Information Technology Applications in Marketing - Coursework Example

Information Technology Applications in Marketing Access to the internet in China is very different to access to the internet in the United States. Discuss these differences in the context of Freedom of Speech, Censorship and the right to govern within national borders. Also identify and discuss a third country, which differs in its management of the internet, from the United States. The concept of freedom of speech in China is very different from freedom of speech in the US. Where journalists and the rest of the people can freely express their views, opinion or even dissatisfaction with the governance of the nation in the internet and especially the social media in the US, the same is not allowed in China. The government of the Republic of China has enforced internet and social media censorship to the individuals and journalists as well as media houses who try to revoke the limits provided in their freedom of speech. There are subjects about political issues taking place in China that are not allowed to be discussed by the people nor are people allowed to openly air their grievances or dissatisfaction with the leadership in the nation. The journalists who try and revoke their specific limit to freedom of speech or break the censorship enforced are automatically arrested and jailed. In order to prevent the rest of the people in China from exercising their freedom of speech and risk criticisms to the political leadership, censorship has been enforced on all the outside social media and internet sites such as facebook, twitter and Google among others (Zuchora- Walske 102). The only social media and internet search engines allowed are those with their servers in China such as Baidu and Sina Weibo among others where the leaders can be able to control what they are posting and control the server as well which is subject to being shut down in case of breach of the censorship. This is the opposite in US where there are a lot of internet search engines and social media sites and people are free to post whatever they want about the government on it as there is no censorship. The people in US therefore get to enjoy their freedom of speech as provided in their Bill of Rights (Wang 523). The United Kingdom differ its internet management from that of US. Even though it still slows freedom of speech in the internet and social media sites, it has increased its internet surveillance to protect the country from terrorists and their activities and child pornography among others. There are certain types of content that have been blocked from access by children under the age of 18 years which include contents such as issues to do with suicide and self-harm, eating disorders, violence, pornography restrictions, discriminatory language as well as content encouraging drug use among others (Dutton 2002). These restrictions which lack in many internet sites in the US is not only an initiative of the UK government but it is coordination with private organizations, parents associations and schools as well as other public users such as librarians among others. This has worked so far and has also worked in as far as terrorism activities in the internet are concerned. Terrorist sites can no longer be accessed and those posting in the social media suspected terrorist’s activities and information have their freedom of speech revoked and their social media blocked. Mobile payments will become an important means of payment in the future. Discuss. Digital mobility with smart devices like smart phones and tablets has revolutionized the world and is the in thing and the next biggest thing in the World Wide Web. Mobile payments has started to slowly but surely overtake the card world as people are starting to use their mobile phones to carry out almost all their transactions at the comfort of their homes, jobs or even in the road where the access to their physical banks or stores is next to impossible. The use of mobile phones has already begun all over the world with the mobile phone companies partnering up with banks and other financial service providers as well as linking up with stores and shops to make this service possible (Montague 21). There are advantages and disadvantages of every innovation and the mobile payment is no different. This mobile payment has its own risks like any other business. People keep all their important information saved on their phones including bank details and passwords. They have also permanently logged into their different financial accounts and hence in case they lose their phones or it is stolen, their financial information is at risk of exposure. They also risk losing their money in their banks or getting their money spent in purchase of unnecessary stuff (Schneider 499). There are also areas where mobile as well as internet connectivity is poor and in case people go into that area, their mobile payment services fails to connect to the servers and hence are rendered immobile and cannot be able to carry out any transactions. The only hope in such as case is physical transactions using banks and credit cards. The partnerships that are required for these mobile payment are also too many and hence there is risk of misunderstanding, partnership sharing and management of the mobile payment. Even with proper contracts in place to handle such issues, dissatisfaction is still likely to occur as the mobile applications to the different stores and linking them to the mobile payment continue to increase. All in all, the advantages of this kind of payment compared to the card and paper technology outweigh the disadvantages. The risks of fraud that have been on the increase with the card technology are reduced drastically. Even with the loose of mobile phones, only one phone call is required to the mobile service provider to immediately lock the phone and all the transactions until further notice. The fact that people are able to carry out the transactions without incurring other costs and time in movement from store to store or going to banks as well as accumulating a lot in credit also enhances the success of the mobile payment project. The world is continuing to become more and more globalized and mobile payment will only make business simpler for people all around the world. Business men who had to travel from one country to another in such of goods and in the process have to organize with different banks to transfer the money or carry the money in cash to change currency have their lives simplified for them. They simply log into the website store they need to purchase their goods from, purchase them and give their card number and authorization for the money to be transferred to the store owner all without the hustle of travelling (Pont, Guy and Raghavan 32). They can also compare the payment of different goods from different places still using the mobile phone and carry out different transactions at once. The internet and explosion of mobile adoption are both an opportunity and threat for traditional “brick and mortar” retailers. Discuss With more and more people adopting the internet and mobile marketing and shopping, the threat continues to increase for the traditional brick and mortar shops which have to pay the overhead and other costs of maintaining their businesses. Many of these kinds of businesses have closed down for lack of customers as their customers adopt online shopping using the internet and mobile technology. Others whose businesses have gone down have closed outlet shops and sent home majority of the employees as they try to figure a way out. All however is not lost for these traditional brick and mortar businesses as the internet and mobile technology has still not satisfied its customers yet. These business men can take their businesses to areas where there is no internet connectivity at all or the connectivity is slow which discourages many people to engage in online shopping (Bogaisky 2014). Busy areas and streets as well as overcrowded residential areas are the ideal locations for these traditional businesses as the internet connectivity in crowded locations is slow and hence discouraging. The other opportunity for them is to step up their customer services and marketing techniques. There are still traditional people who have yet to enjoy online shopping and they just need a little persuasion for them to return to physical shopping and especially on their off days or weekends or even as a bonding session with their families. What these traditional brick and mortar businesses require is to tap into such customers through advertising their excellent customer services and after sales service which facilitates bonding with their families. Marketing is the best way to capture such customers and this will enable that even in the internet and mobile technology explosion era, their businesses will still remain afloat. There are other traditional businesses that cannot be overtaken by the online shopping but still are threatened by the internet and mobile technology as competition increases. Such businesses include the spas and salons. The business owners can take advantage of the internet and mobile technology to advertise their products and services. They can even offer door to door or home mobile services or services such as hair, nails and facial makeups and this will ensure they not only maintain their competitive edge but gain potential customers for their other services in their business. Taking the services and products will help advertise the business as well as keep the business operating in its traditional brick and mortar status without the risk of extinction. They gain customer both ways and the internet and mobile technology does not remain a threat to them but an opportunity (Lowrey 85). Work Cited Bogaisky, Jeremy. “Retail In Crisis: These Are the Changes Brick-And-Mortar Stores Must Make.” Forbes, February 12th, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2014/02/12/retail-in-crisis-these-are-the- changes-brick-and-mortar-stores-must-make/ Dutton, William. The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Lowrey, Tina. Brick & Mortar Shopping in the 21st Century. Washington DC: Psychology Press, 2012. Montague, David. Essentials of Online payment Security and Fraud Prevention. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Pont, Ana, Guy Pujolle and Raghavan, S. Communications: Wireless in Developing Countries and Networks of the Future. New York: Springer, 2010. Schneider, Gary. Electronic Commerce. New York: Cengage Learning, 2014. Wang, Faye. Internet Jurisdiction and Choice of Law: Legal Practices in the EU, US and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Zuchora- Walske, Christine. Internet Censorship: Protecting Citizens or Trampling Freedom? New York: Twenty First Century Books, 2010. Read More