Upekha Vandebona

upe.vand@gmail.com

eCommerce Business Strategies

 Strategy - a course of action, including the
specification of resources required to achieve
a specific objective.
 Concerned with the Decisions
 Enhance the Competitiveness
Scope

Cost Time
 “Based on current performance in
marketplace”
 “Defines how we will meet our objectives”
 “Sets allocation of resources to meet goals”
 “Selects preferred strategic options to compete
within a market”
 “Provides a long-term plan for the
development of the organization”
 Missed Opportunities
 Inappropriate Direction
 Isolation of information in different systems.
 Resource wastage
Planning
• e-Business
strategy Implementation Operation
• Implement
ation plan
 What type of eBusiness?
eBusiness
Strategy
Why you want to develop
that type of e-business ?

Implementation How to develop the

Plan
chosen eBusiness type?
 Should be specific (time and figures)
 Profit Oriented (Improve Revenue Models)
 Cost Oriented (Be efficient)
 Client Oriented (Improve customer services)

“Reduce cost by
20% in 1 year”
“Increase client
satisfaction by 50%
in 2 years” “Increase revenue by
30% in 2 years”
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
 Chance to capture  High Cost
large markets  Chance of failure is
high
 Establishing a brand
 System may be
name obsolete
 Exclusive strategic  No support services at
alliances the beginning
 Competitors may
follow the strategy
quickly
 Internal External
Factors Factors

Strength Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

(2009 - 2015) Case Study is given to carry a SWOT Analysis

 What is your business sector?
 Who are the customers?
 What are the current practices of selling and
buying?
 Who are the major competitors?
 How intense is the competition?
 What e-strategies are used, by whom?
 What are the existing and potential
partnerships for developing e-Business?
  Strength  Weaknesses
Internal
Factors

 Original product  Lack of IT expertise

 Popular product  No WEB presence
 Reputation for high
quality

 Opportunities  Threats
External

 Easy Accessibility for global  Competitors

Factors

market
 New trends
 Availability of B2B market
places
 Internal
Strength (S) Weaknesses (W)
External
SO Strategies WO Strategies
Generate strategies Generate strategies here
Opportunities here that use that take advantage of
strengths to take opportunities by
(O) advantages of overcoming weaknesses
opportunities

ST Strategies WT Strategies
Generate strategies Generate strategies
here that use here that minimize
Threats (T) strengths to avoid weaknesses and
threats avoid threats
 Benefits?
 Costs?
 Limitations?
 Marketing?
 Infrastructure? (Sell side & Buy side)
 Which portal to join?
 Survival -Companies in deep trouble and
need re-engineering, they have no choice.
 Sustainability - Not yet in trouble, but, has
the foresight to see trouble coming. They
need to be proactive.
 Growth - Ambitious and aggressive.
Reengineering is an opportunity to further
their lead over the competitors.
High Quality

Competitive
Pricing

Processes
Effective Business
State-of-the-Art Technology

High Productivity

On time
Delivery
SWOT Analysis

Cost – Benefit – Risk Analysis

Porter’s 5 Forces
Analysis
 Business A
Customer Information

Virtual Business B
Customer Information
Organization

Customer Business C
Information
 When a small company plans to import or export
products for the first time they often face a range of
complicated procedures, regulations, legislation and
other barriers.
 Small companies with 5-10 employees do not have the
resources to support a dedicated foreign trade
department
 As a result, many SMEs feels trading internationally is
very discouraging.
 They may be forced to use an external consultant (very
expensive) or lose a potentially valuable business
opportunity.
An Innovative Global Trade Platform For SMEs, Giordana Bonin

Ref :
https://books.google.lk/books?id=TzUYxvwW51EC&
lpg=PP1&pg=PA1380#v=onepage&q&f=false
An Innovative Global Trade Platform For SMEs,
Giordana Bonini
Often LOCs that are compiled by hand/manually often contain errors. GTP will facilitate the
exchange of LOCs using traditional paper documents as well as by electronic means.
 System architecture is based on modules that
will allow a range of actors from the foreign
trade value chain to integrate with the portal.
 Involving different types of users such as import and
export companies, banks and other foreign trade
sector operators
 The service providers (transport and logistics
companies, credit institutions, insurance companies,
lawyers/legal consultants, foreign trade advisors,
inspection institutions, forwarding agents, customs
offices/agents, public authorities, financial
institutions, etc.) can dynamically integrate to the
platform through on-line interactive web tools.
 Allows participant companies that use any kind of
application software to be easily integrated with the
system. (From web services which uses XML)
 High level of flexibility where features can be either be
partly or wholly used.
 Well organized portal and contents are clear and
precise.
 Provide effective support to companies who wish to
trade internationally.
 The main characteristic of this managerial software is
the integration into a unique technological platform
of all the actors involved in the import/export cycle.
 It is an innovative web based portal dedicated to foreign
trade
 Provides solutions to the major problems faced by
organizations when they are carrying out import/export
transactions.
 GTP is for SMEs who intend to start or expand
international trade activities by guiding them through
the stages of importing or exporting a product and
highlighting any relevant regulations and taxes that
apply.
 It allows organizations (SMEs) to manage and carry out
their B2B transactions on the Internet
 It is a easy to use support tool to improve
SMEs foreign trade activities because it fully
integrate the foreign trade value chain.
 Through a user-friendly interfaces, the portal
supplies both the types of SMEs; who wish to
start trading internationally as well as those
who want to enter new markets.
 Includes the business processes involved in the
import-export cycle.
 This web based portal supports the SMEs to manage
the whole import/export process by integrating all the
steps from order to payment to delivery.
 Deal with all the information regarding taxation
calculations and details of service providers necessary
to carryout a foreign trade transaction.
 It also includes order confirmation, price
determination, digital transfer of documents,
agreement of the transaction’s terms and conditions,
and selection of service providers.
 Should be based on state of the art technologies
as well as intelligent technologies.
 Should incorporate all the necessary security
features to achieve data protection, integrity
and security.
 It should not be just a simple marketplace.
 Should be easy to use to retrieve information,
especially by non expert users such like SMEs.
 Should include following major functional areas;
 marketing, legal, informatics, international payment
and logistics.
 Offer buyer/seller contacts and related
information to obtain the best available
offer.
 Intelligent systems that highlights the most
competitive service providers
 Calculate total price for a product when it
arrives at the export destination taking into
account charges such as insurance, freight,
import taxes, port fees.
 Users can obtain export advice on the tax,
customs duties, legal and administrative
requirements for a specific product depending
on the country of origin and destination.
 The exporter/importer can select relevant
delivery and payment terms.
 Facilities to negotiate and manage different payment
methods and manage foreign exchange.
 Produce and manage all the necessary transport
documents
 Easily manage shipment requests
 Could provide number of value added
features(negotiation and consultancy) that
will attract and retain SMEs and allow
suppliers to gain market access and reduce
transactions costs by ensuring the
transparency and security of international
transactions.
 Additional facilities include such as e-learning
facility to learn the process, foreign trade
related discussion forums.
 Facilities to overcome language barrier
 Support from an online export guide
containing export assistance, operational
tools, financing, information sources and
commercial information about potential
foreign customers.
 Consultancy support to help organizations
overcome the key barriers which prevent
them from entering to the international
markets.
 Need high security environment both physical & digital.
 Digital security mechanisms should be properly in place
(protocols [HTTPS/ SSL], encrypted information
transmission, password protection, user id system, digital
signatures and acquire necessary digital certificates.)
 CIA Features in Digital Security
 Confidentiality – ensure that information is not accessed by
unauthorized parties
 Integrity – ensure that information is not altered by
unauthorized people in a way not detectable by authorized users
 Authentication – ensure that users are the people they claim to
be
 Security is an important issue for the successful
implementation of the portal.
 To guarantee the maximum level of trust, the
system should take the necessary measures to
ensure both high performance and system
protection.
 Digital signatures and proper mechanisms to allow
users to manage and exchange electronic documents.
(in order to certify the validity, the authenticity and
the ownership of any document transmitted over the
platform)
 Security of the sensitive data
 The SMEs get virtual participate in bigger global
market. Could be a global provider easily.
 No marketing needed individually
 Improve the competitiveness of exporters involved in
foreign trade
 Facilitate exporters to create and publish their
product catalogue online, thus increasing their
company visibility.
 With dashboards which display current customer
order status, new orders, new quotation requests,
previous orders.. etc., exporters can easily get an
overview of their business performance.
 One stop shop concept
 Users can obtain a list of approved suppliers as well as
competitive service providers who can provide the
necessary export services such as shipping, hauliers,
insurance, etc.
 Importers can request a price quotation for the
displayed products and once the offer request is
received, exporters can generate a counter offer
through the portal.
 Facility to posting an offer and carry out the
international sale contract in a coordinated manner
which conforms with international legislation.
 Costs Savings
 Portal provide the most competitive quote from a
range of service providers.
 Portal simplifies the international trade process.
 Reduction in the risk related to the loss or delay
documents
 Savings in customs costs because goods will remain in
customs for a shorter period of time.
 Time Savings
 Enable users to speed up the exchange of documents
and streamline their foreign trade business processes.
 Reduction of errors
 Platform supports the secure integrated and coordinated
management of documents necessary for the execution of
any foreign trade transaction.
 The system ensures the authenticity and accuracy of every
document exchanged online.
 In particular users will be able to create, amend and
change LOCs online, thus reducing the costs of using
external consultants to prepare and dispatch such
documents.
 Another major benefit is achieved in the reduction of
errors in LOCs missing documents or delays in presenting
the correct paperwork which were often experienced by
importers and exporters.
 GTP will provide an important contribution
because it meets a large number of identified
user needs and provides a complete export
service to SMEs
 Provide importers/ exporters with the
contacts and references to obtain the best
available offer and to better integrate the
value chain of their import/export operation.
2014, 2013, 2011, 2009 – 2. a) Illustrate and describe
the benefits of the following eBusiness models to
the manufacturer/seller and the customer
separately.

i. Global Trade Platform for SMEs

(20 Marks)