E-Business in India

Business and industries have faced several changes from the agriculture society to information society. The recent change is due to Information Technology (IT) affecting many businesses and industries. It is changing the nature of business from the traditional way of doing business. The complete change in traditional business is due to IT. This is known as e-business transformation. The Indian manufacturing industry is undergoing this IT-enabled change and is still under process of click and brick system. Indian automobile companies are stressing the importance of e-business in the domestic automotive industry. The main aim of the chapter is to explain how the manufacturing and especially the automobile industry business has changed from traditional brick and mortar business to click and brick e-business. This chapter provides a study of e-business transformation in manufacturing industry in India using Flexible Systems (SAP-LAP) Methodology. The SAP-LAP stands for Situation-Actors-Process and Learning-Action-Performance. This methodology helps for understanding systematic nature of e-business transformation. The explanation of stakeholder flexibility due to e-business transformation is Industry will be explained.

Adoption and Implementation Obstacles of E-Banking Services

All forms of business organizations are being drawn into e-commerce and e-business. Electronic commerce is a powerful new way of conducting business and one that has presented many opportunities for enterprises and consumers. Yet, despite its many advantages there is evidence that it has not been adopted in full and has not reached its full potential. The global nature of e-Business provides developing countries with a unique opportunity in market places that were beyond their reach. It has the potential to reduce physical trade obstacles, increase market access and trade efficiency that can provide a competitive stimulus for local entrepreneurs and organizations in developingcountries. Interests in e-commerce and electronic markets have been largely been focused on North America and Europe, and yet there are many interesting developments happening in some of the developing countries which have received little attention. This study aims to address these issues. This research chapter explored the potential impeding factors that could inhibit the wide adoption and use of electronic commerce applications in the Omani banking industry. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire complemented with using semi-structured interviews, and review of internal banking documents. The participants in the study were IS executives and managers. The results provide a pragmatic picture on the adoption and use of e-commerce applications in this country’s core sector. One of the major inhibiting factors in this study is the lack of top management support. Top management perspectives and attitudes toward e-commerce adoption and use play an important role in developing internal IS/IT competencies and success. Information privacy and security issues were identified as serious inhibiting factors on the successful adoption and use of electronic banking applications in the financial sector. Other factors such as power relationships (e.g., conflict between managers that arise during the process of IS/IT adoption), and lack of investment in e-commerce applications were found less significant as inhibiting factors. Although this is a context specific research, the findings should be relevant to other businesses in Arab countries in particular and developing countries in general when contemplating their e-commerce strategies.

Offshore Outsourcing

In an attempt to influence their pace of development, developing countries around the world try and influence the rate of investment (especially foreign private investments) in their economy. These countries attempt to influence investor decisions by matching and changing their portfolio with that of foreign investors’ needs. However, to make the country portfolio impressive, a country requires massive investment in infrastructure and other portfolio variables which brings countries at an impasse. This chapter discusses the viability of increasing income as a way out. This leads to another important issue as to how to increase revenue of a country with its limited portfolio of strengths. Recent developments in information technology and the Internet have led to a simple solution to this - offshore outsourcing. Outsourcing as a strategy has been around for many years. Traditionally, companies used to outsource their activities to independent suppliers who were best, but the choice was made from the suppliers located in the vicinity of the outsourcing company for easier coordination and control of the activities of the partner. However, due to developments in e-commerce, distance has become a relative term. Exchange of information in a fraction of a minute, irrespective of physical distance, has made it possible for companies to widen their horizons and look for independent suppliers in different nations — offshore outsourcing.

Evolution of Telecommunications and Mobile Communications in India

Electronic business is a concept that has been adopted by businesses all over the world. The developing world takes it as a viable economic opportunity to catch up with other economies. A significant underlying factor in this development is the evolution of telecommunication infrastructure, especially in developing economies. In this chapter, we have synthesized this critical evolution in India. In the process, we found that there is a second layer of evolution into mobile communications and subsequently mobile business, which is gaining momentum in India. We conclude with an outlook for the future for these developments.

E-Marketplace Adoption Success Factors

This chapter introduces e-marketplace adoption success factors as a challenge and opportunity for a small developing country. The chapter offers insights into e-marketplace definitions with e-marketplaces’ business models and business processes. Further it describes opportunities for, and threats to e-marketplaces’ use. Success factors of e-marketplace adoption are divided into three groups: organizational factors, e-marketplace factors and environmental factors. The authors argue that each of these group influences significantly an organization’s e-readiness for e-marketplace adoption. The importance of each of these factors is described on the basis of the results of research, conducted in 119 large organizations in Slovenia. Furthermore, the authors believe that by understanding these factors, organizations will be able to prepare better for successful e-marketplace adoption and successfully exploit important competitive advantages offered by new e-commerce business models.

Role of Culture in Electronic Business Diffusion in Developing Countries

This chapter includes discussions pertaining to the role of culture in influencing electronic business diffusion in developing countries. In this chapter, the author discusses specific cultural factors and their influences on the individual components required for Internet rollout and use in developing countries. Cases from developing countries are also presented to illustrate the effects culture produces on the levels of electronic business technology usage. The discussions of the lessons learned from those cases along with the theoretical foundations presented throughout the chapter, culminate in the author’s provision of recommendations to the reader, deemed necessary for effectively increasing the diffusion of electronic business in developing countries as well as for reaping the potential benefits generated from its use.

Challenges and Opportunities for Information Brokers in Brazil

Information is no longer just a control tool for managers — it is a basic resource as important as raw materials or the human resource. Consequently, it is a significant managerial responsibility to decide which kind of information should support the organization’s decision-making process. This is particularly the case when expanding the business. This chapter presents the results of a study examining the information needs of 796 Southern-Brazilian enterprises contemplating business growth. The survey is part of a program of research into information intermediation via the Internet. The results show a marked convergence of the sample’s informational needs, but also some significant differences among specific business groups. In addition, the research has surfaced some clear “core” of informational needs, supported by some “peripheral” needs. The chapter concludes with a summary, reflections and some future research directions.

An Overview of E-Commerce Security and Critical Issues for Developing Countries

Deficient information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure, lack of awareness on e-commerce issues, network payment and secure transaction services present enormous challenges to developing countries. For e-commerce to be a viable tool for trade in developing countries (DC), a “secure infrastructure” which makes possible the electronic exchange of financial transactions is a necessary prerequisite. There has been significant research on e-commerce security, although most of these studies have focused on developed countries. Less attention has been paid to underdeveloped countries that face different circumstances due to the above challenges. From technological perspectives, this work discusses important issues of e-commerce security for developing countries in regards to lack of fraud repression and justice in those countries.

E-Readiness and Successful E-Commerce Diffusion in Developing Countries

This chapter explores the impact of organizational and environmental e-readiness factors on the successful diffusion of e-commerce. It presents a conceptual framework of e-readiness and e-commerce success, identifies the constructs and variables to operationalize the framework and reports the e-readiness and e-commerce success assessments of a sample of business organizations from South Africa. Business managers and policy makers, by understanding the e-readiness factors affecting e-commerce diffusion can make effective decisions to exploit specific e-commerce opportunities. Furthermore, researchers can use the developed framework to study the level of e-commerce adoption, the success of the process that led to it and the benefits to users, organizations and the economy.

Critical Success Factors for E-Brokerage

The scope of this chapter is to investigate the critical factors for the success of stock brokerage processes via the Web, using financial portals on the Brazilian Internet, from the perspective of the investor. The framework of the online stock trading system is presented in order to compare the traditional form of stock brokerage with that made possible by the Internet and discuss some of the issues regarding intermediation and disintermediation that has occurred in the process. Conclusions are drawn based on a survey conducted with Brazilian investors who operate using Internet stockbrokers for the intermediation of their stock operations. The findings were analyzed from the perspective of the theoretical reference framework created and outlined here. Critical aspects for the success of stock brokerage over the Internet, from the investor’s standpoint, were assessed and presented, while areas for further research were also identified.