TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING 1. What is the e-commerce? How does it relate to knowledge management, knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing? E-commerce is the ability to conduct business via electronic networks such as Internet and World Wide Web. The knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing life cycle includes three major e-commerce applications: business-to-consumer (B2C), business-tobusiness (B2B), and business-within-business. 2. Contrast e-commerce with e-business. E-commerce is the marketing, buying and selling of products services and data on the Internet. E-business is the integration of business processes and enterprises information systems to create new business models. Without e-business models e-commerce cannot be implemented successfully. 3. Do you think the advantages of e-commerce outweigh the limitations? Explain. E-commerce has many advantages such as low cost, better services, customization, and many others. The main limitations are the security and integrity in terms of system and data. It clear from the expansion of e-commerce and the growth of commercial transactions over the Internet that the advantages outweigh the limitations. 4. What is groupware? How does it differ from e-mail or the telephone? Groupware is software that helps people work together, especially for organizations geographically distributed. Telephone and e-mail are the most popular and less sophisticated groupware technologies. Newsgroups, chat rooms, and video conferencing are some other groupware technologies implemented to facilitate communication and knowledge sharing inside a company or among partners. 5. What guidelines are involved in controlling chat room sessions? Some of the rules used in session control include the following: a. Make sure users do not impose a session on others. b. Conversational group members should be identified before being allowed into a session. c. The system should control unnecessary interruptions or simultaneous transmissions that might result in confusion or chaos. d. A group member should be allowed to enter and leave at any time.
e. Make sure that there is a ceiling on how many people are going to participate and how long the session should last. f. Assign a moderator who controls access to a shared whiteboard or a repository and how long access should last. g. Ensure anonymity, privacy, and accountability at all times. 6. In what way is security a limitation of e-commerce? Millions of potential customers are reluctant to give their personal and financial data via Internet, which prevents e-commerce from expanding. 7. Distinguish between: a. value chain and supply chain management b. intranet and extranet c. e-commerce and Internet a. A value chain is a way of organizing the activities of a business so that each activity provides added value or productivity to the total operation of the business. Supply chain management integrates the networking and communication infrastructure between businesses and their suppliers so that there is the assurance of having the right product in the right place, at the right time, at the right price, and in the right condition. b. Intranet is a private network based on the same technology as the Internet, but restricted to an organization, its employees and select customers. Extranet is extended intranets that share information with business partners via the Internet. c. E-commerce is the ability to conduct business via electronic networks such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. Internet is an infrastructure that links thousands of networks to one another; the information highway that makes the information stored on thousands of computers worldwide available to millions of people everywhere. 8. Cite the key benefits of an intranet. Is it beneficial in every type of knowledge exchange? Why or why not? There are several benefits to an intranet: a. It links employees and managers around the clock. b. Companies gain access to their primary resources. c. It is the foundation for developing an enterprise-wide information system and a model for international information management and collaborative computing. d. There are cost advantages and ease of access, plus portability and scalability. 9. Briefly describe the uses of the Web? It can be a tool for gathering opinions, exchanging knowledge, and trying out new ideas. It can also be a vehicle for inexpensive, easy mass distribution of information, products, and services. Dr. Faouzi Maddouri 10-2
10. What is the relationship between an intranet and a groupware? If intended for internal use, groupware applications cannot operate without the implementation of intranets. KNOWLEDGE EXERCISES 1. How does the Web fit with knowledge sharing? Discuss. The Web is a medium used for allowing people to exchange or share knowledge via the Internet. One could view the Web as the vehicle and the Internet as the highway. It is an opportunity where people can access, confront, and negotiate experience, information, and strategies for problem solving 24 hours a day, year round. 2. Technically, there is no difference between the Internet and intranet, except that only select people are allowed to connect to the intranet. Evaluate this statement in the light of the way intranets are designed. Intranets are designed to accommodate knowledge sharing within an organization, but with the technical and networking features that also allows such exchange via the Internet. In other words, intranets have inherent features of the Internet, implying worldwide exchange. 3. Do you think having an intranet environment is the best way to communicate within the firm? Assess alternative modes of communication, and report your findings in class. It all depends on the nature of the exchange, sensitivity of the information, and timing. Obviously, if A wants to discuss an urgent message with B, which requires face-to-face meeting, the manual method (human interface) would be the right protocol. Use of the intranet is designed to exchange information in the interest of time, but the nature of information is impersonal and can afford to wait for action once received. 4. If intranets offer so many benefits, why do you think some companies resist having them? Is it the size of the firm? The nature of the product? The caliber of personnel? It could be all these reasons and more. The intranet is designed to bring people together, based on the assumption that participants are computer literate, are familiar with the basics of the technology, and have jobs that are time sensitive. By and large, intranets reside more in larger organizations than small firms. Some reasons are cost, justification, and affordability. 5. How does the Web affect our traditional sales channels, partners, and suppliers? Dr. Faouzi Maddouri 10-3
An intranet links knowledge workers and smart managers around the clock and automates intra-organizational traffic. The Web, per se, allows outsiders like sales, partners, and suppliers to link to the organization to conduct business through its intranet. With this in mind, we look at B2B when a company Web site links two or more trading partners together. This is where we bring up the extranet as the backbone of the e-business future. 6. How can a company best prepare to use the Web as a channel for knowledge sharing? A major issue is security of the channel or lines used for knowledge sharing. A second issue is a selective set of authorization schemes to ensure the right people sharing the right knowledge with the right people to prevent sensitive knowledge leakage. People within the company and others outside the firm must realize the importance of using the Web for knowledge sharing so that there is minimum misuse of the exchange or the Web as a channel. 7. Find a company that chooses not to use e-business in its business. What factorsor problems does it consider in staying away from e-commerce? This exercise might take some time surfing the Internet or journals like e-world or Computerworld. The idea is to see for what reasons or under what conditions e-business is not that attractive as a technology or as an interface between businesses. When e- business is not justified or deemed unattractive, it is because the businesses involved are not ready for the technology to justify the investment, one business is reluctant to invest in the interface because of the limited volume of business with the other, or security and sensitive information is not in the interest of either business to exchange. 8. Go on the Internet and find a tutorial on the World Wide Web. Review the tutorial and explain why you think it is easy (or difficult) as a learning tool. Virtually any search engine has a subject line, where if you enter the words WWW tutorial it should display a number of sites that provide such a tutorial. 9. Is the Internet different from other media for knowledge transfer? It is different, in the sense that the Internet is global and 24/7 free highway for knowledge transfer or exchange. Students should be encouraged to discuss this question in a team environment for class exchange. 10. Give an example of how e-business can help a firm reach its customers in a very lowcost fashion. Just about any company with chain outlets should be a good example. For example, WalMart stores have e-business, where once merchandise is below a certain point, it triggers an electronic alert to various suppliers to ship so many units of certain products to be delivered by a specific date or face penalties. There is virtually no human intervention in this business-to-business scheme. Dr. Faouzi Maddouri 10-4
11. Access a chat room of your choice on the Internet, and report your experience. The author entered into an ACM chat room, during which time there were questions and answers exchanged. The problem with a chat room is time delay between the time one sends a question and the time answers are relayed. Also, it is so artificial that the whole process is somewhat mechanical. 12. Check the following Web sites to learn more about practices in electronic commerce: a. Let customers help themselves: www.got.com, and www.edmunds.com b. Nurture customer relationships: www.amazon.com c. Target markets of one: www.wsi.com d. Build a community of interest: www.cnet.com Students should focus on the specificities of each Web site to see how easily, how well, or how clearly they can see the mission specified in each site. 13. Discuss the value chain by visiting the FedEx Web site at www.fedex.com. How does it relate to knowledge transfer? Knowledge sharing? For FedEx, there are several links to the value chain. The critical sequential ones are: Request for pick up (inbound logistics) Picking up the package by a specific time at the customer s premises (pickup area) Scanning the package and transmitting routing information to the collection point well before it arrives there knowledge transfer The computer at the collection point loads the package on a specific truck or aboard one of its many planes to destination (operations). The computer triggers a routing plan for the customer to track the package at any time all the way to destination knowledge sharing. At destination, the package is placed on a local truck for delivery to the customer (outbound logistics). Meanwhile, the customer knows when the package will be delivered within minutes of actual delivery time. 14. Internet participation will alter the traditional form of knowledge sharing. Do you agree? Locate information on the Internet that might support or negate this statement. There are probably as many sources that support one view or the other. It would be interesting to see what the students end up with. 15. Interview a businessperson or a technical person who is involved with e-business. What has been his or her experience in incorporating the technology into the company s dayto-day media for knowledge transfer? What performance criteria are used to judge the success (or failure) of e-business in the business? Write a short news release for the college or university newspaper to share your knowledge. Dr. Faouzi Maddouri 10-5
Students should be alerted to preparing in advance for the interview. This includes a set of well thought out questions by quality, phraseology, and sequence. 16. You are an Internet consultant to a company that wants you to do a 1-hour presentation to top management about the importance and potential of the Internet in the company s electronic knowledge creation and exchange. What information do you need before you prepare the presentations? Write a 3-page report detailing the content of the speech. I would need to know in advance the level of usage (if any) of the company s knowledge about and use of the Internet, how well they believe in and practice knowledge exchange, and the level of technology in present use. Then, the pitch and coverage of the presentation would be at the level of that company s top management. 17. Visit a large firm or an intranet site. Identify the technology that operates the site. This on-site field trip requires giving students enough time to locate and visit such a firm. The easier and quicker route is to have them visit the school s intranet site and learn from the network administrator the history behind the site, what it has to offer, some of the problems they face, etc. 18. Identify a large retailer in your area and determine whether it is ready to adopt an intranet and an extranet. Interview the head of the IT division and learn about the technology in use. Report your findings to class. Like exercise #17, this field visit requires knowledge of intranets and extranets, their backbone and inner workings, and something about ways they fit in traditional technology. 19. Design an intranet (on paper) for a small bank of 65 employees. Explain the details of the infrastructure to a local IT specialist. What did he or she find right and wrong with your design? Write a 4-page report summarizing your experience. See Figure 10.1 in the text (p. 280) for a conceptual model of an intranet. The units connected as part of an intranet in a small bank are Operations, Loans, Customer Service, Trust, and Security. Dr. Faouzi Maddouri 10-6