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E Commerce Test Answers-1

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E Commerce Test Answers-1

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QUESTION 1

Define e-commerce. Note that the definition of e-commerce comes with some constituent
attributes. Discuss these attributes
ANSWER
E-commerce is the exchange of goods and services between (usually) independent
organizations and / or persons supported by a comprehensive usage of powerful ICT systems
and a globally standardized network infrastructure. Business partners will thus have to couple
their business processes and / or ICT systems to work together (temporarily and seamlessly) to
share, exchange and process data, during such business process timelines across the
boundaries of cooperating organizations. Compliance with governing policies, procedures and
laws, data security and privacy must be ensured and guaranteed at all times.
E-commerce definition is borne out of the following constituent attributes:
a) Digitalization of business:
This means a comprehensive usage of ICT (Information & Communication Technology) not only
within a business organization (as it has been done during the last decades by traditional
(internal) information systems), but now through a more and more seamless linking and
cooperation of information and communication systems of all involved business partners. It is
now, all encompassing.

b) Focus on business processes:


Because business processes is no longer localized, it has now span across many organizations of
common interest, coupling of processes between these organizations must be realized. This
therefore increases the speed and economic efficiency of businesses involved.

c) Usage of global Network:


The internet has made interested persons and organization to interact in a global virtual place
and do business together without any geographical or time restriction. The internet as a global
infrastructure of networks allows exchange of information without restrictions in time
irrespective of geographical location.

d) New potential and Opportunities for cooperation:


More or less independent persons and/or organizations work together in pursuit of agreed
business goals.
QUESTION 2
Describe e-Business and Digital Economics

E-Business is the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in


support of all the activities of business. Activities involved in business can be termed to
include the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and

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individuals. Today, these activities are supported with the help of internet.

Digital Economy refers to an economy that is (substantially) based on computing


technologies. An economy driven by existing and emerging computer technology.

QUESTION 3
Another approach to define and explain what e-commerce is to discuss the 5-C model. It
defines e-commerce by five activity domains whose denominations start with the letter “C”.
Discuss the 5-C
ANSWER
Commerce

In the electronic marketplaces, there is matching of customers and suppliers, an


establishing of transaction terms, and the facilitation of exchange transactions between
customers and suppliers, thus creating a universal supply-chain linkage. These
transactions are driven through web-enabled enterprise systems with relatively
improved capabilities as compared to the legacy systems.

Collaboration

As a result of network of business relationships among firms and / or individuals through


the web, formal collaborations are created amongst individuals /firms without the
barrier of space, time, national boundaries and organizational affiliation.

Communication

The Web, being an interactive medium, has become a forum for self-expression (as in blogs)
and self-presentation. So, the Web has given rise to a multiplicity of media products, serves as
distribution channel for digital products and enables connectivity with location sensitive
products and advertising.
Connection

Common software development platforms, many of them in the open-source domain,


enable a wide spectrum of firms to avail themselves (that’s the connectivity) of the
benefits of the already developed software, which is, moreover, compatible with that of
their trading and collaborating partners. The Internet, as a network of networks that is
easy to join and out of which it is relatively easy to carve out virtual private networks, is
the universal telecommunications network, now widely expanding in the mobile domain.

Computation

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Internet infrastructure enables large-scale sharing of computational and storage
resources, thus leading to the implementation of the decades-old idea of utility
computing.

QUESTION 4
M-commerce is commonly understood as the usage of mobile devices for business purposes,
especially mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants. What are the main features of M-
Commerce.
ANSWER
Main features of M-Commerce are:
i. Location independence of (mobile) customers.
ii. High availability of services through well-established mobile phone networks,
iii. Increasing computing power of mobile devices,
iv. Interactivity of mobile devices (voice and data transfer),
v. Security (when using mobile phone networks),
vi. Localization of customers through cell structure,
vii Accessibility of customers,
viii Potential of personalized services/offers.

QUESTION 5
Discuss the following: E-Procurement, E-Administration and E-Democracy
ANSWER
E-Procurement (Electronic Procurement)
E-Procurement is the automation of an organization’s procurement processes using Web-based
applications. It enables widely dispersed customers and suppliers to interact and execute
purchase transactions. Each step in the procurement process is captured electronically, and all
transaction data is routed automatically, reducing time and cost of procurement. Properly
deployed, E-Procurement can deliver tremendous value to enterprises in different ways. While
sales processes are driven by the supplier, procurement processes are driven by the customer.
E-Administration (Electronic Administration)
E-administration refers to those ICT mechanisms which convert the paper processes in a
traditional office into electronic processes, with the goal to create a paperless office. Its
objective is to get total transparency and accountability within any organization.
E-Democracy (Electronic Democracy)

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E-Democracy incorporates 21st-century information and communications technology to
practice and promote democracy. i.e a form of government in which all adult citizens are
presumed to be eligible to participate equally in the proposal, development, and creation
of laws.

QUESTION 6
What is the significance of the role of the Internet.
ANSWER
The role of the internet is very broad across the board. Surely in the area of commerce and
business, the internet is a business enabler. It has enabled business startups to use the internet
to advertise and sell their goods and services to a very broad global audience (reach), as very
little cost without geographical limitation.

QUESTION 7
List and discuss some of the typical business activities which are based on the Internet. E-
commerce actors cooperate with those firms and use them as specific service provider.
Access provider

The access provider ensures (technical) access to the Internet. These access to internet
services are not free but subscribed to by users, as provided by internet access providers. The
internet access providers operates as business owners and they are managers of the
technical infrastructures involved.

Search Engine

Search engines are the most used software on the Internet. They are the starting
step for many Internet-based activities, not only but, of course, when there is the
need for a search for business opportunity online. A traditional and similar business
model is given by the so-called “yellow pages”, where firms are listed and grouped
according to branches and locations.
Online shop

An online shop is a website, where you can buy products or services, e.g. books or office
supplies. Traditional and similar business models are direct mail selling (no shop facility,
offering of goods via a printed catalogue, ordering by letters or telephone calls) and
factory outlets.

Portal

A portal is a website, which provides a set of services to the user so that he/she

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sometimes thinks that he/she is using a single but very complex software system.
Portals are often used in big organizations to control the access of employees to the
different ICT systems; each employee gets a specific menu of “his”/“her”
applications. Also content providers use portals,
thoughinthenarrowsensethattheyonlydelivercontentandnoapplicationsystems.

Online marketplace/electronic mall


An online marketplace is a website, where suppliers and potential customers can
come together like on a real marketplace in a small town. An E-Mall is a set of online
shops, which can be found on one website. Examples of traditional and similar
business models are shopping centers, omnibus orders (One person is customer of
the shop and buys for a group of people), marketplaces and buying associations.

Virtual community
A virtual community is a platform for communication and exchange of experience. It
is similar to a virtual club or association. All interactions on this community are
virtual in nature. Virtual community may be owned and /or set up by persons,
organization, community etc.

Information broker
An information broker collects, aggregates and provides information, e.g.
information with respect to products, prices, availabilities or market data, economic
data, technical information. Over the time, most information brokers may be getting
funding through advertisements placed on their platform.
Traditional and similar business models are magazines running tests of computers,
cars, consumer goods, restaurants.

Transaction broker
A transaction broker is a person or an organization to execute sales transactions.
Sometimes those brokers are used to hide the real customer to the supplier. A
transaction broker is an agent who is an expert in a specific area and can take over
parts of a business.

Online service provider/cloud service provider (CSP)


An online service provider provides services, which can be run electronically, e.g.
application software services or ICT infrastructure services like storage or backup

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services. Organization that manages such so-called cloud technologies are referred
to as cloud service provider.

QUESTION 8
List the advantages and disadvantages of E-commerce to the customers.

ANSWER

Advantages
for the customer for the provider
• Flexible shopping hours(7∙24h) • Better customer service can be
• No waiting queues (if net is offered
available and software • Fast communication with
appropriately designed) customer
• Shopping at home (we don’t have • New customer potential
to leave our apartment, refuel our through global visibility
car or buy a subway ticket, look for • No (traditional) intermediaries,
a parking place, etc.) who take away margins
• Individual needs can be covered (if
customization is offered)
• Global offers, more competition,
pressure on prices.

Disadvantages
for the customer for the provider
• Security risks: • Higher logistics cost (goods
о Data theft (e.g. stealing account have to be sent to the
or credit card numbers) customer’s location)
о Identity theft (acting under our • Anonymity of customers (how
name or user identity) to make targeted
о Abuse(e.g. third person orders advertisements?)
goods with our identity, gets
them delivered and we have to
pay for it)
• Crime:
о Bogus firm (firm does not really
exist)
о Fraud (e.g. order is confirmed,
invoice has to be paid, but goods

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are never delivered)
Uncertain legal status (if something goes
wrong, can we accuse the provider?)

QUESTION 9
A more abstract categorization of digital business has been given in 2001 by Tapscott (Meier
& Stormer 2008). Discuss the business net type.
ANSWER
Business Web Agora

• Objective: To run a market place for goods and values.


• Attributes: Market information available, negotiation processes established, dynamic
pricing through negotiations between market participants.
• Role of the customer: Market participant.
• Benefits: Negotiable products and services.
• Examples: eBay, auctions.yahoo.

Business Web Aggregator


• Objective: To run a digital supermarket.
• Attributes: Presentation of a great variety of products, fixed prices and no negotiation
between supplier and customer, simple fulfilment from the customer’s point of view.
• Role of the customer: Customer.
• Benefits: Convenient selection and fulfilment from the customer’s point of view.
• Examples: etrade, amazon.

Business Web Integrator


• Objective: To establish an optimized value creation chain.
• Attributes: Systematic supplier selection, process optimization for the total value
chain, product integration along the value chain.
• Role of the customer: Value driver.
• Benefits: Creation and delivery of customer-specific products.
• Examples: Cisco, Dell.

Business Web Alliance


• Objective: To establish a self-organizing value creation space.

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• Attributes: Innovation in products and processes, trust building between different
actors, abstinence of hierarchical supervision.
• Role of the customer: Contributor.
• Benefits: Creative and collaborative solutions.
• Examples: Linux, music download.
Business Web distributor
• Objective: Exchange of information, goods and services.
• Attributes: Net optimization, unlimited usage, logistics processes.
• Role of the customer: Recipient.

• Benefits: In-time delivery.

• Examples: UPS, AT&T, Telecom.

QUESTION 10
What are the characteristics of web 2.0?

ANSWER

Web 2.0 characteristic and effects are reflected in its application types, such as:

Blogs: A blog (a truncation of the expression weblog) is a discussion or informational site


published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) typically
displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). We
normally see “multi-author blogs” (MABs) with posts written by large numbers of
authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets,
universities, think tanks, advocacy groups and similar institutions account for an
increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other “micro-blogging” systems
helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into societal news streams.

Social networking services: A social networking service (also social networking site or
SNS) is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who share
similar interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections. A SNS consists of a
representation of each user (often a profile), his or her social links, and a variety of
additional services such as career services. SNS’s are Web-based services that allow
individuals to create a public profile, create a list of users with whom to share
connections, and view and cross the connections within the system. Most SNS’s provide
means for users to interact over the Internet, such as E-Mail and instant messaging.
SNS’s incorporate new information and communication tools such as mobile

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connectivity, photo/video/sharing and blogging.

Online communities: An online community is a virtual community whose members


interact with each other primarily via the Internet. Those who wish to be a part of an
online community usually have to become a member via a specific site and necessarily
need an Internet connection. An online community can act as an information system
where members can post, comment on discussions, give advice or collaborate.
Commonly, people communicate through SNS’s, chat rooms, forums, E-Mail lists and
discussion boards. People may also join online communities through video games, blogs
and virtual worlds.

Forums/Bulletin boards: An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion


site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ
from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least
temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up,
a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes visible.

Content aggregators: An aggregator is a website or computer software that aggregates a


specific type of information from multiple online sources.

QUESTION 11

What are the benefits of Internet commerce?

ANSWER

i. Timeliness - The website is 24/7 accessible. Queries from emails can be attended to at
the speed of light and effectively.
ii. Reduced marketing costs - Online catalogues are cheaper to produce and maintain than
paper ones.
iii. Better targeting - Internet communities are self-selecting. People with specific interests
have a tendency to go to particular locations in Cyberspace and customers find
marketers easily.
iv. Greater market reach - Since distance is no barrier and communication is cheap, more
target markets can be reached.
v. Reduced communications charges - The Internet has reduced the cost of
communication -it costs truly the same to send a message to 100 people as to one.

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vi. Improved after-sales service - By providing online support, customers can serve
themselves for many of the frequent post-sales information needs.

QUESTION 12
What are the steps involved in online transaction
ANSWER
Registration
1. This allows the buyer to register online on a particular website before buying and selling
of a particular good or service can be made.
2. The buyer’s email address, name, address, and other details are kept and are secured
with the website.
3. Buyer’s “Account” and “Shopping Cart” are password protected.

Placing an Order
1. When a buyer selects a product or a service, he/she’s selection will be kept in the
“shopping cart”.
2. The shopping cart keeps the record of all items selected by the customer to be
purchased. This includes the number of units/quantities to be bought per item selected
and the price for each item.
3. Buyer will result in the payment option after product selection.

Payment

This platform is highly secured for all individual financial (bank/card) details that buyers
presented. However, how payment can be made are:
1. Cash On Delivery: This enables the buyer to pay when he/she receives the product, and
payment can be in form of cash or debit/credit card.
2. Cheque: The buyer can send a cheque to the seller, and the seller in-return sends the
product after the realisation of the cheque.
3. Net Banking Transfer: This allows the buyer to transfer funds from the Issuer (buyer’s
account) to the Acquirer (merchant’s account) electronically. Then the merchant will
deliver the products, immediately after payment confirmation.
4. Credit or Debit Card: This allows the buyer to send either debit or credit card details to
the merchant, and the product amount will be deducted from the account.
5. Digital Cash: This is an electronic currency that exists only in cyberspace, and it has no
real physical properties. The money in the buyer’s bank account is converted into a code
that is saved on a microchip, a smart card, or on the hard drive of his computer. When a
purchase is made, the buyer will mention that particular code to the website, and
thereafter the transaction will be processed.

QUESTION 13
Discuss both technical and economic challenge of e-commerce

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ANSWER
TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

Because of the collaboration of ICT systems of e-commerce collaborating organizations,


it is necessary for (ICT) interfaces between involved systems be defined (roles) and
documented properly. Internal and external responsibilities of the infrastructures clearly
stated, as, ICT systems will now have to work properly not only within the boundaries of
the own organization but also in collaboration with other ICT systems of other
(collaborating) organizations.

The challenges also includes the need prevent unauthorized persons access to these ICT
systems, the need to classify ICT systems as mission critical assets, the need to protect the
assets against possible malicious destruction, damage or manipulation, the need to protect
personal data of involved people (especially customers), the need to protect payment
gateways and procedures securely, the need to change or extend existing applications to
securely suite E-commerce, The need for our workforce to be qualified, knowledgeable
and ICT skillful enough for technical support, etc

ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
It is a matter of management and organization. The following questions have to be
answered:

• Are our business processes standardized enough – at least harmonized among the
participants?
• Who is allowed to participate? Are all participants trustworthy? Who makes the
decision which person or organization is allowed to participate?
• How much E-Commerce do we need to keep competitive? How do we have to change
our business model?
• What is going to happen after opening a new (electronic) sales channel? Will
traditional sales channels suffer omit?
• How can we measure the success of our E-Commerce activities? Will costs be
compensated through revenues? Will we make profit?
• How do we have to develop our relationship with customers, suppliers and other
business partners to be able to realize the advantages of E-Commerce for our
organization and avoid the disadvantages? How do we have to develop and change
our business relationships?
• How do we have to redesign our business processes? How do the roles of our

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employees change? Are our employees qualified for these new roles?

QUESTION 14
E-commerce is driven by different groups of actors and stakeholders. Discuss
ANSWER
a) Persons: These are (potential) consumers, citizens. Notation: C
b) Business organizations: These are producers and suppliers, trade organizations or
merchants, banks, insurance companies or other financial service providers, logistic and
transportation firms or forwarding agencies and other internet business intermediaries.
Notation: B
c) Governmental Authorities: This category includes local authorities, e.g. on town level or
on county level, national authorities, e.g. on state level or on federation level (United
States of…), and international authorities like European Union, United Nations, etc.
Notation: G or A. G – Government, A – Administration.
We also have political parties, lobby organizations, press and media, non-
governmental organizations (NGO’s) like Greenpeace, Red Cross or Olympic
committee, churches and other religious organizations, sports and other associations.
There is no specific abbreviation for this group of stakeholders.

The above fig. is illustrative of Business Relationships (B = Business; C =


Customer/Citizen; G = Government)
QUESTION 15
With a well labelled diagram discuss the primary process of what goes on in E-
Commerce
ANSWER

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Primary process Diagram

The above diagram illustrates what is going on in e-commerce transactions. It describes


the sales process, the general pattern of making business in delivering goods and services
and getting payment for it.

Supplier: Provider of goods and services


Customer: Receiver of goods and services
Information step:
Search for products and services: by the customer,
Search for potential suppliers: by the customer,
Search for potential customers: by the supplier,
Communicate an offering: by the supplier,
Communicate a need: by the customer,

Initiation step:
Get into contact: either by the customer or by the supplier,
Request for delivery or service: by the customer,
Offer for delivery or service: by the supplier,
Assess supplier: by the customer,
Assess customer: by the supplier, Contract conclusion step:
Negotiate offer: by supplier and customer,
Negotiate contract: by supplier and customer,
Place order: by the customer,
Confirm order: by the supplier,

Delivery/fulfilment step:
Proceeding for physical goods:
Pack goods: by the supplier,
Load goods: by the supplier,
Ship goods: by the shipping agent,
Unload goods: by the shipping agent,
Unpack goods: by the customer or the shipping agent or a specific service
provider,
Assemble complex equipment at the customer’s site: by the shipping agent or a specific
service e-provider,
Accept delivery: by the customer,
Approve contract fulfilment to authorize billing: by the customer,

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Proceeding for physical services:
Build and maintain service fulfilment capability: by the supplier,
Come together physically because customer must be an active part in service delivery:
by the supplier and the customer,
Define service levels: by the supplier, possibly after a negotiation with the
customer,
Add service level agreement to contract: by the supplier,
Accept service fulfilment: by the customer,
Approve contract fulfilment to authorize billing: by the customer,

Proceeding for digital goods:


Send goods to the customer via the net or provide for download: by the supplier,
Protect goods against unauthorized access (see chapter 6 of this book): by the supplier,
Accept delivery or confirm successful download: by the customer,
Approve contract fulfilment to authorize billing: by the customer

Proceeding for digital services:


Provide service via the net: by the supplier,
Define service levels: by the supplier, possibly after a negotiation with the customer,
Add service level agreement to contract: by the supplier,
Initiate service provision: by the customer,
Accept service fulfilment: by the customer,
Approve contract fulfilment to authorize billing: by the customer,

Proceeding for information:


Like digital goods,

Billing/invoicing step:
Generate invoice: by the supplier,
Generate attachments to invoice (e.g. protocol of service fulfilment, protocol of final
customer’s approval, certificates, etc.): by the supplier,
Forward invoice to customer (via the Web or via postal services): by the supplier

QUESTION 16
TCP/IP is one of the major terminologies used in e-commerce. It has four layers.
Describe these layers.

14
ANSWER

Layer 1: Local network/network access


This layer corresponds to the first layer (physical layer) and the second layer (data link) of
the ISO/OSI seven layer model (ISO = International Standards Organization, OSI = Open
Systems Interconnection). Available technologies are:
• FDDI(Fiber Distributed Data Interface), which has a ring structure, provides
a transmission rate up to 100 MBit/sec and is defined in the ANSI standards
X3T9.5, X3.139andX39.5(ANSI=American National Standards Institute),
• Token Ring, which also has a ring structure, in which the token-possession
grants the possessor permission to transmit on the medium, is an
advancement of FDDI and is defined by the standard IEEE 802.5 (IEEE =
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers),
• Ethernet, which has the widest propagation now, actually is the primary
technology and provides transmission rates up to 10 Gigabit/sec (Access is
carried out via CSMA/CD = Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision
Detection; technology is based on standard IEEE802.3).
Layer 2: Internet (IP)
This is the address layer, corresponding to the third layer (network layer) in the ISO/OSI
seven layer model. The layer is independent from the physical transportation medium.
Within IP each destination has a unique address, globally administered by IANA (IANA =
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority).

• IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) is the fourth version of the Internet


Protocol (IP). It is one of the core protocols of standards-based
internetworking methods in the Internet, and the first version was deployed
in 1981. IPv4 is described in the IETF publication RFC 791 (September 1981;
RFC = Request for Comment; IETF = Internet Engineering Task Force),
replacing an earlier definition (RFC 760, January1980).

IPv4 is a connectionless protocol for use on packet-switched networks. No


permanent physical link between participants of the network is necessary. It
operates on a best effort delivery model, in that it does not guarantee
delivery, nor does it assure proper sequencing or avoidance of duplicate
delivery.

IPv4 has a length of 4 Bytes respectively 32 bits. Usually each byte is

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presented as a decimal figure between 0 and 255: nnn.mmm.ppp.sss. The
address 192.168.178.25 in binary form is

11000000.10101000.10110010.00011001

• IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is the most recent version of the Internet
Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification
and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across
the Internet. IPv6 was developed by IETF to deal with the long-anticipated
problems of IPv4 address exhaustion.

IPv6 uses a 128-bit address, allowing 2128 addresses, or more than


7.9×1028 times as many as IPv4. The main advantage of IPv6 over IPv4 is its
larger address space. The two protocols are not designed to be
interoperable, complicating the transition from IPv4toIPv6.However, several
IPv6 transition mechanisms have been devised to permit communication
between IPv4 and IPv6hosts.

IPv6 addresses are represented as eight groups off our hexadecimal digits
(16 digits: 0,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F) with the groups being
separated by colons: XX XX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX:XXXX, for example
2001:0DB8:0000:0 042:0000:8A2E:0370:7334.

The number 8A2E means 8 · 163 + A (=10) · 162 + 2 · 161 + E(=14) · 160.

The IETF adopted the IPng (IP next generation) model on 25 July 1994, with the
formation of several IPng working groups. By 1996, a series of RFCs was released
defining Internet Protocol version6 (IPv6), starting with RFC1883 and ending with
RFC2460.

It is widely expected that the Internet will use IPv4 alongside IPv6 for the
foreseeable future. Direct communication between the IPv4 and IPv6 network
protocols is not possible; therefore, intermediary trans-protocol systems are needed
as a communication conduit between IPv4 and IPv6 whether on a single device or
among network nodes.

Layer 3: Host-to-Host (TCP)

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TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is a connection-oriented protocol for providing
reliable data transport service between two computers (hosts) over Internet. It
accepts data from a data stream, divides it into chunks, and adds a TCP header
creating a TCP segment. The TCP segment is then encapsulated into an Internet
Protocol (IP) datagram, and exchanged with peers. TCP is “the” transportation
medium for WWW (World Wide Web). It corresponds to the fourth layer (transport
layer) of the ISO/OSI seven-layer model.

Layer 4: Process/Application
This layer corresponds to some layers of the ISO/OSI seven layer model: session layer (5),
presentation layer (6) and application layer (7).It includes several protocols, which will
be discussed subsequently.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)


HTTP functions as a request-response protocol in the client-server computing model. A
Web browser, for example, may be the client and an application running on a computer
hosting a website may be the server. The client submits an HTTP request message to the
server. The server, which provides resources such as HTML files and other content, or
performs other functions on behalf of the client, returns a response message to the
client. The response contains completion status information about the request and
may also contain requested content in its message body.

HTTP is a stateless protocol. A stateless protocol does not require the HTTP server to
retain information or status about each user for the duration of multiple requests.
However, some Web applications implement states or server side sessions using for
instance HTTP cookies or hidden variables within Web forms. HTTP is documented in
RFC 2616 (= HTTP/1.1).

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)


FTP is a standard network protocol used to transfer computer files from one host to
another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-
server architecture and uses separate control and data connections between the client and
the server. FTP is documented in RFC959 (1985).

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

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SMTP is an Internet standard for electronic mail transmission. First defined by RFC 821
in 1982, it was last updated in 2008 with the Extended SMTP additions by RFC 5321,
which is the protocol in wide spread use today.

QUESTION 17
Discuss the following terminologies: UMTS, HTML, XML

ANSWER

UMTS

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone System) was developed in the 3rd Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP). It is a mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM
standard and provides transmission rates up to 384kbit/sec, withHSDPAupto14,4Mbit/sec.
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third-generation)
mobile communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also
dubbed 3.5G, 3G+, or Turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data speeds and capacity. HSDPA
has been introduced with 3GPP Release 5, which also accompanies an improvement on
the uplink providing a new bearer of 384 kbit/s. Even higher speeds of up to 337.5 Mbit/s
are possible with Release 11 of the 3GPPstandards.
UMTS (unlike EDGE) requires new base stations and new frequency allocations. This
leads tohighinvestmenteffortswithpaybackperiodsupto10years.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)


HTML 5 is a markup language (Mohapatra 2013, pp. 36–38) used for structuring and presenting
content on the World Wide Web. It was finalized, and published, on 28 October 2014 by the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This is the fifth revision of the HTML standard. The
previous version, HTML 4, was standardized in 1997. Its core aims are to improve the language
with support for the latest multimedia while keeping it easily readable by humans and
consistently understood by computers and devices (Web browsers, parsers, etc.)

A Web browser can read HTML files and compose them into visible or audible Web pages. The
browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses them to interpret the content of the page.
HTML describes the structure of a website semantically along with cues for presentation. It is
not a programming language. HTML elements form the building blocks of all websites. HTML
allows images and objects to be embedded and can be used to create interactive forms. It
provides a means to create structured documents by denoting structural semantics for text
such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, quotes and other items. It can embed scripts written in

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languages such as Java Script, which affect the behavior of HTML Webpages. HTML documents
can be delivered by the same means as any other computer file. However, they are most often
delivered either by HTTP from a Web server or by E-Mail. There are a lot of specific HTML-
editors available (Open Source, Freeware, Commercial software).

XML (Extended Markup Language)

XML is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format
thatisbothhuman-readableandmachine-readable.ItwasdevelopedbyW3C.

The design goals of XML emphasize simplicity, generality, and usability over the Internet. It is
a textual data format with strong support via Unicode for different human languages (Unicode
is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of
text expressed in most of the world’s writing systems. Developed in conjunction with the
Universal Coded Character Set (UCS) standard and published as The Unicode Standard, the
latest version of Unicode contains a repertoire of more than 128,000 characters covering 135
modern and historic scripts, as well as multiple symbol sets.) Although the design of XML
focuses on documents, it is widely used for the representation of arbitrary data structures, e.g.
in Web services. The advantage of XML is that the data structure of a document is documented
within the document. However, there is a “price” for this generality: The size of XML
documents, compared to EDIFACT documents, is much greater.

QUESTION 18

There are basically two types of portal, viz web portal and the enterprise portal. Discuss the
two.

ANSWER

A portal is a central entry and navigation point to provide access to a virtual area (of
applications or services) and to deliver additional information to the user. It works as an
interface between user and system(s).

Web portal
A horizontal portal is used as a platform to several companies in the same economic
sector or to the same type of manufacturers or distributors.
A vertical portal (also known as a “vortal”) is a specialized entry point to a specific
market or industry niche, subject area, or interest. Some vertical portals are known as
“vertical information portals” (VIPs).
Enterprise portal
It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a Web-based user

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interface, it is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across
organizational boundaries, it is designed to aggregate and personalize information
through application- specific portlets (Portlets are pluggable user interface software
components that are managed and displayed in a Web or enterprise port.

QUESTION 19
A business model defines the principle of how an organization captures, creates and delivers
value. Itemize the components that make up the Business Model.
All©2
ANSWER 013
Acc
ent
 Value Proposition ure.

 Revenue Model
 Advertising revenue models
 Subscription revenue models:
 Transaction fee revenue model
 Affiliate revenue model
 Market Opportunity
 Competitive Environment
 Competitive Advantage
 Market Strategy
 Organizational Development
 Management Team

QUESTION 20
A revenue model is a framework for determining how a business will generate revenue.
Discuss the types of business model.

ANSWER

Online revenue model options for Internet businesses: The site advertisement revenue model.
An organization provides a medium for ads and collects fees from advertisers (i.e. Yahoo)

Revenue from subscription access to content: A business offers its customers content or
services and requests a subscription fee before accessing some or all of its products. For
example, a journal publisher can request subscription fees before accessing its conference
proceedings, journal papers, and e-books.

Revenue from Pay Per User (PPU): It is a method where users only pay for the products or
services content they use out of all the available ones. Unlike the subscription model, which

20
packs services together assuming continuous use all-through multiple purchase sessions, PPU
allows the company to collect money each time the user needs to use the service. Besides, the
PPU model can work shoulder-to-shoulder subscription revenue, with single-use buying
available in addition to reduced monthly plans.

Donation: Amazingly, organizations depend on donations as part of their revenue proceeds.


Donation is common with independent content creators, and nonprofits (non-governmental
organizations (NGOs)). Some platforms (i.e. Kickstarter and Patreon) make it easy for customers
to make special donations to support and fund the program of small businesses.

QUESTION 21
What are the crucial steps to planning e-commerce website

ANSWER

1. Research and Strategy - The heart of any e-Commerce website design should be clear
communications between the web developer and the client. The developers must have a clear
understanding of the industry, business, and product as a whole. The client must discuss the
potential customers and brainstorm possible keywords that the customers might use to locate
the company or product with the developer. Using this approach saves the client from wastages
-losing marketing money (naira) trying to reach or convert the wrong customers. It also
guarantees that focusing on the right types of customers are well-rewarded -saving time and
money.

2. Planning -This entails arranging all the requirements for the new e-Commerce site together
with its participants. What are the users' requirements? Content? Search? Landing pages? This
is the time to ask fundamental questions about minimum knowledge a customer must have
regarding the site products/services before he/she can make a purchase.

3. Information Architecture - The navigation and layout of the site coupled with best practices
for overall user experience need to be considered. How easy is it for customers to locate the
products they are looking for? Following

4. Design - This is the graphical representation of the site and is usually designed as a
Photoshop template. Pieces can be moved and modified during the design stage to develop a
professional, customer-oriented style that adequately captures the brand and focus. Having an
expert-designed website is predominant to the all-important “first impression” a potential
customer gets of one's site. If the site does not project an appealing style, the consumer may
wrongly conclude that the products sold will not live up to their expectations. Website design

21
plays a major role in determining suitability. Customer experience in browsing for products will
have a direct impact on the number of sites visitors convert into buyers.

5. Construction – This is the fundamentals behind any solid and reliable e-Commerce website,
together with the client and server-side applications, (i.e. front end and back end
programming), integration of 3rd party tools, quality assurance testing, and other solutions that
will make the e-Commerce website dependable as it continues to grow. By making sure that
backend applications, 3rd party tools, and other components work perfectly together
contributes to the universal user experience and continual purchases. The website construction
can be taken as the support framework of the house one is building, and web design as the
outer part of the building – the sides, well-groomed yard, and welcome mat that make it
inviting. Without a properly design framework, the house would fall apart.

6. Migration and Launch - The last step is to move the site from a development server to a live
launch. For the last time and to confirm that everything works well, the developer will test each
of the previously mentioned areas. The brand message will be sent, and the navigation will lure
the consumers to making a purchasing decision.

QUESTION 22

To achieve and sustain a competitive advantage, and to support that advantage with
information technologies, a firm must understand every component of this value system.
Discuss both the firm’s primary and support activities.

ANSWER

A firm’s primary activities will include:

1. Customers' identification: These are the activities that help the company to discover new
customers and improved ways to serve existing ones, including market research and customer
satisfaction surveys

2. Design: These are the activities that take a product from thought to reality. These include
concept research, engineering, and test marketing

3. Procurement of materials and supplies: These activities include vendor selection, vendor
qualification, negotiating supply contracts, and controlling/monitoring quality and timeliness of
delivery

4. Manufacture product or create service: These are activities that transform raw materials and
labor into finished products. They include manufacturing, assembling, finishing, testing, and
packaging

22
5. Market and sell: These are activities that allow sellers to sell and buyers to buy. They include
advertising, promoting, managing salespeople, pricing, and identifying and
controlling/monitoring sales and delivery channels

6. Delivery: These are activities that store, distribute, and ship the final product. They include
warehousing, handling materials, consolidating freight, selecting shippers, and monitoring
timeliness of delivery

7. Provide after-sale service and support: These are activities that bring about a lasting
relationship with the customer. They include installing, testing, maintaining, repairing, fulfilling
warranties, and replacing parts.

NOTE: The benefits of each of the primary activities depend on the product/service the
company provides. The individual business unit must have support activities that provide the
infrastructure for the unit of the primary activities.

Supportive activities includes:

1. Finance and administration activities: These activities provide the company’s basic
infrastructure. They include accounting, settling bills, borrowing funds, reporting to government
regulators, and guaranteeing compliance with relevant laws

2. Human resource activities: These activities coordinate the management of employees. They
include recruiting/hiring, training, payment of compensation, and managing benefits

3. Technology development activities: These activities improve the product or service that the
company is selling. They help in improving the business processes in every primary activity.
They include basic and applied researches, process improvement studies, and field tests of
maintenance procedures.

QUESTION 23

Provide definition of SWOT analysis and describe its factors

ANSWER

SWOT analysis (or SWOT matrix) is a tactical or planning technique used to help an individual or
organization to identify strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T) linked
to business contest or project planning. An overview of the four factors is given below:

1. Strengths - These qualities allow an individual/organization to accomplish its mission. These


are the basis on which continued success can be supported. The strength, which can be either
tangible or intangible is what an individual/organization is well-versed or expertise in. It is the

23
profitable aspects of the organization and includes human competencies, process capabilities,
financial resources, products/services, customer goodwill, and brand loyalty. Examples of
organizational strengths are enormous financial resources, an all-inclusive product line, no
debt, committed employees, etc.

2. Weaknesses - These qualities prevent an individual/organization from accomplishing their


mission and achieving full potential. Weaknesses worsen influences on
individual/organizational success and growth. They are the factors that do not meet the
standards we expect them to meet. For example, weaknesses can be depreciating machinery,
insufficient research, uncommitted employees and developing facilities, narrow product range,
poor/complex decision-making process, enormous debts, high employee turnover, narrow
product range, large wastage of raw materials, etc. They can be reduced and/or eliminated. For
example - to overcome out-of-date machinery, new machinery can be purchased.

3. Opportunities - They are offered by the environment within which an individual/organization


operates. These come into play when an organization takes advantage of conditions in its
environment to plan and execute strategies that enable it to become more successful. An
individual/organization can gain a competitive advantage by making use of opportunities,
therefore, they should be watchful to recognize any opportunity that the environment can
bring and grasp them. Opportunities can come from the market, other competitors,
industry/government, etc. For example, the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) created market
opportunities for telecommunications industries globally between year 2020 and 2021 - for
instance, where other sectors are failing, the telecom sector is succeeding.

4. Threats - These arise when conditions in the external environment endanger the reliability of
the organization’s business goals. Unlike weaknesses, threats are uncontrollable. When it
comes, stability and durability can be at stake. For example, employees strike, ever-changing
technology, wars, insecurity, unhealthy competition leading to excess capacity, and reducing
industry profits, etc, can lead to business failure.

QUESTION 24

What are the limitations of SWOT analysis?

ANSWER

Limitations of SWOT Analysis (on management) may include.

a. Increase in price of raw materials

b. Availability of inputs/raw materials;

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c. Government regulations/legislation,

d. Economic environment;

e. Insecurity,

f. Searching for a new market for the product which is not having an overseas market due to
import restrictions; etc.

Internal limitations may include

a. Inadequate research and development facilities;

b. Defective products due to poor quality control;

c. Poor industrial relations;

d. Lack of skilled/efficient labour; etc

QUESTION 25

Since the Internet connects computers globally, any business conducted via the e-Commerce
automatically becomes an international business, as a result, Companies involving in e-
Commerce must be aware of the differences in language and customs that constitute the culture
of any region in which they operate: The obstacles to international e-Commerce involve
language, culture, and infrastructure issues. Discuss these obstacles.

ANSWER
LANGUAGE ISSUE

1. The simple way to do business effectively and efficiently in other cultures is to accustom to
those cultures.
2. The fundamental way to win international/foreign customers is to make available the local
language versions of their Websites - the Web site can be translated into another language or
dialects like Spanish, German, Japanese, French, and Chinese.
3. Statistics show that more than 40 percent of current Internet users do not read English, about
80 percent of the content available on the Internet is in English.
4. Plausibility of the Web server to detect the default language setting of the user's browser and
automatically redirect the user's browser to the Web pages created in the user's defined language.
5. Links to various language versions on the home page can be made available.

CULTURE ISSUES

1. Culture is a combination of language and customs.


2. Cultural issues are the misunderstandings originating from complex language and cultural
standards.
3. Designers must be thoughtful when deciding on the icons that will represent common actions.

25
4. Picking colors or Web page design elements can be difficult.
5. Example of a web site that greatly reflects a cultural design decision is the Swedish home page
of Bokus.com.

INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES

1. Internet infrastructure is the hardware and software that are used to send/receive data over the
Net. This includes the computers coupled with the software connected to the Internet together
with the communications networks on top of which the message packets travel.
2. Regulations in some countries have hindered the expansion of the telecommunications
infrastructure.
3. Local connection costs via the existing telephone networks in some countries are expensive
and this can cause a major setback to the behavior of e-Commerce participants
4. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) statements have
guided businesses and government to support e-Commerce globally.

QUESTION 26

How can you build customers trust and keep customers in e-commerce

ANSWER
1. Keeping a professional website - A competent, simple to navigate, and easily load website
can be loved. Visitors can put their trust in a website with the correct physical address and
mobile numbers. With these, the visitors will have the impression that such a website is genuine.

2. Transparency - Transparency is key to confidence-building. When a seller cannot meet up


with an appointment, he/she needs to let his/her customer knows why? and when such an
appointment can be met.

3. Share the policy - It is good for an organization to share its policy with its audience. A policy
statement that explains how the organization collects, handles, stores, shares, and protects their
customer’s personal/sensitive information gathered via interactions on their website.

4. Publicize failures -According to a business communications expert, Shel Holtz,


“acknowledging inescapable facts”, is a central quality of a transparent organization. There is a
shred of sufficient evidence that a cover-up policy, once discovered, will hurt twice. First for
making the mistake, second for lying about it.

5. Be friendly -A customer builds trust in a business when he/she identifies values similar to
his/her own. Direct contact via support and service channels can be used to create friendliness.
eCommerce web site service should be friendly, problem-oriented, attentive, submissive, and,
preferably, immediate.

6. Get external proof -As regards customer trust, the business must let its visitors know its
professionalism -that is, to show that the business is good at what it does. A customer relies on a
business's reputation to decide on the levels of transactions he/she does with the business.

26
7. Reduce complexity -The outcome of a situation is directly proportional to the factors
affecting that situation - that is, the more the factors that are affecting a situation, the harder it is
to predict the outcome. Thus, the higher the distrust of a customer in that circumstance. To build
customer trust, eliminating uncertainties should be at the heart of the business’s owners.

QUESTION 27

The basic functions of an e-Commerce software ranges from a few fundamental operations to a
complete solution. List and discuss the 3 basic components of e-commerce software.

ANSWER

1. Catalog Display - It is a progressive process where products are organized specially to


guarantee uniform and high-quality data across sales channels. It provides product names,
descriptions, hierarchy, price, supplier, and other related details.

2. Shopping Cart -It is a piece of software that promotes the purchase of a product/service. The
shopping cart receives the customer's payment and sends the information to the merchant,
payment processor, and other relevant parties.

3. Transaction Processing -It is the most challenging aspect of online sales and occurs when the
buyer proceeds, by clicking on a checkout button, to the virtual checkout counter. The e-
Commerce software carries out the essential calculations, such as sales tax, volume discounts,
and shipping costs. The customer’s Web browser software together with the seller’s Web server
software shift into a secure state of communication at checkout.

QUESTION 28

There are five primary network security goals: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Non-
repudiation and Authentication. Discuss them.

ANSWER

i. Confidentiality -Confidentiality refers to the protection of data from unauthorized disclosure


to a third party. Whether it is customer data or internal company data, a business is responsible
for protecting the privacy of its data. All customers possess the right to have their private
information protected. In many cases this is a legal requirement. It is in the best interest of a
business to maintain a trustworthy relationship with its customers by respecting their right to the
privacy of their information. The proprietary information of a company, which is sensitive in
nature, also needs to remain confidential. Only authorized parties should be granted access to
information that has been identified as confidential. Furthermore, the transmission of such
information should be performed in a secure manner, to prevent any unauthorized access en
route.

ii. Integrity -Integrity refers to the assurance that data is not altered or destroyed in an
unauthorized manner. For example, integrity is maintained when the message sent is identical to
the message received.

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Even for data that is not confidential, measures must be taken to ensure the integrity of the data.

iii. Availability -Availability is defined as the continuous operation of computing systems.


Applications require differing availability levels, depending on the business impact of downtime.
For an application to be available, all components must provide continuous service. These
components include application and database servers, storage devices, and the end-to-end
network.

iv. Nonrepudiation is the assurance that someone cannot deny something. Typically,
nonrepudiation refers to the ability to ensure that a party to a contract or a communication cannot
deny the authenticity of their signature on a document or the sending of a message that they
originated.

v. Authentication is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a single piece of data
claimed true by an entity. In contrast with identification, which refers to the act of stating or
otherwise indicating a claim purportedly attesting to a person or thing's identity, authentication is
the process of actually confirming that identity.

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