As today’s business executives develop strategic business plans for their firms, they have an option that was not available a few years ago. Firms can engage in electronic commerce the use of the computer as a primary toll for performing the basic business operations. Firms engage in electronic commerce for a variety of reasons, but the overriding objective is competitive advantage.

2. Introduction:
As today’s business executives develop strategic business
plans for their firms, they have an option that was not available a
few years ago. Firms can engage in electronic commerce the use
of the computer as a primary toll for performing the basic
business operations. Firms engage in electronic commerce for a
variety of reasons, but the overriding objective is competitive
advantage.
Electronic Commerce
Electronic commerce can be defined very narrowly: it
can be said to include only business transactions that deal
with customers and suppliers. And it often described in terms
of internet, implying the there are no other communications
alternatives.

3. Main Environment of the functional Areas
Finance
Human
Resource
Information
Service
Manufacturing Marketing
Customers x x
Supplier x x
Stockholders
and owners
x
Labor Unions x x
Government x x x x x
Financial
Community
x
Global
Community
x
Competitors x

4. Anticipated Benefits from Electronic Commerce
Firms engage in electronic commerce to achieve
improvements throughout the organization.
These are expected to result in three main benefits:
• Improved customer service
• Improved relationships with suppliers and the financial
community
• Increased return on stockholder and owner investments
These benefits contribute to the firm’s financial stability and
enable it to compete more efficiently in a business world that is
becoming more and more committed to employing computer
technology.

5. Electronic Commerce Constraints
Just a few years ago many firms were hesitant to jump on
the electronic commerce bandwagon. In a 1996 survey, 60 percent
of the responding firms indicated that they had not implemented
electronic commerce and had no plans to do so within the next tree
years. When asked the reasons for their caution. The firms listed
three constraints in the following order
• High costs
• Security concerns
• Immature or unavailable software
The forms that had implemented systems were using them
primarily for transactions with suppliers (91 percent) and
customers (88 percent), and the main processes dealt with
purchase orders, transfers of payment, and invoices.

6. Each of these constraints is being challenged as
information technology and systems increase in popularity. The
high cost of computing resources inevitably comes down. Gordon
Moore, cofounder of Intel, said in 1965 that the number of
integrated circuit per inch on a chip would double every year. The
pace has slowed in that over the last 30 years the industry has
seen the doubling every 18moths. With the doubling of circuits
per square inch comes a dramatic price decrease. Most experts
believe that doubling every 18moths will continue for decades to
come.

7. The Pathway to Electronic Commerce
When a firm’s executive decides that the anticipated
benefits outweigh the constraints and make a “go” decision,
they understand that the implementation will be a mammoth
task. The strategic Business plan embodies the commitment to
use electronic commerce to achieve competitive advantage.
The firm first gathers business intelligence so that it can
understand the potential role each of the environmental
elements will play. When firms interact with each other, the
next step is to establish an inter organizational system (IOS) by
means of electronic data interchange (EDI) or an extranet.
Extranets are a special type of internet system where standard
Web page browsers and Web

8. BusinessI
Intelligence
Competitive
advantage
Enabling
Strategy
Enabling
methodoloy
Enabling
Technology
Inter-
organization
al sysytem
Electronic
Dara
Interchang
e
Sysyten Life
Cycle
Business
Process
Direct
Connectivity
Value
Added
Network
The
Internet
Strategic
Business Plan

9. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
The application was dedicated to gathering information
on the firm’s competitor’s, and thus, the term
Competitive Intelligence (CI) was coined. When defined
broadly to include information on all environmental
elements, the proper term term is Business intelligence
(BI). The information that describes the elements in the
environment of the firm is given the name Intelligence.

10. Data
5.
Disseminate
Intelligence
3. Annalyze
Data
4. Store
Intelligence
Data
2. Evaluate
1.Collect
Data
Intelligence

11. Five Basic Intelligence Task
1. Collected Data- the firm may acquire either primary data or
secondary data. Primary Data is gathered by the firm. Secondary
Data is gathered by someone else and made available to the firm.
Much secondary is available in the form of commercial databases
that are provided by database services for a fee. The firm can access
the services central databases or obtain copies of the databases in a
compact disk/read-only memory (CD-ROM) form
2. Evaluated Data- All the data, secondary as well as primary,
should be evaluated prior to use to ensure its accuracy.
3. Analyzed Data- The purpose of the analysis step is to
transform data into intelligence.

12. 4. Store Intelligence- If the intelligence is purchased in a
machine- readable form, such a CD-ROM, or if it is available
on-line, entry into the computer is no problem. However if
the intelligence exists in a printed form, it must be entered
either by optical character recognition (OCR) or by keying .
Once in the computer the intelligence must be stored in a
way that allows easy retrieval.
5. Disseminate Intelligence - Once in a computer storage, the
text of the document or abstract is retrieved by entering
certain search parameters , such as company name, date,
publication name, and author’s name.

13. A sophisticated approach to dissemination is to prepare an
intelligence profile for each user, describing in a coded form the
intelligence topics that the user wants to monitor . This profile is
stored in the computer and when a piece of intelligence comes
along that matches the profile , the intelligence is made available to
the user. This techniques Is called Selective Dissemination of
Information (SDI).
External Database
• There are a number of important commercial databases that
provide information on virtually any subjects.
• -Firms use these databases to gather business intelligence
because it is less expensive than trying to research a wide array
of information sources.

14. LEXIS-NEXIS (WWW.LEXIS-NEXIS.COM) provides legal, financial
and governmental information from a wide variety of sources .
DIALOG (WWW.DIALOG.COM) covers news, business,
government, and other sources.
DOWJONES(@WWW.DOWJONES.COM) offers a wide variety of
information concerning financial matters .
Yahoo Search Engine (www.YAHOO.COM) lists over 1000
companies with websites that provides data and data services to
firms.
REUTERS (WWW.REUTERS.COM) can search and analyze news
media for subjects of concerns to the firm much more effectively
and efficiently than most firms can do for themselves.

15. Thomas Register Online
(WWW.THOMASREGISTERONLINE.COM) a database that
provides a great deal of information for free and also offers
services for a fee.
Search Engines
Is a special computer program that asks a user for a word
or group of words to be found. The program then searches the
content of internet sites to see if the word or words exists at the
site .The program then estimates the usefulness of the sites that
contains the words and presents the requestor with the addresses
of internet sites and documents that contain the chosen words.

16. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE STRATEGY
the strategy that is most often mentioned is one in which the
elements are
linked with transmissions of electronic data.
Extranets- allow the sharing of sensitive computer-based
information with other firms using information technology
commonly associated with the internet.
Firewall- is a computer software that only allows authorized users
access typically via a user name and password.

17. IOS(Inter-Organizational System)
sometimes called an interorganizational information.
-is a combination of firms that are linked so that they function as
a single system; they work together to achieve a common
objective. The firms that form the IOS are called trading partners
or business partners.
IOS Benefits
(2 main Categories)
Comparative Efficiency
by joining an IOS, trading partners can provide their goods
and services at lower costs than their competitors. This
improvement in efficiency can be derived internally and in
conjunction with the other organizations.

18. • Internal efficiency consists of improvements in the firm's own
operations, thus enabling the firm to gather data faster, analyze it
faster, and make decision faster.
• Inter organizational efficiency includes improvements that are
gained by working with other firms. These improvements enable
the firms to offer more products and services, serve more
customers, shift certain work to suppliers or customers, and
gather environmental data more easily.
Bargaining Power
- the ability of a firm to resolve disagreements with its suppliers and
customers to its own advantage is called its bargaining power. The
power is derived from 3 basic methods-by offering unique product
features, by reducing search-related costs, and by increasing
switching costs.

19. • Unique products features the electronic linkages of the IOS
enable firms to offer better service to their customers in the form
of easier ordering, quicker shipment, and faster response times to
requests for information.
• Reducing search-related costs a firm can reduce the
“shopping” costs that its customers incur in searching for supplier,
identifying alternative products, and getting the lowest price.
Since the firm is a customer of its suppliers, the firm can realize
the same shopping cost reductions when ordering from its
suppliers.
• Increased switching costs a firm would like to make it
expensive for customers to switch to competitor. IOS achieves this
benefit by providing customers with such information resources
as hardware, software, and data communications channels that
would have to be replaced if products were purchased from
another firm.

20. Electronic Data Interchanged(EDI)
consist of direct computer transmissions among multiple
firms in a machine-readable, structured format. The transmission
enable the data to be transmitted and received without rekeying.
Typical EDI Linkages
establish connections between the firm and its suppliers and
its customers. Connection between the suppliers are referred to as
the supply slide of the system , and connection with customers go by
the name customer slide
Vendor Stock Replenishment
illustrates the typical dialogue between the firm and a
supplier. EDI makes possible an entirely new relationship. It is
longer necessary for the firm to trigger the purchasing process.

21. Supplier
The Firm
Price quote
Purchase Order
P.O receipt acknowledgement
Invoice
Request for price
quote

22. Electronic Funds Transfer(EFT)
When the data representing money is transmitted over a
computer network. It is called FFT. It is used by many firms and also
by individuals who have their payroll checks deposited into their
bank accounts and who pay their bills with electronic.
EDI Standards
The data that flows along each path between firms and its trading
partners adheres to standard format. The standard used in North
America go by the name ANSI ASC X12. The international standards
are named EDIFACT

23. 104. Air Shipment Information
130. Student Educational Record(Transcript)
152. Statistical Government Information
300. Reservation (Booking Request) (Ocean)
311. Canadian Customers Information
810. Invoice
Name
Address Information
Marking, Packaging, Loading
Industry Code
Quantity
Tax Information
Pacing Information
Item Physical Details
Terms of Sale/Deferred Terms of Sale
Carrier Detail
Product/Item Description
Invoice Shipment Summary
Transaction Totals

24. Mapping
Software
Application
Software
Sending firm’s
computer
Application
Software
Mapping
Software
Receiving
firm’s
computer
Standard EDI
format

25. Degree of EDI Implementation
• Level-one users- one or two transaction sets are transmitted to
a large number of trading partner.
• Level-two users- Many transaction sets are transmitted to a
large number of trading partners.
• Level-three users- Not only are many transaction sets
partners, but the firm’s computer application are tailored to
EDI approach
Proactive and Reactive Partners
When a firm decide to adopt EDI, it can do so in a prssssssoactive
or reactive way. The IOS sponsor typically takes a proactive
approach, stimulating interest in the IOS and encouraging
participants in an EDI network. The participants, on the other
hand typically respond in a reactive manner-accepting or
rejecting the sponsor’s offer to adopt EDI.

26. Adoption Influences
MIS Professors G. Premkumar and K. Ramamurthy
studied the factors that can influence the EDI decision and
identified four that determine whether the firm will be proactive
or reactive.
• Competitive pressure
When the firm is in a poor position in relation to its
competitors or when industry or trade associations provide
strong pressure, the firm will adopt EDI in a reactive way.
• Exercised power
When a firm can exert power over other members of
the IOS, it will be proactive in adopting EDI.
• Top management support
Regardless of whether the firm acts in a proactive or
reactive manner, top management support always influences
the decision.

27. Competitors
Trading
partners
EDI
Environmental Influences
Internal Need
Top Management
Support
Internal Influences
Pressure Exercise
Power

28. EDI Benefits
Direct Benefits (reduced errors, reduced costs, and increased
operational efficiency)
Indirect Benefits (increased ability to compete, improved
relationships with trading partners, and improved customer
service)
• Reduced errors – If incoming data does not have to be keyed into
system, data entry errors can be greatly reduced.
• Reduced costs – Cost reductions can be realized by eliminating
redundant steps, eliminating paper documents, and reducing the
manual labor of routing paper documents through organization.

29. Competitors
Trading
partner
Customer
Indirect Benefits
Reduced errors
Reduced Cost
Increased
operational
efficiency
Direct benefits
Increased the ability to
increased
Improved
relationship
Improved
Serviced

30. • Increased operational efficiency – The IOS benefits of internal
and interorganizational efficiency are made possible to a large
extent by EDI.
• Increased ability to compete – The combination of reduced
costs and unique product features made possible by the IOS
make it exceedingly difficult for competitors to match the
firm’s product and service offerings.
• Improved relationships with trading partners – By entering
into a formal system with the trading partners, good relations
come about naturally–as a byproduct of the business activity.
• Improved customer service – The speed of electronic
communications enables the firm to respond quickly to
customer orders and requests for service.

31. A Challenge to EDI
Although EDI is currently stimulating much interest in the
global business community, it is being challenged by a new tool
called extensible markup language (XML)*
 It is an extension of the hypertext markup language that is code
used in most current Web pages.
The feature of the great interest is that it can provide file
formatting structure and a means for describing data in the file.
This characteristic will allow Web pages to perform many of the
functions currently performed only by EDI.

32. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY
Data communications is the area of computing that is currently
receiving the most attention , with the internet in the spotlight.
TECHNOLOGY CHOICES
• Direct Connectivity- firms can establish data communication
links with its trading partners using circuit provided by such
common carriers as AT & T,GTE,MCI ,and Sprint .
This is the traditional way to build business networks, and it
provides the trading partners with the most direct control over the
network .However ,the IOS sponsors must make substantial
investment in people ,hardware and software to create and
maintain the network.

33. • Value Added Network- A value added network ( VAN ) is
provided by a vendor who not only furnishes the circuit but
also provided many of the services that are necessary to use the
circuit for EDI.
• Internet- makes available a global communication network that
not only links the trading partners but also include consumers.
Much of the boom in electronic commerce is expected to come
from firms that will promote –and in some cases deliver –their
products via the internet.
The Evolution of Internet Apranet
• The PURPOSE of ARPANET ,a product of the Advanced
Research Projects Agency was to make it possible for
military personnel and civilian researcher to exchange
information relating to military matters.

34. • It was the first network to demonstrate the feasibility of
computer - to- computer transmission of data in the form of
packets.
• Internet- name given to the world’s largest collection of
computer networks ,each of which is composed of a
collection of smaller networks.
• When the person requests data from the internet ,the request
travels from the computer to computer through the network
until it reaches the location where the data is stored . The
response follows the same computer to computer path back
to the person who made the request
• During the 1970’s work on ARPANET consisted of
connecting the various networks and developing the
necessary Internetwork Software.

35. • During the early 1980 ,the network became known as the internet
,and it was during this period that business firms began using it
from work station and local area network.
WORLD WIDE WEB
• In 1989.the idea was to use HYPERTEXT –document in an
electronic from that are linked together in some fashion.
• The idea became reality in mid – 1992 in the form of the World
Wide Web and it has since far surpassed original expectation.
Rather than handling only textual material ,it is also possible to
store and retrieve HYPERMEDIA –multimedia consisting of text,
graphics ,audio ,and video .

36. • The World Wide Web ,also called the WEB,WWW, and W3,is
information space on the internet where hypermedia documents
are stored and can be retrieved by means of unique addressing
scheme.
Many people commonly use the terms Internet and World Wide
Web interchangeably .This is not really a problem but we should
remember that the internet itself is the global communication
network that connects millions of computer. The World Wide Web
is the collection of computer acting as internet servers that host
document formatted to allow viewing of text ,graphic and audio.

37. World Wide Web Terminology
Web Site- This refers to a computer linked to the Internet
containing hypermedia that can be accessed from any other
computer in the network by means of hypertext links.
Hypertext link– This refer to a pointer consisting of text or a
graphic that is used to access hypertext stored at any Web site.
Web Page- This refers to a hypermedia file stored at a Web site,
which is identified by a unique address.
Home Page– This refers to the first page of a Web site. Other pages
at the site can be reached from the home page.

38. Protocol Hypertext
markup
language
http://www.prenhall.com/mcleod/index.htm
Domain name Path

39. Part of the URL
URL (UNIVERSAL RESOURCE ALLOCATOR) - This refers to the
address of a Web page.
• A protocol- is a set of standard that govern the communication
data. The protocol name is followed by a colon (:) and two
slashes (//).
• The domain name- is the address of the Web site where the
Web page is stored.The domain name resides on a computer
but it does not have to be the only domain name on that
computer. The domain name may refer to a subdirectory or a
directory several layers deep on the physical machine hosting
the Web site.
• The path- can identify a certain directory/subdirectory and file
at the Web site.

40. Browser- This refers to a software system that enables you to retrieve
hypermedia by a typing in search parameters or clicking on a
graphic. Popular browsers include InfoSeek, WebCrawler, and
Yahoo. A browser is also called search engine.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)-This refers to software that enables you
to copy files onto your computer from any Web site.
Cyber Spaced and the Information Superhighway
Two other terms are also associated with the Internet and the Web.
One is cyberspace and the other is the information superhighway.
The term cyberspace was coined in 1984, when author William
Gibson used it in his book Neuromancer. Today, cyberspace means
the world of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The term
superhighway is also used in the same context, but there is not
complete agreement concerning its eventual impact on society.

41. Internet Model
Both the Internet and the Web conform to a client/ server
architecture. This is currently the most popular way to use an
enterprise-wide network in business, and it involves the central
computer performing the role of server and the users at their
workstations representing the clients. On the Internet, the Web sites
are the servers and the users are the clients.
• Gopher-Gopher was developed by the University of Minnesota as a
means of retrieving documents. Over time, it has been modified to
its present form: a menu-driven system used to retrieve files.
• WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers)- is a system used for
locating and retrieving textual material.
• USENET- The Internet has made it possible for persons with similar
interest, called newgroups, to exchange information electronically.
USENET is the name given to the sites that have agreed to
participate in the transmission of the messages among thousands of
new groups.

42. Internet Standards
A major reason why the Internet and the Web has been
received with two open arms by computer users around the
world is because the two work together as a single system that
can be used from any computer flat form.
Two organizations have assumed roles of leadership in
establishing Internet and Web standards. The Internet Society was
formed in 1992 to promote commercial Internet use and has
delegated responsibility for Internet standards to the IETF (
Internet Engineering Task Force). Web standards come from the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

43. INTERNET SECURITY
There are not many flaws in the Internet, but one that has
the potential to can strain business use is the lack of security.
Computer Resources are exposed to more risk when they are
linked to a data communication network. When the network has
the scale and number of users of the Internet, the risk is
significant. Hackers and other computer criminals can enter a
firm’s computer network through its Web site.
Internet Security can be achieved by means of the firewall,
which is a filter that restricts the flow of the data between the
firm’s internal network and the Internet. The idea behind the
firewall is that it establishes one safeguard for all computers on
the network rather than separate safeguards for each computer.
Firewall can provide varying degrees of security,
depending on the type. There are three types of it these are :

44. PACKET-FILTERING FIREWALL. A tye of device that is normally
included in a network is a router, which directs the flow of traffic.
Switches can also perform this function. A limitation of the router is
that it is only single point of security. If a computer criminal slips
through the filter, the firm can be in for trouble. This method is
known as “IP spoofing” because the unauthorized person uses an
Internet protocolof a trusted site to trick the router into believing the
message come from the trusted sites.
CIRCUIT-LEVEL FIREWALL. A set-up from the router is a
computer, that is installed between the Internet and the Internal
Network.
APPLICATION-LEVEL FIREWALL. The most complete form of
security is achieved by creating a securty zone between the Internet
and the Internal Network.

45. BUSINESS APPLICATIONS OF THE INTERNET
• The Internet can be used for any business application that
involves data communication, including both communication
inside and with the environment.
• Many firms use the Internet for internal communications, an
application called the Intranet
• The Internet offers several advantages over the types of
networks that firms have used for years.
• The Internet can be used with any computer platform
without making a special effort.

46. • The Internet makes it possible to transmit a wider variety of
media than many firms handle over their conventional
networks.
• The phenomenal growth of the number of Internet host sites
has made the Internet a source of information that cannot be
ignored.
• The Internet Software Consortium (www.isc.org) has charted
the rise in domain names from a handful in the early 1990’s
to more than 50 million today.
• The Internet offers a new way to reach a market segment
that can be measured in millions.

47. Internet
Incoming packets from the Internet pass
Through the connectivity suppliers network
to a router and to the organization.
The packet goes to a router box that duplicates
the function of the external router.
Rather than routing the packet directly to its
destination, the router redirects traffic through
an external services host an IP “choke” host.
The external services host runs desired apps
such as an E-mail interface.
The IP choke performs actual protocol filtering.
Traffic is sent through a gateway to a separate
router box on the internal network, configured
according to internal security policy.
Internal Network
Internet Connectivity
Supplier’s Network
Router
Isolation Mechanism
Border Router
External
Services
IP Choke Protocol Filter
Internal/External
Service Gateway
Internal Router
Internet
Incoming packets from the Internet pass
Through the connectivity suppliers network
to a router and to the organization.
The packet goes to a router box that duplicates
the function of the external router.
Rather than routing the packet directly to its
destination, the router redirects traffic through
an external services host an IP “choke” host.
The external services host runs desired apps
such as an E-mail interface.
The IP choke performs actual protocol filtering.
Traffic is sent through a gateway to a separate
router box on the internal network, configured
according to internal security policy.
Internal Network
Internet Connectivity
Supplier’s Network
Router
Isolation Mechanism
Border Router
External
Services
IP Choke Protocol Filter
Internal/External
Service Gateway
Internal Router
Internet
Incoming packets from the Internet pass
Through the connectivity suppliers network
to a router and to the organization.
The packet goes to a router box that duplicates
the function of the external router.
Rather than routing the packet directly to its
destination, the router redirects traffic through
an external services host an IP “choke” host.
The external services host runs desired apps
such as an E-mail interface.
The IP choke performs actual protocol filtering.
Traffic is sent through a gateway to a separate
router box on the internal network, configured
according to internal security policy.
Internal Network
Internet Connectivity
Supplier’s Network
Router
Isolation Mechanism
Border Router
External
Services
IP Choke Protocol Filter
Internal/External
Service Gateway
Internal Router

48. COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
• All firms can use the Internet the same way the industrial
marketers use it and thus learn about their competitors and
they dont even have to know the competitors URLs.
The Internet also includes Web sites of several services that
offer competitive information for a modest fee. GE
Information Services (WWW.GEIS.COM) sells a sevice
named BusinessPro that is aimed at small businesses. The
InfoSage service from IBM (WWW.INFOSAGE.COM) is
aimed at larger applications and one of its products,
DECISIVE, is aimed at real-time data collection
applications.

49. MARKETING RESEARCH
• The Golden Rule of marketing could well be: “Know your
customer”
• A big segment of marketing is industrial marketing, in which
one firm sells to another.
• Two web sites, PR Newswire (www.pnenewswire.com) and
MSNBC (www.msnbc.com), maintain Web pages that
contain press releases and news stories full of rich
information on company activities.

50. RETAILING APPLICATIONS
• The Internet business application with which the
general public is most familiar is retailing. Most of the large
retail chains have already established an Internet presence.
JC Penney opened its Web site in 1994, allowing customers
to place orders for about 350 items. It planned to increase
the number of items to 1,400 by the end of 1996. Wal-Mart
opened its Web site in mid-1996 and intended to target its
products to a more upscale audience than the customers who
normally shop its stores.
• Some retailers make their home pages accessible through the
Internet. Some Virtual malls take a traditional mall view—
collectiuons of different types of stores.

51.  AAAMll.Net (WWW.AAAMALL.NET) and American Cyber
Mall (WWW.USACM.COM) are two such collections of
stores.
 Cybershop (WWW.CYBERSHOP.COM) is another virtual
mall whose stock is traded on the NASDAQ stock
exchange under symbol CYSP.
• Some retailing operationsare changing in the face of
Internet information.
Autobytel.com.Inc (www.autobyle.com) provides
customers with car selection, financing, insurance, and
other services.
Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) has grown from a
seller books to a mutimedia cyber warehouse offering
music, videos, and even toys and games.

52. • In a 1996 survey, the research firm Intelliquest found that
24 million Americans over the age of 16 accessed the Web
at least one time between March and May. Although is a big
group of potential customers, it represents only 12 percent
of the population. This constraint on market reach should
be eased considerably with the marketing of low-cost
devices and TVs with an Internet capability.

53. SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL INTERNET USE
Although Web activity is only a few years old, firms have
identified keys that lead to successful use. The executives who
make the strategic decisions in the firm should consider the
following tips and assign responsibility for achieving these goals
to the CIO and to information services.
1. Make sure your Web site is robust. When you commit to a
Web project, be prepared to go beyond the Web pages and
link your databases to the Internet into your computer –
based information system rather than to simply use it as a
way to provide and obtain information.
2..Make sure your browser and database structure are both
flexible and intuitive. This will enable you to handle future
growth and provide users with quick access.

54. 3. Emphasize content. Don’t get so caught up in artwork, audio
and video that you over-look the real objective of providing
information. When it comes to a robust content, it is hard to
beat a narrative and tabular display.
4. Update often. Entice business partners and browsers to keep
coming back. A daily update is not too often for many firms.
5. Look beyond customers. Use the Internet to improve
communications with all of the environmental elements – except
competitors of course.
6. Target content to specific users’ needs. Require viewers to
register on your site by providing names, addresses, and interest.
With this understanding you can tailor your pages to their needs

55. 7. Make the interface intuitive. Do everything you can make the
Web site as fast and efficient as possible. Use graphics
sparingly, since they slow down retrieval.
8. Be in the right Web location. If your Web site isn’t generating as
much traffic as you would like, consider linking is to such other
sites as trade associations and industry and professional
organizations.
9. Create a sense of community. Involve users in your site by
providing an opportunity for them to input suggestions,
complaints, and so on. Make the use of such other interactive
Web features as bulletin board systems and e – mail.
10. Get help if you need it. Web work is highly specialized. Rather
than develop an internal expertise yourself. It might be better to
outsource Web development and maintenance to professionals.

56. FUTURE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON BUSINESS
The internet is seen as the beginning of a National
Information Infrastructure, or NII. Each country would have an
NII, and each would be linked in some manner that is yet to be
defined.
Assuming that the NII becomes a reality, it will affect
commerce in the different countries in varying ways. In such
highly industrialized countries as Canada, Japan, Korea,
Germany, and the U.S., which make quick use of innovations in
technology, the effect can be swift and dramatic.
Within a single country, the effect can vary from one
industry to another.
For many retailers, developing an Internet presence
might be a life – saving strategy.