UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT

SEMESTER FALL 2020

Final Term Exam (Online)

Course Code: MGT-402 Course Title: E-Commerce

Time Allowed: 90 Minutes Marks: 50

Name: ----------------------------------- Roll #: ---------------------------------------

Answer the following questions. All questions are mandatory.

CASE-1. A small scale Industry with an annual turnover of Rs.50 crores wants to investigate the
possibility of IT and E- Commerce strategy. You as an external consultant,
Q.1 Prepare a detailed report highlighting the step by step approach for implementing IT tools
and E-Commerce strategy.
Q.2 Also highlight the major returns, unseen risks and the security issues of E-Commerce.
(Marks 2*3=6)
CASE-2. Explain B2B E-Commerce using an example of a book distributor who stocks a large
number of books, which he distributes via a large network of book sellers.
Q.3 Assume that the distributor has stocks of books of a large number of publishers and book
seller’s order books as and when their stock is low.
Q.4 Distributors give 1 months’ time to booksellers for payment. Justify it.(Marks 2*3=6)
CASE-3. The world GoldStar sells television sets, computers, laptop, CD drives, DVD players,
microwaves, refrigerators and the very recent – cosmetics.
Q.5 Explain how GoldStar can use IT.
Q.6 Who are the users and how they are benefited?
Q.7 Explain how E-Commerce model works?
Q.8 You as an external consultant, prepare a detail workout. (Marks 4*2=8)
CASE-4 Henderson demonstrates that e-commerce can be used to support business networks and
help rural firms overcome the challenges of small size and geographic remoteness. Business
networks in the study consist primarily of supply networks where large firms purchase material
inputs from other firms. These networks may be open (access available to all) or closed
(membership restricted to specific suppliers or customers and information exchange provided

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through Electronic Data Interchange -EDI). Two businesses are used as examples of rural e-
commerce activity and network building.

Q. 9 Focus on network characteristics and benefits to the individual firms. (Marks 6)

CASE- 5. M/s Inorbit and Inorbit Hosiery Corporation of India Ludhiana has decided to
streamline and computerize their Supply Chain department. Head of Supply Chain Department
has called you as an External Consultant to investigate and suggest the possibility of IT and E-
Commerce strategy.
Q.10 You as an external consultant, prepare a detailed report highlighting the step by step
approach for implementing IT tools and E-Commerce strategy.
Q.11 Also highlight the major returns, unforeseen risks and the security issues of E-Commerce.
(2*3=
Marks 6)
CASE-6. In late 1999, Dotcom companies started using various methods and various business
models for the development of computer business and e-commerce in India. The Dotcom
companies used the traditional media more as internet was still in its nascent stage .Print Media
was most popular followed by hoardings, bill boards, and televisions. Some Dotcom companies
also used novel methods of marketing’s like innovative campaigns, Mellas etc. with huge
investments.
Even auto rickshaws started sporting Dotcom s bumper posters, Mumbai skyline was changing
with Dotcom hoardings. Full page advertisement of the company could be seen in almost every
leading newspapers. From print to electronic and outdoor media these companies flooded the
market with high budget advertisement contests and interactive campaigns .During 1999 -2000,
Indian Dotcom market spent 44 million every month, A well-known company planned to spend
around Rs. 200 million by the end of 2000.
Analysts felt that in the next 6 months another Rs. 500 million would be spent. While the
average retailer spent about 5-8 % of its total revenue on advertising and the average
manufacturers were spending more than 25% of their revenue on promotions. The huge amount
spent on advertising was to make a mark in the peoples mind. Most of the internet companies
have been concentrating on traffic and their advertising was geared towards generating trials for
understanding the concept.

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The early days of net revolution, there was rush to get online. Most of the companies established
their presence through corporate websites considering it as a new low cost channel with
unlimited reach. The corporate websites used net primarily to extend their reach and attract the
customer for their products. As a result of which customers had more information, and more
choices than ever before. The website grew in large number and it became difficult for customer
to search the site of their choice. There were 100 of dot com companies in India each attracting
people to surf their site. However there was a difference between the fast moving consumer
goods companies and the dot com s. While FMCG were branded to “come and check my site
first”. The branding of dot com companies seems to be difficult as everybody was trying to do
the same. Many analysts felt that Dotcom marketing methods lacked originality and one of the
reasons was that dot com were always in hurry. The experts felt that most of the advertising
agencies like most lawyers and investment banks were still learning the Dotcom business and the
Dotcom companies cannot be blamed for their failures.
QUESTIONS:-
12. Examine the factors that contributed to the success of survivors?
13. Discuss whether the huge amount of money spent on advertisement contributed to their
survival? (Marks2*3= 6)

CASE-7 Founded in 1994, Exodus communications helped create the complex web hosting
business and has attained a market value of over $10 billion. The company offers sophisticated
system and network management, along with professional services to support performance for
customers’ websites. Exodus manages its network infrastructure via a worldwide network of
Internet Data Centers (IDCs) located in North America, Europe, and Asia pacific. Exodus has 22
data centers around the world and is building another 14. Its customers include eBay, Yahoo!,
Merrill Lynch, British Airways and Johnson & Johnson.
When Ellen Hancock, its CEO, joined the company before its IPO in 1998, 80% of its customer
base was internet start-ups and 20% were in the “enterprise” category. By 2000, 49% of the
customer base was in the enterprise category. In the same time frame, it had grown from no
consultants to 660 as managed services increased from 8% to 34% of its business. During this
transition, Exodus bought two computer security companies and had moved into a number of
new services.

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An example of the type of service demands that Exodus encounters occurred when the
Webmasters of the RollingStone.com, the website of Rolling Stone magazine, had difficulty
trying to solve a slow response time problem just a day before the publication of a multimedia
cover story on Britney Spears. This would obviously cause a spike in demand that would
exacerbate the response time problem. Since Exodus was hosting and maintaining the site, its
engineers helped in solving the problem, which involved incorrect configurations data that
caused server to use 10 to 15 seconds to refresh domain name data every few minutes instead of
daily. Approximately 400 of its customers( 12% of its customer base of 3300 companies) are
application service providers (ASPs) that run application software for other firms using remote
servers linked to a WAN so that those firs no longer have to install and maintain the software.
Exodus charges for service based on usage, and this fits well with an ASP charging scheme. Its
ASP customers range from start-ups to established software firms such as PeopleSoft and
Oracle’s Business Online. According to Ellen Hancock, “it’s very hard to say what you’re not
doing, but we’ve spent a lot of time trying to do that. We say we’re not going to know
applications. We’re not in that business. We just support the ASP……. We have no notion of
competing with Oracle on E-commerce. We do not intend to ever understand HR (human
resources) apps. That’s a whole different skill base, and we don’t have it.
Both Exodus and its rival Digex seem to be evolving into “managed service providers” but using
different paths. In late 2000, Digex unveiled a customer self-service portal called myDigex.com
that gives them the ability to manage and provision their own services, such as performance
statistics, site/server layouts, asset management, and billing and help desk issues. In addition, it
gives access to service-level agreements and Digex support staff. In contrast, the new but not yet
named services Exodus announced included remote monitoring, storage management and
performance monitoring. According to one industry analyst, “these guys are happy to host, and
they’re willing to manage your servers, but they are unwilling to raise the level of responsibility
to something that is application-specific or customer specific.”
Questions:-
14. Why should a large, technically sophisticated company like Merrill Lynch buy Web hosting
services from Exodus Communications? (Marks 6)

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15. According to the case study, Exodus Communications is an ISP for ASPs, but currently says
it is not interested in moving into that market based on its current skills. What are the possible
advantages and disadvantages of moving into the ASP market? (Marks 7)