HI5013: Analysis of E-Commerce and E-Business Roles and Impact

This report analyzes the role of e-commerce and e-business in the competitive business environment, emphasizing its importance as a profit driver for companies, especially those without a physical presence. The report uses Amazon as a key example, illustrating how e-commerce facilitates customer access to a wide variety of products, transcending geographical boundaries. It explores the advantages, such as lower costs and 24/7 availability, and disadvantages, like product quality concerns and security risks. The analysis covers e-commerce's role in reaching a broader customer base, improving supply chain management, and boosting brand awareness. The report concludes that e-commerce and e-business are crucial for enhancing company growth and profitability, offering valuable insights for businesses navigating the modern marketplace.

Running head: MANAGING ACROSS BORDERS
Managing Across Borders
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Executive Summary
The assignment has helped in understanding the importance of e-commerce and e-
business in the present scenario of the complex business environment. In the
present scenario, e-commerce is considered to be the most important profit-driver for
the companies as it helps in providing the customers with the variety of products
without any kind of geographical boundaries. With the example of Amazon, it has
been easier in making it understand the importance of the same and it has been
beneficial in managing the growth of the different companies which does not have
any physical presence.

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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................3
Analysis of e-commerce and e-business......................................................................3
Role of e-commerce and e-business in World of Business..........................................5
Conclusion....................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The report throws light on analyzing and identifying the role of e-commerce
and e-business in scenario of the competitive business environment. Both e-
commerce and e-business can be applied to the large along with small businesses
which is suitable in selling, buying as well as managing the customer services
appropriately. The respective elements play a vital role in managing the different
activities suitably and it enhances the growth of the firms. The e-commerce is the
most important driver of profit for the business as most of the things in online store
are automatic. The main aim and purpose of the report is to understand the role of
the e-commerce and e-business in modern business environment which is suitable
for the growth prospects of the company suitably.
Analysis of e-commerce and e-business
As commented by Akter and Wamba (2016), the e-commerce is one of the
most profitable kind of aspects and the different costs which are sustained in
everything starting from stock, details related to various customers, details related to
payment or the selection of the products are lower than the outmoded commerce
related expenses. It is applicable to the different large and small businesses in
electronic commerce for selling, buying along with customer relations and managing
the management related services. For instance- In case of Amazon, the company
has been performing the online business of selling the different kinds of products
such as apparels, furnishing products and it is termed as the second largest
technology organization in the entire world (Amazon.com 2019).
Through the incorporation of the companies in e-business, it has made the
lives of the different individuals easier in nature. As commented by Kunasekaran et
al. (2015), there are different kinds of e-businesses as it depends on who the final
customer is in the market. In case of Amazon, it is considered to be the B2C wherein
the different customers purchase products from the sellers and in such kind of
transaction, the final consumer himself is directly buying the different kinds of
products and services from seller (Awiagah, Kang and Lim 2016). After the
incorporation of Amazon and the other online companies, it can be seen that it has

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been of huge advantage for the such companies as they are gaining huge popularity
and it improved the efficiency of the employees greatly.
As commented by Chaffey, Hemphill and Edmundson-Bird (2015), the e-
commerce is the most favored ways of shopping due to the easiness as well as
convenience which allows the different customers to purchase the different items
sitting at one place at any time of day or night. It is user-friendly in nature and it has
affected the growth of the company suitably and it has enhanced the search engine
optimization process. There are different examples such as Amazon along with
Alibaba which are offering the customers and sellers with the most convenient
options related to shopping and it has made the lives of people easier that has
increased the overall profitability of the company in a proper manner.
However, there are different kinds of merits and demerits of the e-commerce
businesses which needs to be analyzed as it will be suitable for understanding the
aspects more effectively.
Firstly, the customers can easily select the different products from various
providers under one roof or application without moving around physically (Kim and
Peterson 2017). The selling and buying can be done by the customers 24*7 without
going around and it helps in managing the effectiveness of the online ecommerce
business.
It is the most quick and affordable kind of marketing that helps in managing
the effectiveness suitably and it has been enlightening the life to the old data. It has
been successful in reducing the different costs related to training and hiring related
costs which has helped in growth of the firms (Doloto and Chen-Burger 2015). There
is no question of the human related error which has been successful in introducing
more visibility among the customers.
However, there are different issues which can be faced by the online
businesses such as Amazon which needs to be dealt in a proper and appropriate
manner.
There is no such guarantee related to the quality of the product and there can
be different machine-driven failures which can cause volatile effects of the total
processes.

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In addition, as commented by Kunasekaran et al. (2015), there are various
hackers the ones looking for the different opportunities and these e-commerce sites
are prone to attack which can affect the growth prospects of the company.
Role of e-commerce and e-business in World of Business
In the present scenario, the scope of the e-commerce is much more than
selling and buying of the different products and services in the market. As
commented by Laudon and Traver (2017), the main aim and purpose of the e-
commerce and e-business companies such as Amazon is to allow the different
enterprises to reach the wider customer base which will be beneficial in improving
the effectiveness and growth successfully. Moreover, as commented by Laudon and
Traver (2016), the other major aim of the business is profitability as e-commerce
companies ensure very high level of efficiency in terms of the supply chain
management.
Through introducing the e-commerce business, it has allowed the different
organizations in boosting the awareness related to the brand. As like the different e-
commerce business can be beneficial in assisting B2B organizations in getting new
customers which will be beneficial in developing the different pages which can be
indexed by the search engine crawlers which will be the most suitable aspects for
the optimization for the SEO and enhance the different target audience on the site.
On the contrary, as opined by Saura, Palos-Sanchez and Correia (2019),
there are different other roles of e-commerce businesses such as Amazon which are
described as follows:
Amazon has been successful in reaching to a large number of audiences in
the market as there is no theoretical geographic limitations. In addition, Amazon has
no physical set-ups and it has been easy for them in managing business as the
operational costs are low and it offers the different customers with better quality of
the products and services in a positive manner (Amazon.com 2019).
As commented by Soto-Acosta, Popa and Palacios-Marqués (2016), the e-
business companies have been successful in easily retargeting the customers
successfully. There are different techniques which includes sharing of coupon when

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the different leave the checkout page and it is suitable for them in gaining a strong
customer base.
For instance- In Amazon, there is a separate section wherein the different
reviews of the customers are being provided that helped in making the products and
services visible and it helps the customers make the selection of product more
effective (Amazon.com 2019). These are the different reviews which plays a vital role
for building trust among the different customers and it increases the customer base
in a positive manner.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be inferred that the e-commerce and e-business plays a
major role in improving the growth prospects of the company successfully. In the
respective scenario, Amazon is the suitable example which has been taken into
consideration for understanding the role of the same in the current business
environment. From the analysis, it can be identified that there are different pros and
cons of the e-commerce business which needs to be checked thoroughly as it will be
responsible for enhancing the growth prospects of the company and it will be
enhancing the experience provided to the customers suitably and it will be
generating profitability to the company.

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References
Akter, S. and Wamba, S.F., 2016. Big data analytics in E-commerce: a systematic
review and agenda for future research. Electronic Markets, 26(2), pp.173-194.
Amazon.com 2019 Amazon (online) Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com
[Accessed on 22nd August 2019]
Awiagah, R., Kang, J. and Lim, J.I., 2016. Factors affecting e-commerce adoption
among SMEs in Ghana. Information Development, 32(4), pp.815-836.
Chaffey, D., Hemphill, T. and Edmundson-Bird, D., 2015. Digital business and e-
commerce management. Pearson UK.
Doloto, U. and Chen-Burger, Y.H., 2015. A Survey of Business Models in
eCommerce. In Agent and Multi-Agent Systems: Technologies and Applications (pp.
249-259). Springer, Cham.
Kim, Y. and Peterson, R.A., 2017. A Meta-analysis of Online Trust Relationships in
E-commerce. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 38, pp.44-54.
Kunasekaran, K.K.H., Vignesh, R., Mongkol, K. and Sea, C.S., 2015. Proceedings of
The International Conference on eBusiness, eCommerce, eManagement, eLearning
and eGovernance 2015: IC5e 2015, London (Vol. 2). Association of Scientists,
Developers and Faculties (ASDF).
Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G., 2016. E-commerce: business, technology, society.
Phogat, V. and Sahni, M.G.K., 2017. A STUDY OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS E-
COMMERCE. Educational Beacon, p.51.
Saura, J.R., Palos-Sanchez, P.R. and Correia, M.B., 2019. Digital marketing
strategies based on the e-business model: Literature review and future directions.
In Organizational Transformation and Managing Innovation in the Fourth Industrial
Revolution (pp. 86-103). IGI Global.
Soto-Acosta, P., Popa, S. and Palacios-Marqués, D., 2016. E-business,
organizational innovation and firm performance in manufacturing SMEs: an empirical
study in Spain. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 22(6),
pp.885-904.