~~BUSINESS MODELS~~
When organizations go online, they have to decide which e-business models best suit their goals. A business model is defined as the organization of product, service and information flows, and the source of revenues and benefits for suppliers and customers. The concept of e-business model is the same but used in the online presence. The following is a list of the currently most adopted e-business models:
( 1 ) E-shops :
* Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An online shop, e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. The metaphor of an online catalog is also used, by analogy with mail order catalogs. All types of stores have retail web sites, including those that do and do not also have physical storefronts and paper catalogs.
( 2 ) E-commerce :
* consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
( 3 ) E-procurement :
* is the business-to-business or business-to-consumer or Business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as Electronic Data Interchange and Enterprise Resource Planning. Typically, e-procurement Web sites allow qualified and registered users to look for buyers or sellers of goods and services. Depending on the approach, buyers or sellers may specify costs or invite bids. Transactions can be initiated and completed. Ongoing purchases may qualify customers for volume discounts or special offers. E-procurement software may make it possible to automate some buying and selling. Companies participating expect to be able to control parts inventories more effectively, reduce purchasing agent overhead, and improve manufacturing cycles.
( 4 ) E-auction :
* A reverse auction is a tool used in industrial business-to-business procurement. It is a type of auction in which the role of the buyer and seller are reversed, with the primary objective to drive purchase prices downward. In an ordinary auction buyers compete to obtain a good or service. In a reverse auction, sellers compete to obtain business.
( 5 ) E-community :
* is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as newsletters, telephone, email, online social networks or instant messages rather than face to face, for social, professional, educational or other purposes. If the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community. Virtual and online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life.
( 6 ) Value-chain Service Providers :
* is a business model describing the dissemination of value-generating information services throughout an Extended Enterprise. This value chain begins with the content supplied by the provider, which is then distributed and supported by the information infrastructure; thereupon the context provider supplies actual customer interaction. It supports the physical value chain of procurement, manufacturing, distribution and sales of traditional companies.
( 7 ) Information Brokerage :
* is a person or business that researches information for clients. Common uses for information brokers include market research and patent searches, but can include practically any type of information research.
~~CLASSIFICATION BY PROVIDER AND CONSUMER~~
( 1 ) Business-to-Business (B2B)
# is a term commonly used to describe commerce transactions between businesses like the one between a manufacturer and a wholesaler or a wholesaler and a retailer i.e both the buyer and the seller are business entity.
( 2 ) Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
# describes activities of businesses serving end consumers with products and/or services.
( 3 ) Business-to-Employee (B2E)
# uses an intrabusiness network which allows companies to provide products and/or services to their employees. Typically, companies use B2E networks to automate employee-related corporate processes.
( 4 ) Business-to-Government (B2G)
# is a derivative of B2B marketing and often referred to as a market definition of "public sector marketing" which encompasses marketing products and services to government agencies through integrated marketing communications techniques such as strategic public relations, branding, marcom, advertising, and web-based communications.
( 5 ) Government-to-business (G2B)
# is the online non-commercial interaction between local and central government and the commercial business sector.
( 6 ) Government-to-Government (G2G)
# is the online non-commercial interaction between Government organisations, departments, and authorities and other Government organisations, departments, and authorities.
( 7 ) Government-to-Citizen (G2C)
# is the online non-commercial interaction between local and central Government and private individuals, rather than the commercial business sector G2B.
( 8 ) Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
# involves the electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party.
( 9 ) Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
# is an electronic commerce business model in which consumers (individuals) offer products and services to companies and the companies pay them. This business model is a complete reversal of traditional business model where companies offer goods and services to consumers (business-to-consumer = B2C).
