charged a periodic - daily, monthly or annual - fee to subscribe to a service. It is not uncommon for sites to combine free content with "premium" content. Subscription fees are incurred irrespective of actual usage rates.

Utility: The utility or “on-demand” model is based on metering usage, or a "pay as you go" approach. Unlike subscriber services, metered services are based on actual usage rates. Traditionally, metering has been used for essential services. Internet service providers in some parts of the world operate as utilities, charging customers for connection minutes, as opposed to the subscriber model common in the U.S.

Spend some time looking at the Technology report, particularly the country profiles and rankings. Use some of the data analysis tools to answer the following -



VIdeo:  Global Information Technology Report, 2011 (Soumitra Dutta)

1.What is the Mobile phone use /100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India and your chosen country.

Ans:

Australia        113.8
USA                90.8
China               55.5
India                43.8
Bangladesh      46.0



2. Internet use / 100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India and your country.
Ans:

Australia         74.3
USA               78.0
China              28.9
India                 7.1
Bangladesh       3.7


3. Compare main strengths and weaknesses of Australia or your home country in the survey.

Ans:

Strengths of Australia:
Intensity and quality of local competition
Availability of scientists and engineers
Extent of staff training
Local supplier quality
Availability of new telephone lines
Prevalence of foreign technology
Firm-level technology absorption
Capacity for innovation


Weaknesses of Australia: 
Extent and effect taxation
Residential telephone connection charge
Business telephone connection charge

4. What does the survey suggest to you about the Information Technology readiness of Australian business compared to Australian consumers?

Ans: 

The survey suggests the readiness of Australian business is ranked higher in the world. Compared with Information Technology readiness of Australian consumers who rank in the Top 20 in the world. This suggests that Australian businesses are very much Information Technology ready as Australian consumers and other world partners.

Sources:

1. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GITR_Report_2011.pdf

2. http://www.weforum.org/great-transformation

3. http://timkastelle.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Business-Model-Canvas-for-Innovation4.png

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZA2lWaxwc
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