Questions and Answers of E-Commerce Essentials

How has the Internet changed the packaging, distribution, marketing, and sale of traditional music tracks?
What are the key challenges facing the online newspaper industry?
Together with a teammate, investigate the use of mobile apps in the financial services industries. Prepare a short joint presentation on your findings.
Explain the distinction between disintermediation and hypermediation as it relates to online retailing.
Name two assumptions e-commerce analysts made early on about consumers and their buying behavior that turned out to be false.
Review the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Examine each of the major sections of the legislation and make a list of the protections afforded property owners and users of
How does spoofing threaten a Web site’s operations?
Why is system testing important? Name the three types of testing and their relation to each other.
Compare and contrast the capabilities of Wi-Fi and 3G/4G wireless networks.
What types of companies form the Internet backbone today?
Why are smartphones a disruptive technology?
What is cloud computing, and how has it impacted the Internet?
Why is adware or spyware considered to be a security threat?
Explain some of the modern-day flaws associated with encryption. Why is encryption not as secure today as it was earlier in the century?
Briefly explain how public key cryptography works.
Compare and contrast firewalls and proxy servers and their security functions.
Is a computer with anti-virus software protected from viruses? Why or why not?
Briefly discuss the disadvantages of credit cards as the standard for online payments. How does requiring a credit card for payment discriminate against some consumers?
Describe the major steps involved in an online credit card transaction.
How is money transferred in transactions using wireless devices?
Discuss why EBPP systems are becoming increasingly popular.
Why have advertising networks become controversial? What, if anything, can be done to overcome any resistance to this technique?
Which of the four market entry strategies is most lucrative?
What are the three basic principles of ethics? How does due process factor in?
Go to www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml. Take the survey to determine what lifestyle category you fit into. Write a brief, 2-page paper describing how your lifestyle and values
Is growth of the Internet, in terms of users, expected to continue indefinitely? What will cause it to slow, if anything?
Visit Net-a-porter.com and create an Internet marketing plan for it that includes each of the following:One-to-one marketingAffiliate marketingViral marketingBlog marketingSocial network
Other than search engines, what are some of the most popular uses of the Internet?
Would you say that the Internet fosters or impedes social activity? Explain your position.
Describe a perfect market from the supplier’s and customer’s perspectives.
Explain why an imperfect market is more advantageous for businesses.
List some of the major advantages of having a strong brand. How does a strong brand positively influence consumer purchasing?
How are product positioning and branding related? How are they different?
Compare and contrast the four marketing strategies used in mass marketing, direct marketing, micromarketing, and one-to-one marketing.
What are some of the reasons for the decline in click-through rates on banner ads today? How can banner ads be made more effective?
What are some of the advantages of direct e-mail marketing?
Why is offline advertising still important?
1. Who is harmed by the Library Project? Make a list of harmed groups, and for each group, try to devise a solution that would eliminate or lessen the harm.2. Why is Google pursuing the Library
What basic assumptions does the study of ethics make about individuals?
Go to Google, click the Options icon in the upper-right corner of the home page, and then click on Search Settings. Examine its Safe Search filtering options available on the Preferences page. Surf
Develop a list of privacy protection features that should be present if a Web site is serious about protecting privacy. Then, visit at least four well-known Web sites and examine their privacy
Explain Google’s position that YouTube does not violate the intellectual property rights of copyright owners.
Define universalism, slippery slope, the New York Times test, and the social contract rule as they apply to ethics.
Visit at least four Web sites that take a position on e-commerce taxation, beginning with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL.org) and the National Governor’s Association (NGA.org).
Explain why someone with a serious medical condition might be concerned about researching his or her condition online, through medical search engines or pharmaceutical sites, for example. What is one
Name some of the personal information collected by Web sites about their visitors.
How does information collected through online forms differ from site transaction logs? Which potentially provides a more complete consumer profile?
How is the opt-in model of informed consent different from opt-out? In which type of model does the consumer retain more control?
What are the two core principles of the FTC’s Fair Information Practice Principles?
How do safe harbors work? What is the government’s role in them?
Name three ways online advertising networks have improved on, or added to, traditional offline marketing techniques.
Explain how Web profiling is supposed to benefit both consumers and businesses.
How could the Internet potentially change the protection given to intellectual property? What capabilities make it more difficult to enforce intellectual property law?
What does the Digital Millennium Copyright Act attempt to do? Why was it enacted? What types of violations does it try to prevent?
Define cybersquatting. How is it different from cyberpiracy? What type of intellectual property violation does cybersquatting entail?
What is deep linking and why is it a trademark issue? Compare it to framing—how is it similar and different?
What are some of the tactics illegal businesses, such as betting parlors and casinos, successfully use to operate outside the law on the Internet?
1. Why will OpenTable competitors have a difficult time competing against OpenTable?2. What characteristics of the restaurant market make it difficult for a national reservation system to work?3. How
Why were so many entrepreneurs drawn to start businesses in the online retail sector initially?
Which segment of the offline retail business is most like online retailing? Why?
Examine the financial statements for Amazon and Best Buy Co. Inc. What observations can you make about the two businesses? Which one is stronger financially and why? Which one’s business model
Describe the technological retailing revolution that preceded the growth of e-commerce. What were some of the innovations that made later online retailing possible?
Conduct a thorough analysis—strategic and financial—of one of the following companies or another of your own choosing: Bluefly Inc., Drugstore.com, Inc., or 1-800-Flowers.com. Prepare a
Find an example not mentioned in the text of each of the four types of online retailing business models. Prepare a short report describing each firm and why it is an example of the particular
Drawing on material in the chapter and your own research, prepare a short paper describing your views on the major social and legal issues facing online retailers.
Compare and contrast virtual merchants and bricks-and-clicks firms. What other type of online retailer is most like the virtual merchant?
Conduct a thorough analysis—strategic and financial—of one of the following Web sites: Progressive.com, Insure.com, or Insweb.com. Prepare a PowerPoint or other presentation that summarizes your
What is the difference between a supply-push and a demand-pull sales model? Why do most manufacturer-direct firms have difficulty switching to one of these?
Choose a services industry not discussed in the chapter (such as legal services, medical services, accounting services, or another of your choosing). Prepare a 3- to 5-page report discussing recent
What is the biggest deterrent to growth of the online insurance industry nationally?
Define channel conflict and explain how it currently applies to the mortgage and insurance industries. Name two online insurance companies or brokers.
Find at least two examples of companies not mentioned in the text that act as transaction brokers and at least two examples of companies that provide a “hands-on” service. Prepare a short memo
Name and describe the four types of services provided by financial services firms on the Web.
How have travel services suppliers benefited from consumer use of travel Web sites?
Name and describe the five traditional recruitment tools companies have used to identify and attract employees. What are the disadvantages of such tools in light of new online sites?
In addition to matching job applications with available positions, what larger function do online job sites fill? Explain how such sites can affect salaries and going rates?
1. Do you think Zynga would be a good advertising platform? What kinds of companies would be interested in reaching this audience, and how should the ads be presented to users?2. How could firms use
What are the basic revenue models for online content and what is their major challenge?
What effect is the growth of tablet computing having on online entertainment and content?
Examine and report on the progress, if any, made with respect to the delivery of movies on demand over the Internet.
What techniques do music subscription services use to enforce DRM?
Choose a magazine that is available both online and as a physical magazine. How is the online magazine similar? How is it different? Prepare a short report discussing this issue.
How has the Internet impacted the content that newspapers can offer?
What changes have occurred for newspapers in the classified ads department?
How has streaming technology impacted the television industry?
Why is the growth of cloud storage services important to the growth of mobile content delivery?
Has the average consumer become more receptive to advertising-supported Internet content? What developments support this?
What factors are needed to support successfully charging the consumer for online content?
Why are apps helping the newspaper and magazine industries where Web sites failed?
1. Contrast eBay’s original business model with its latest proposed business model.2. What are the problems that eBay is currently facing? How is eBay trying to solve these problems?3. Are the
What factors enable some online social networks to prosper today?
What is an affinity community and what is its business model?
List and briefly explain three of the benefits of auction markets.
Visit one for-profit and one non-profit sponsored social network. Create a presentation to describe and demonstrate the offering at each site. What organizational objectives is each pursuing? How is
Under what conditions does a seller bias exist in an auction market? When does a buyer bias exist?
What is a demand aggregator and how does it work?
What three characteristics define a portal site today?
What is a vertical market portal, and how might recent trends in consumer behavior prove advantageous to this business model?
What are the two main types of vertical market portals and how are they distinguished from one another?
List and briefly explain the main revenue sources for the portal business model.

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