Introduction To E-Business - Essay Example

Introduction to E-business B2B e-business of Tata Steel Tata Steel, the steel giant of India has entered the e-business market through its new initiative called e-procurement to help its suppliers across the globe. The new e-procurement site of Tata Steel is the company's Business-2-Business (B2B) procurement platform. It is believed that all the suppliers of Tata Steel who become e-partners would definitely reap a lot of benefits through this new initiative of the company (Tata Steel, 2004).

The site offers Web based multi-directional flow of transactional and business information, between transaction participants which forms the backbone of the Internet revolution as applicable in the B-to-B business scenario. All cross-organizational elements of the Inbound Supply Chain, including different aspects like Enquiry/RFQ details, Online and Offline Quotation logging, Order Placement, Delivery compliance monitoring, Order amendments, Material Receipt and Payment tracking are covered and also relevant transactions can be made through this e-procurement site.

In addition to these new features and benefits, value-added services such as Negotiation Chat Room with Bid revision tracking (Reverse Auction), Transactional correspondence (mails initiated on a transaction hitting appropriate mailboxes) and e-Mail notifications and acknowledgements, are also offered (Tata Steel, 2004). While the site incorporates all the basic functionalities that may be required, the company is still putting in continuous effort towards providing value-added services and features.2. Taobao - China's leading C2C vendorTaobao.

com, China's leading consumer e-commerce website is a division of the Alibaba Group (Alibaba Group, 2007). Taobao is a shopping marketplace for consumers in China. Founded by parent Alibaba Group, it facilitates transactions between individual consumers and a wide range of sellers such as retailers, wholesalers, and other individuals. Similar to eBay, sellers are able to post new and used goods for sale on the Taobao marketplace either through a fixed price or negotiated sale or by auction (Crunch Base, 2008).

Since its launch in May 2003, Taobao has become China's leading C2C and B2C marketplace, surpassing competitors on all key metrics, including website traffic, active users, product listings, and transaction volume. Taobao is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group (Alibaba Group, 2007). Taobao used free-service strategy to enter the market when it launched its C2C business and decided to keep transactions free of charge until 2008 (chen, 2007). To get the target customers, the company provides online transactions as its major products, and also uses marketing strategies such as pricing and promotion to convert prospects into first-time customers and to win back dissatisfied customers.

Additionally, Taobao encourages customers to make product design and service suggestions (chen, 2007).3. P2P e-business of PayPal P2P (Peer-to-Peer) is an e-business which is basically a form of file sharing communications in which each participant has the same capabilities and either party can initiate a communication session. PayPal is an example of a P2P payment system (eBusiness Connections, 2006). Peer-to-peer model lends itself particularly well to the design of decentralized business transaction processing systems.

Peer-to-peer systems have evolved and matured considerably and are capable of providing practical and satisfactory solutions to many of the problems that arise in the conversion from a centralized to a de-centralized system design (Androutsellis, 2004). PayPal, the trusted leader in online payments, enables buyers and businesses to send and receive money online. PayPal has over 100 million member accounts in 190 countries and regions. It's accepted by merchants everywhere, both on and off eBay (PayPal, 1999).

The service allows anyone to pay in any way they prefer, including through credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances, without sharing financial information. PayPal has quickly become a global leader in online payment solutions with more than 164 million accounts worldwide. Available in 190 markets and 17 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global ecommerce by making payments possible across different locations, currencies, and languages. Word Count: 631BibliographyAlibaba Group.

(2007, July 17). Taobao - Key Metrics. Retrieved June 11, 2008, from Alibaba Group: http://www.alibaba.com/aboutalibaba/aligroup/press_releases070718.htmlAndroutsellis, S. (2004). Performing peer-to-peer e-business transactions. Athens, Greece: Athens University of Economics and Business.chen, J. (2007). The Nature of the emerging C2C electronic market in China. 9th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries (pp. 3-9). Sao Paulo, Brazil: Fudan University.

Crunch Base. (2008, February 25). Taobao. Retrieved june 11, 2008, from Crunch Base: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/taobaoeBusiness Connections. (2006, March 14). e-business terms explained. Retrieved June 11, 2008, from eBusiness Connections: http://www.e-bc.ca/pages/resources/glossary.phpPayPal. (1999, March 22). About. Retrieved June 11, 2008, from PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscrcmd=xpt/popup/OLCWhatIsPayPal-outsideTata Steel. (2004, June 21). Tata Steel's B2B Procurement Platform.

Retrieved June 11, 2008, from TATA STEEL: http://www.tatasteel.co.in/eproc_http/