E-Commerce System: SWOT Analysis, Porter's Five Forces, and Critical Success Factors

This article discusses the SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces, and critical success factors of an e-commerce system. It covers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of distance learning, as well as the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers. It also highlights the importance of technology, curriculum design, instructor's support, and students' characteristics in the success of distance learning. The article concludes with key performance indicators and design factors for a professional and user-friendly website.

Running head: E-COMMERCE SYSTEM
E-COMMERCE SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the Organization
Author Note

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PART 1
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
1. Distance learning is helping students overcome barriers such as geographical distance, family
responsibilities, and work hours to attend class (Lotrecchiano et al. 2013).
2. Students that are thinking about taking a course can look over course requirements and topics
covered from any location. Students will be able to learn huge amounts about what they can
expect in a course before they ever take it (Melton 2014).
3. Asynchronous learning is self-paced and interactive. Students can e-mail questions to
instructors and check out the answers before doing assignments and taking tests (Tayebinik and
Puteh 2013).
4. Research has found the course page hit counts are strong predictors of student’s success in
Web-based courses.
5. Many Universities have run out of bricks and mortar for students. University turned away
about 2,000 students because it lacked the space for them (Levy and Stockwell 2013).
6. Organizations using distance learning can save money by reducing travel expenses (Keegan
2013).
Weaknesses

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1. Students comment on course evaluations on their frustration at having to learn computer
technology. Powerful psychological and social forces converge to make some students passive to
online learning activities (Qiu and McDougall 2013).
2. New technologies for distance learning are constantly being developed. New skills have to be
learned almost every semester. Learning how and when to use the technology and if it should be
used are constantly asked questions at many institutions (García-Peñalvo et al. 2014)
3. It takes sophisticated computers to distribute and receive electronic distance learning
materials. The process does not work if the instructor or student has an old computer that cannot
develop or reproduce the materials (Forsyth 2014).
4. Faculty and student training are critical to the success of a distance education program (Ting et
al. 2016)
5. Many students have unrealistic expectations for timely responses to e-mail messages.
Opportunities
1. Distance learning courses appeal to single mothers, students that require courses not offered at
their present school, and people working full time (Stefanovic 2013).
2. Since distance learning course development is so time consuming, reusing existing resources
is a cost savings option. Educators are developing materials that can be delivered multiple times.
3. The new electronic technology has great theoretical appeal for addressing educational issues,
such as how to teach more students at lower cost.

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7. Many universities have an international electronic presence and attract students around the
world. It's possible to attract international students for distance learning that will eventually
finish on campus (Huston 2013).
8. There is movement in the demographics favourable to distance learning, such as growth in the
non-traditional college population, changes in employment structures, cultural and lifestyle
changes, and the effects of technological development.
Threats
1. Many professors worry administrators will chase the bottom line at the expense of academic
quality.
2. Familiarity with high-tech teaching methods is now a requirement for professors. The process
of distance learning requires a total mind transformation from traditional classroom teaching.
3. The threat of competition from virtual colleges offering online distance education has forced
traditional universities to rethink how to provide instruction (Schuwer et al. 2015).
4. Distance education programs present a danger to on-campus instruction. For-profit universities
that deliver distance learning courses might put traditional universities out of business.
5. University counsellors have concerns about computer anxiety. The problems can snowball if a
student gets off track with a computer.
6. Many students do not have the money for new computers and software. Students who can't
afford a computer are at a real disadvantage and are forced to fight with crowds in a noisy
computer lab.

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STRENGTHS
1. Access courses anytime, anywhere, and anyplace
2. Electronic view of course content before taking it
3. Self-paced and interactive learning
4. Automated assessment
5. Computerized the university
6. Education without bricks and mortar
7. Holds down education costs
8. Satisfying experience for faculty and students
9. Improved written communications
WEAKNESSES
1. Reluctance to use technology
2. Constantly changing technology
3. Sophisticated computers
4. Degree of computer literacy
5. Computer support
6. Extensive faculty training
9. Increased costs
10. Lack of personal contact or social interaction
11. Over estimating demand
12. Financial aid
13. Computer have-nots
14. Large class size
OPPORTUNITIES

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1. Increased enrolment opportunities
2. Reuse existing resources
3. Teach more students at lower cost
4. Demand for business courses
5. Academic/corporate partnerships
6. Training in a collaborative learning environment
7. International markets
8. Growth potential
9. Train Teachers in distance learning
10. Standardize the processes that work
11. Scholarship for computers
12. Synchronous office hours
13. New learning opportunities
14. Lifelong learning programs
15. Abundance of electronic distance learning tools
THREATS
1. Reputation and credibility
2. Alter teaching styles
3. Competition
4. Threat to on-campus institutions
5. Computer anxiety
6. Expensive computers and software
7. Negative influence on faculty participation
8. Classroom education best
9. On-campus experience best
10. Distance education policy
11. Replace professors
12. Higher education is changing
13. Federal funding
14. Mandatory computers
15. Mandatory faculty web sites

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16. Failure
17. Political pressure
18. Market courses incorrectly
19. Online addiction
SWOT DIAGRAM

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Distance education or long-distance learning is the education of students who may not
always be physically present at the university (Simpson 2013). Traditionally, this usually
involved correspondence courses wherein the student corresponded with the university via post.
It involves online education. Courses that are conducted (51 percent or more) are either hybrid,
blended or 100% distance learning. Distance learning, offering large-scale interactive
participation and open access through the World Wide Web or other network technologies, are
recent developments in distance education (Lockwood 2013). Other terms distributed learning, e-
learning, online learning, virtual classroom are used roughly synonymously with distance
education. Distance learning will be successfully offered by the university if the following
factors and problems are solved. Distance learning policies have to be developed with both
university administration and faculty input covering release time, technical support, workloads,
financial support, and course material ownership. When faculty reduce their fears and
administrators and politicians figure out how expensive distance learning programs are, the
threats to traditional on-campus programs will be subdued. Traditional, on-campus, classroom
courses really are the best. Students who cannot attend on-campus courses will continue to
demand distance learning. The tremendous growth potential for distance learning and lifelong
learning programs will account for increased demand for distance programs. Where demand
exists, distance learning will be offered by university.

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Part 2
Applying Porter's Five Forces to the Distance Learning
Five Forces model supports a strategic analysis of the interactions between organizations,
and the structures that frame their relative success and positions within that structure (Mathooko
and Ogutu 2015).
The Threat of Substitute Services
Distance learning is characterized as free, although they do have substantial opportunity
costs if students engage seriously with the courses and use the collaboration and interaction
facilities actively and are very easy to enroll into and commence study (Marshall 2013). Distance
Learning is clearly a form of low-end disruption where virtually all of the added value and
support of a formal education as well as the resulting high-quality qualification are discarded and
the focus placed entirely on learning.
Threat of New Entrants
Porter's second force bring new and different capabilities and are energized to compete
with established organizations. Often they can draw upon success in other domains to access
resources unavailable to the existing organizations. New entrants such as Pearson Education are
demonstrating that they can provide a credible assurance of the achievement of students in non-
accredited contexts such as distance learning. An advantage of a strategy of charging for quality
assurance and validation, rather than for education itself, is the ability to manage and control the
outcomes. The question of copyright and licenses is also relevant when considering the question
of whether distance learning resources are available for use by other institutions in potentially
competing courses.

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The Bargaining Power of Buyers
The bargaining power of buyers force superficially describes students, but strategically it
is a reflection of the influence and impact of a disparate group of key stakeholders. Students
depend on the system to deliver significant personal benefits, and make substantial personal
investments in the system. Beyond fees, students all experience large opportunity costs by
engaging in formal education. Many students are heavy users of a variety of technologies in their
personal and professional lives and expect it to play a role in a modern education. Technology
can improve the responsiveness of the university, and introductory distance learning potentially
let students engage in study immediately.
The Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Higher education by distance learning is unusual in that a major supplier is the faculty
who normally are the collegial owners of the institution and responsible for much of the
leadership of the academy. Powerful supplier groups also include the academic publishing
consortia, typified by Pearson Education, technology companies such as Microsoft, Google and
Blackboard, and a vast array of companies providing specialist functions. These vendors enable
an institution to achieve the level of scalability and robustness needed to support distance
learning with potentially hundreds of thousands of students. It can be helpful to think about
distance learning as a platform. By doing so, strategies can be developed regarding aspects such
as course discovery and brokerage, the distance learning equivalent of Google for web pages.
Rivalry among Existing Competitors
Idealistically, the individual institutions comprising the publicly funded education sector
should be working collaboratively and cooperatively to deliver the greatest value possible for the

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taxpayer. In reality, in many cases the individual institutions are run as separate entities and, as a
result of management ideologies popular over the last few decades, forced to engage in a form of
market competition intended to stimulate efficiency and entrepreneurship. Nationally and
internationally, institutions compete for reputation, to attract the best and brightest students and
faculty, for research grants, and on various ranking and performance tables maintained by
governments and media companies. Despite this competitive disposition, distance learning
initiatives to date have been characterized by extensive international collaborations.
Critical Success Factors
Technology: Technology has
played a very important role in
distance learning.
Technology: Technology has played a very important role in distance learning.
Curriculum design: Swan (2002)
stated that there is an enor-
mous amount of content
available through the Internet.
Quality
of the online contents, including
equitable use and perceptible

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information, may also affect the
learning experience of distance
students
Curriculum design: Swan (2002)
stated that there is an enor-
mous amount of content
available through the Internet.
Quality
of the online contents, including
equitable use and perceptible
information, may also affect the
learning experience of distance
students
Curriculum design: It has been stated that there is an enormous amount of content available
through the Internet. Quality of the online contents, including equitable use and perceptible
information, may also affect the learning experience of distance students.
Instructor’s support: Instructor’s
support is of vital importance

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to the successful delivery of
distance courses because of the
great sense of isolation that
distance students may feel.
Instructor’s support: Instructor’s support is of vital importance to the successful delivery of
distance courses because of the great sense of isolation that distance students may feel.
Students’ characteristics: The
sociocultural theory stated that
so-
cial interactions and cultural
organized activities can
influence
the cognitive development of
the students
Student’s characteristics: The sociocultural theory stated that social interactions and cultural
organized activities can influence the cognitive development of the students.
Key Performance Indicators
 The number of new customers who sign up to an online course.
 Demographic information about customers. Annual surveys for students.
 Rate of attrition of online courses.

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 Average online attendance
 Student diversity
 Distance learning enrolment
Part 3
The website must be:
Professional looking – specifically:
 Professional look of the Web site
 Professional images of products
 Good use of visual design elements
Ease of use – specifically:
 Ease of navigation
 Ease of searching
 Ease of carrying out transactions
 Ease of access to live customer representatives
Web credibility is dependent on such factors as:
 Speed of response
 Listing a physical address
 Photos of the organization
 Visual design factors, such as;
 Cool colours
 Balanced layout

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 Empty space (as a structural element)
Design factors
 Clear layout
 Good navigational aids
 Interactive features – e.g., assessment tools
 Content factors
 Informative content
 Relevant illustrations
 Wide variety of topics covered
 Unbiased information
 Age-specific information
 Clear, simple language
 Discussion groups
 Frequently asked questions
Use on line communication tools
 Make the value prop crystal clear. As humans we have short attention spans. These days
we’re likely to leave a website immediately if the value proposition isn’t clear.
 Use interactive personalized video. For returning students, consider serving up a
personalized video to really surprise and delight.
 Use colorful, custom photographs. A picture is worth a thousand words. Invest in
photography to best communicate.

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 Use live chat to convert web traffic into leads. When students land on the website it
is to be made sure the website give them instant answers. Adding live chat software like Pure
Chat to the website not only adds another communication channel, but a preferred channel.
 Track traffic sources. Using Google Analytics to track traffic sources is an easy
choice. SmallBizTrends provides a step-by-step article on how to use Google Analytics for
your website.
 Test your message with Optimisely. No matter what website currently communicates it can
undoubtedly improve. Use Optimizely to test what page changes increase engagement and
conversion.
 Get quick insights. Use a tool like Qualaroo to get feedback about what’s working and
what’s not on the website.

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References
Forsyth, I., 2014. Teaching and learning materials and the Internet. Routledge.
García-Peñalvo, F.J., Hermo, V.F., Blanco, Á.F. and Sein-Echaluce, M., 2014, October. Applied
educational innovation MOOC: Learners' experience and valorization of strengths and
weaknesses. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Technological
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Huston, C.J., 2013. Professional issues in nursing: Challenges and opportunities. Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins.
Keegan, D., 2013. Foundations of distance education. Routledge.
Levy, M. and Stockwell, G., 2013. CALL dimensions: Options and issues in computer-assisted
language learning. Routledge.
Lockwood, F. ed., 2013. Open and distance learning today. Routledge.
Lotrecchiano, G.R., McDonald, P.L., Lyons, L., Long, T. and Zajicek-Farber, M., 2013. Blended
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