Assignment 1:
E- commerce Business Model Report & Prototype Website
Learning objectives and graduate skills tested
1. demonstrate an understanding of the key drivers and challenges faced by digital enterprises that include technology infrastructure, business processes, social media, consumer behaviour and global markets (Problem solving)
2. demonstrate the ability to research and critically evaluate e-commerce business models to gain an understanding of their business application for transforming digital enterprises (Academic, professional and digital literacy)
3. demonstrate the practical skills required to formulate and evaluate a coherent plan for a digital enterprise, develop a prototype business website based on this plan and document and critically evaluate the end-product (Problem solving).
4. demonstrate the ability to write effectively in a clear and concise manner in report style for senior management (Written and oral communication)
Report: E-commerce Business Model
Your report should include a title page, Table of Contents (including List of Tables and List of Figures if applicable) and Appendices.
Note: Make sure to state your name and student number in the report on the title page. State the word count of the report (Introduction to Conclusions & Recommendations)
Your report should include a letter of transmittal, executive summary, and introduction to the report.
Note: Make sure to nominate a name for your prototype website and provide a brief rationale why you used this name in the Introduction to the report.
Report Section 1
Disintermediation means the removal of the market middlemen – e.g. the distributors, wholesalers, and other intermediaries – between producers and consumers.
Some of the widely popular example of disintermediation by online businesses are:
– Amazon that continues to use disintermediation as a successful business strategy in the publishing industry, technology industry and supply chain;
– Travel agents are disintermediated by online travel websites such as Expedia and
Booking.com;
– The taxi industry is currently being disrupted by Uber;
– The hotel industry is disrupted by Airbnb; and
– The music store is disrupted by Apple iTunes.
Conduct a disintermediation impact analysis in the industry relevant to your proposed online business and assigned business category.
When you conduct a disintermediation impact analysis, you have to discuss if there is already some evidence of disintermediation of markets in your relevant industry. If you did not find any concrete evidence, you may assume what impact your online business may have towards the disintermediation of markets. You have to discuss the impact of disintermediation by your online business on the market, the producers, and the consumers.
You can research more about disintermediation strategies by the online businesses mentioned above and discuss some of the strategies in the context of your online business.
Report Section 2
Simply put, a business model is a plan for making money. The textbook explains eight components of a business model. Discuss the following four components of the e-commerce business model for your online business:
– Value Proposition – how does your online business fulfil customer needs?
– Competitive Advantage – what are the special advantages of your online business in the market that others don’t have?
– Market Strategy – what are the plans of your online business to promote its products and services in order to attract customers?
– Organisational Development – what types of organisational structures are necessary in your online business to carry out the business plan?
Report Section 3
There are three most popular types of search engine advertising: keyword paid inclusions “sponsored links”; advertising keywords (such as Google AdWords); and search engine context ads (such as Google AdSense). Discuss what types of search engine advertising would you consider for your online business and why? What are some of the issues associated with the use of search engine advertising that your business must be aware of?
Report:
Your report should include a separate conclusions and recommendations section.
– Conclusions provide a summary of your key findings from the body of the report.
– Recommendations provide a summary of the recommendations to your online business based on the research conducted in the report.
Report: Journal
Prepare a journal that records your activities and research related to completing this assignment. In date order, clearly list the following:
– Date of research & project activity
– Full description of activity / discussion
– Time duration of the activity
– Web sites visited to collect information; other references accessed (using Harvard AGPS Referencing style – submitted separate to the List of References in the report).
Submit this journal as Appendix 1 in the Report. Any references to web pages and online documents, such as white papers, should be listed at the end of the Journal.
