E-Commerce and E-Business/E-Commerce in Developing Countries

 E-Commerce and E-Business

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Preface — Introduction — Concepts and Definitions — E-Commerce Applications: Issues and Prospects — E-Commerce in Developing Countries — Notes — For Further Reading — Acknowledgment — About the Author

Contents

• 1 How important is e-commerce to SMEs in developing countries? How big is the SME e-business market?
• 2 Is e-commerce helpful to the women sector? How has it helped in empowering women?
• 3 What is the role of government in the development of e-commerce in developing countries?

How important is e-commerce to SMEs in developing countries? How big is the SME e-business market?

For SMEs in developing countries e-commerce poses the advantages of reduced information search costs and transactions costs (i.e., improving efficiency of operations-reducing time for payment, credit processing, and the like). Surveys show that information on the following is most valuable to SMEs: customers and markets, product design, process technology, and financing source and terms. The Internet and other ICTs facilitate access to this information.43 In addition, the Internet allows automatic packaging and distribution of information (including customized information) to specific target groups.
However, there is doubt regarding whether there is enough information on the Web that is relevant and valuable for the average SME in a developing country that would make investment in Internet access feasible. Underlying this is the fact that most SMEs in developing countries cater to local markets and therefore rely heavily on local content and information. For this reason, there is a need to substantially increase the amount and quality of local content (including local language content) on the Internet to make it useful especially to low-income entrepreneurs.44

Box. 9. ICT-4-BUS: Helping SMEs Conquer the E-Business Challenge45

The Information and Communication Technology Innovation Program for E-business and SME Development, otherwise known as the ICT-4-BUS, is an initiative by the Multilateral Investment Fund and the Information Technology for Development Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to enhance the competitiveness, productivity and efficiency of micro-entrepreneurs and SMEs in Latin America and the Carribean through the provision of increased access to ICT solutions. This is in line with the regional and worldwide effort to achieve a viable “information society.” Programs and projects under this initiative include the dissemination of region-wide best practices, computer literacy and training programs, and coordination efforts to facilitate critical access to credit and financing for the successful implementation of e-business solutions. The initiative serves as a strategic tool and a vehicle for maximizing the strong SME e-business market potential in Latin America manifested in the $23.51 billion e-business revenues reached among Latin American SMEs.46

eMarketer estimates that SME e-business revenues will increase: from $6.53 billion to $28.53 billion in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East combined; $127.25 billion in 2003 to $502.69 billion by 2005 in the Asia-Pacific region; $23.51 billion in 2003 to $89.81 billion by 2005 in Latin America; from $340.41 billion in 2003 to $971.47 billion by 2005 in Western Europe; and from $384.36 billion in 2003 to $1.18 trillion by 2005 in Northern America.
How is e-commerce useful to developing country entrepreneurs?
There are at least five ways by which the Internet and e-commerce are useful for developing country entrepreneurs:
1. It facilitates the access of artisans47 and SMEs to world markets.
2. It facilitates the promotion and development of tourism of developing countries in a global scale.
3. It facilitates the marketing of agricultural and tropical products in the global market.
4. It provides avenues for firms in poorer countries to enter into B2B and B2G supply chains.
5. It assists service-providing enterprises in developing countries by allowing them to operate more efficiently and directly provide specific services to customers globally.

Box 10. IFAT: Empowering the Agricultural Sector through B2C E-Commerce

The International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT) is a collective effort to empower the agricultural sector of developing countries. It is composed of 100 organizations (including 70 organizations in developing countries) in 42 countries. Members of the organization collectively market about $200-400 million annually in handicrafts and agricultural products from lower income countries. In addition, IFAT provides assistance to developing country producers in terms of logistical support, quality control, packing and export.

Box 11. Offshore Data Processing Centers: E-commerce at Work in the Service Sector

Offshore data processing centers, which provide data transcription and “back office” functions to service enterprises such as insurance companies, airlines, credit card companies and banks, among others, are prevalent in developing countries and even in lowwage developed countries. In fact, customer support call centers of dot-coms and other ICT/e-commerce companies are considered one of the fastest growing components of offshore services in these countries. India and the Philippines pride themselves in being the major locations of offshore data entry and computer programming in Asia, with India having established a sophisticated software development capability with highly skilled personnel to support it.48

Developing country SMEs in the services sector have expanded their market with the increased ability to transact directly with overseas or international customers and to advertise their services. This is especially true for small operators of tourism-related services. Tourism boards lend assistance in compiling lists of service providers by category in their Web sites.
In addition, for SMEs in developing countries the Internet is a quick, easy, reliable and inexpensive means for acquiring online technical support and software tools and applications, lodging technical inquiries, requesting repairs, and ordering replacement parts or new tooling.49
The Internet is also instrumental in enabling SMEs in developing countries to join discussion groups with their peers across the globe who are engaged in the same business, and thereby share information, experiences and even solutions to specific technical problems. This is valuable especially to entrepreneurs who are geographically isolated from peers in the same business.50
What is the extent of ICT usage among SMEs in developing countries?
Currently the Internet is most commonly used by SME firms in developing countries for communication and research; the Internet is least used for e-commerce. E-mail is considered an important means of communication. However, the extent of use is limited by the SMEs’ recognition of the importance of face-to-face interaction with their buyers and suppliers. The level of confidence of using e-mail for communication with both suppliers and buyers increases only after an initial face-to-face interaction. E-mail, therefore, becomes a means for maintaining a business relationship. It is typically the first step in e-commerce, as it allows a firm to access information and maintain communications with its suppliers and buyers. This can then lead to more advanced e-commerce activities.
ICT usage patterns among SMEs in developing countries show a progression from the use of the Internet for communication (primarily e-mail) to use of the Internet for research and information search, to the development of Web sites with static information about a firm’s goods or services, and finally to use of the Internet for e-commerce.

Box 12. E-Mail and the Internet in Developing Countries

To date, e-mail is the predominant and most important use of the Internet in developing countries. In Bangladesh, 82% of Internet use is attributed to e-mail, vis-à-vis 5% in the United States. The Web accounts for about 70% of Internet use in the U.S.51 This is due to the relatively high Internet access costs in most developing countries. However, the Internet is considered an inexpensive, although imperfect, alternative to the telephone or facsimile machine-i.e., it is inexpensive due to the higher speed of information transmission, and imperfect because it does not provide two-way communication in real time unlike the telephone.52

Many firms use the Internet to communicate with suppliers and customers only as a channel for maintaining business relationships. Once firms develop a certain level of confidence on the benefits of e-mail in the conduct of business transactions and the potential of creating sales from its use, they usually consider the option of developing their own Web site.
Studies commissioned by The Asia Foundation on the extent of ICT use among SMEs in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, show common use patterns, such as:
1. wide use of the Internet for e-mail because of the recognized cost and efficiency benefits;
2. use of Web sites more for promotion than for online sales or e-commerce, indicating that SMEs in these countries are still in the early stages of e-commerce;
3. common use of the Internet for basic research; and
4. inclination to engage more in offline transactions than in e-commerce because of security concerns.
SMEs go through different stages in adopting e-commerce. They start with creating a Web site primarily to advertise and promote the company and its products and services. When these firms begin generating traffic, inquiries and, eventually, sales through their Web sites, they are likely to engage in e-commerce.

Box 13. Women and Global Web-Based Marketing: The Case of the Guyanan Weavers’ Cooperative

The Guyanan Weavers’ Cooperative is an organization founded by 300 women from the Wapishana and Macushi tribes in Guyana, northern South America. The cooperative revived the ancient art of hammock weaving using 19th century accounts and illustrations of the hammocks made by European travelers and the cultivation of cotton on small family plots and hand-weaving. The organization then hired someone to create a Web site, which was instrumental in bringing their wares online. Not long after, in the mid-1990s, the group of weavers (the Rupununi Weavers Society) was able to sell hammocks to Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, the Smithsonian Institute, and the British Museum. Since 1998, they have sold about 20 hammocks through the Internet at $1,000 per piece. This case also shows that SMEs have great potential to compete in markets for high-end, bespoke products despite the low sales volume.

In addition, many Web sites providing market and technical information, agronomic advice and risk management tools for SMEs (to coffee and tea farmers in developing countries, for example) have emerged.53
What are the obstacles, problems and issues faced by SMEs in their use of ICT in business or in engaging in e-commerce?
According to recent surveys conducted in select Southeast Asian countries, the perceived external barriers to e-commerce include the unfavorable economic environment, the high cost of ICT, and security concerns. The internal barriers are poor internal communications infrastructure within SME firms, lack of ICT awareness and knowledge as well as inadequacy of ICT-capable and literate managers and workers, insufficient financial resources, and the perceived lack of relevance or value-added of ICTs to their business.
In general, the main issues of concern that act as barriers to the increased uptake of information technology and e-commerce are the following:

• Lack of awareness and understanding of the value of e-commerce. Most SMEs in developing countries have not taken up e-commerce or use the Internet because they fail to see the value of e-commerce to their businesses. Many think e-commerce is suited only to big companies and that it is an additional cost that will not bring any major returns on investment.

• Lack of ICT knowledge and skills. People play a vital role in the development of e-commerce. However, technology literacy is still very limited in most developing countries. There is a shortage of skilled workers among SMEs, a key issue in moving forward with using information technology in business. There are also doubts about whether SMEs can indeed take advantage of the benefits of accessing the global market through the Internet, given their limited capabilities in design, distribution, marketing, and post-sale support. While the Internet can be useful in accessing international design expertise, SMEs are not confident that they can command a premium on the prices for their goods unless they offer product innovations. They can, however, capitalize on returns on the basis that they are the low cost providers.

Furthermore, more often than not, the premium in design has already been captured-for example, in the textile products industry-by the branded fashion houses. SMEs doubt whether Web presence will facilitate their own brand recognition on a global scale.54

• Financial costs. Cost is a crucial issue. The initial investment for the adoption of a new technology is proportionately heavier for small than for large firms. The high cost of computers and Internet access is a barrier to the uptake of e-commerce. Faced with budgetary constraints, SMEs consider the additional costs of ICT spending as too big an investment without immediate returns.

Many SMEs find marketing on the Internet expensive. Having a Web site is not equivalent to having a well-visited Web site. One reason is that there may be no critical mass of users. Another reason is the challenge of anonymity for SMEs. Because of the presence of numerous entrepreneurs in the Internet, it seems that brand recognition matters in order to be competitive. Moreover, it is not enough that a Web site is informative and user-friendly; it should also be updated frequently. Search engines must direct queries to the Web site, and news about the site must be broadly disseminated. Significantly, the experience of many OECD countries attests to the fact that the best e-marketing strategies are not better substitutes for the conventional form of media.55 One solution may be to encourage several SMEs to aggregate their information on a common Web site, which in turn would have the responsibility of building recognition/branding by hyperlinking or updating, for example.

• Infrastructure. The national network/physical infrastructure of many developing countries is characterized by relatively low teledensity, a major barrier to e-commerce. There are also relatively few main phone lines for business use among SMEs.

• Security. Ensuring security of payments and privacy of online transactions is key to the widespread acceptance and adoption of e-commerce. While the appropriate policies are in place to facilitate e-commerce, lack of trust is still a barrier to using the Internet to make online transactions. Moreover, credit card usage in many developing countries is still relatively low.56

Also, consumers are reluctant to use the Internet for conducting transactions with SMEs due to the uncertainty of the SMEs’ return policy and use of data.

• Other privacy- and security-related issues.57 While security is commonly used as the catch-all word for many different reasons why individuals and firms do not engage in extensive e-commerce and use of Internet-based technologies, there are other related reasons and unresolved issues, such as tax evasion, privacy and anonymity, fraud adjudication, and legal liability on credit cards. In many countries, cash is preferred not only for security reasons but also because of a desire for anonymity on the part of those engaged in tax evasion or those who simply do not want others to know where they are spending their money. Others worry that there is lack of legal protection against fraud (i.e., there is no provision for adjudicating fraud and there may be no legal limit on liability, say, for a lost or stolen credit card). It is necessary to distinguish these concerns from the general security concerns (i.e., transaction privacy, protection and security) since they may not be addressed by the employment of an effective encryption method (or other security measure).

Is e-commerce helpful to the women sector? How has it helped in empowering women?

In general, the Internet and e-commerce have empowered sectors previously discriminated against. The Guyanan experience can attest to this.
Women have gained a foothold in many e-commerce areas. In B2C e-commerce, most success stories of women-empowered enterprises have to do with marketing unique products to consumers with disposable income. The consumers are found largely in developed countries, implying that there is a need for sufficient infrastructure for the delivery of products for the business to prosper and establish credibility. For example, if an enterprise can venture into producing digital goods such as music or software that can be transmitted electronically or if such goods can be distributed and/or delivered locally, then this is the option that is more feasible and practicable.
Aside from the Guyanan experience, there are many more successful cases of e-commerce ventures that the women sector can emulate. Some concrete examples are: Tortasperu.com ( http://www.tortasperu.com.pe), a business involving the marketing cakes in Peru run by women in several Peruvian cities; Ethiogift ( http://www.ethiogift.com), involving Ethiopians buying sheep and other gifts over the Internet to deliver to their families in other parts of the country, thereby dispensing with the physical delivery of goods abroad; and the Rural Women’s Association of the Northern Province of South Africa, which uses the Web to advertise its chickens to rich clients in Pietersburg.58
While most of the examples involve B2C e-commerce, it must be noted that women are already engaged in wholesale distribution businesses in developing countries. Thus, they can begin to penetrate B2B or B2G markets.

Box 14. Women Empowerment in Bangladesh: The Case of the Grameen Village Phone Network

The Grameen Village Phone Network is a classic example of women’s empowerment in Bangladesh. Operators of the village phones are all poor women (who have been selected for their clean and strong credit record). These village phones are regularly visited by members of male-dominated villages. Notably, the women entrepreneurs (village operators) enjoy wider discretion in expending their profits from their phone services than with their household income.

What is the role of government in the development of e-commerce in developing countries?

While it is generally agreed that the private sector should take the lead role in the development and use of e-commerce, the government plays an instrumental role in encouraging e-commerce growth through concrete practicable measures such as:
1. Creating a favorable policy environment for e-commerce; and
2. Becoming a leading-edge user of e-commerce and its applications in its operations, and a provider to citizens of e-government services, to encourage its mass use.
What is a favorable policy environment for e-commerce?
Among the public policy issues in electronic commerce that governments should take heed of are:

• “bridging the digital divide” or promoting access to inexpensive and easy access to information networks;

• legal recognition of e-commerce transactions;

• consumer protection from fraud;

• protection of consumers’ right to privacy;

• legal protection against cracking (or unauthorized access to computer systems); and

• protection of intellectual property.

Measures to address these issues must be included in any country’s policy and legal framework for e-commerce. It is important that government adopt policies, laws and incentives that focus on promoting trust and confidence among e-commerce participants and developing a national framework that is compatible with international norms on e-commerce (covering for instance, contract enforcement, consumer protection, liability assignment, privacy protection, intellectual property rights, cross-border trade, and improvement of delivery infrastructure, among others59).
How can government use e-commerce60?
Government can use e-commerce in the following ways:

• E-procurement. Government agencies should be able to trade electronically with all suppliers using open standards-through ‘agency enablement’ programs, ‘supplier enablement’ programs, and e-procurement information systems.

• Customs clearance. With the computerization of customs processes and operations (i.e., electronic submission, processing and electronic payment; and automated systems for data entry to integrate customs tables, codes and pre-assessment), one can expect more predictable and more precise information on clearing time and delivery shipments, and increased legitimate revenues.

• Tax administration. This includes a system for electronic processing and transmission of tax return information, online issuances of tax clearances, permits, and licenses, and an electronic process registration of businesses and new taxpayers, among others.

More often than not, the e-commerce initiatives of government are a barometer indicating whether or not the infrastructure supports e-commerce use by private firms. This means that if government is unable to engage in e-procurement, secure records online, or have customs fees remitted electronically, then the private sector will also have difficulties in e-commerce uptake. Virtually, the benefits from e-commerce accrue to the government, as the experiences of some countries reflect.61
Are existing legal systems sufficient to protect those engaged in e-commerce?
Unfortunately, the existing legal systems in most developing countries are not sufficient to protect those engaged in e-commerce. For instance, with respect to contracts, existing laws were conceived at a time when the word “writing,” “document” and “signature” referred to things in paper form. On the other hand, in today’s electronic business transactions paper is not used for record-keeping or entering into contracts.
Another important and common legal issue faced by many developing countries is uncertainty regarding whether the courts will accept electronic contracts or documents and/or electronic signatures as evidence. One view is that the issue of admissibility of electronically generated evidence will not be resolved unless a law specifically referring to it is passed. This gap in existing legal systems has caused the emergence of at least two divergent views: one bordering on the conservative interpretation of the word “document” as to exclude non-paper-based ones; and the other involving a liberal construction, which allows electronic counterparts of documents.
In the ASEAN region, only three countries-Singapore (Singapore Electronic Transactions Act), Malaysia (Cyberlaws), and the Philippines (Philippine E-commerce Act)-have a legal framework for e-commerce. These frameworks provide for the legal recognition of electronic documents and signatures and penalize common crimes and offenses committed in cyberspace.
What other relevant policy issues should be addressed?
Other policy issues concern basic prerequisites of infrastructure for successful e-commerce, as follows:
1. Telecoms pricing and performance
One of the aims of telecommunications policy and legislation should be to ensure that the public has access to basic telecommunications services at a reasonable cost. The goal should ultimately be universal accessor widespread access to reliable information and communication services at a reasonable cost and its availability at a reasonable distance.
To enhance the quality of telecommunications services, policies should encourage:

• open access, which refers to the absence of non-competitive practices by network providers;

• open architecture, which pertains to the design of a system that facilitates interconnection among different systems and services currently and as they develop over time; and

• flexible access, which pertains to interconnected and interoperable networks of telecommunications, broadcasting, and electronic publishing, where the format will be digital and the bandwidth will be adjusted according to the demands of the user and the character of communications.62

2. Quality and speed of distribution logistics (i.e., roads and bridges)
Roads and bridges, especially in developing countries, still form part of the e-commerce infrastructure. Very few goods are delivered over the information infrastructure or the Internet (the exceptions are music and software). Most of the goods purchased over the Internet are still delivered the conventional way (i.e., physical delivery). Hence, poor roads and bridges, inefficient transport systems, coupled with the high cost of international parcel services and bureaucratic customs clearance processes, are major obstacles in the uptake of e-commerce in developing countries.63 Government should therefore create a policy environment that will:

• encourage investments in the national physical and transport infrastructure; and
• provide for electronic customs clearance processing to streamline the bureaucracy and allow for more transparent, predictable and efficient customs operations.

Both of these will contribute to the reduction of distribution and logistics costs.
How can government intervene in the promotion and development of e-commerce among SMEs?
The following are the more relevant areas for government intervention with respect to SME uptake of e-commerce:64
E-SME Development. The market ultimately drives e-commerce development, but it is the private sector that fuels it. Government can provide incentives to encourage widespread e-commerce use by SMEs. An “e-SME development program” in which various sectors can provide technical assistance to SMEs to promote e-commerce uptake, can also be developed. Banks, financial lending and training institutions, and corporations should be encouraged to develop “SME desks” that will address the specific needs of SMEs. In particular, steps should be taken to:

• provide incentives to individuals to become entrepreneurs by lowering borrowing rates;
• provide incentives to SMEs that intend to use e-commerce in their business operations;
• broaden credit extension facilities to SMEs in order for them to use ICT and e-commerce; and
• offer discounts on business solution software packages and software licenses.

Moreover, big businesses and corporations should be encouraged to transfer technology to SMEs by offering them free training in ICT and e-commerce.
Awareness Campaign. Evidence suggests that SMEs have insufficient knowledge of information technology and e-commerce. Many SMEs have identified their lack of knowledge of technology as one of the main barriers to using e-commerce. Government and private sector partnerships can engage in a campaign to disseminate information to SMEs about e-commerce policies, best practices, success stories, and opportunities and obstacles relating to the use of ICTs and e-commerce. These awareness campaigns could include free training courses and workshops on e-commerce, security and privacy, awards programs, and information centers to assist SMEs. Ultimately, this information campaign should come in the form of an overall e-commerce development strategy for the economy, focusing on its various innovative applications for SMEs.
E-Government. Government should be the lead-user of e-commerce if various business and private-sector related activities are to be prompted to move online. In effect, government becomes a positive influence. E-government can take the form of various online transactions such as company registration, taxation, applications for a variety of employee- and business-related requirements, and the like.
Network Infrastructure and Localization of Content. A developed national information infrastructure is a necessary, though not a sufficient, condition for e-commerce uptake of SMEs. Without reliable and inexpensive telecommunications and other information services, SMEs will not be able to go online. An important strategy in this regard is the construction of “telecenters” or electronic community centers that would serve as a community-shared access and connectivity platform especially in the rural areas (e.g., an electronic agri-information center which provides market information to farmers in rural areas). These telecenters can also be a venue for capacity building, skills enhancement, training, communications and content development.65 Government can also adopt agglomerative approaches to Internet use to reduce costs (e.g., export aggregators, such as B2B or B2C portals/exchanges for SMEs, which will facilitate trading with fellow SMEs and with other companies in the international market).
Strengthening Consumer Protection. Among the more common trust-related issues that SMEs take note of in considering whether to engage in e-commerce are: where and how payment takes place (whether real or virtual); when settlement takes place (before, during or after the transaction); who settles; whether the transaction is B2B or B2C; and whether settlement can be traced. Generally, however, among e-commerce users in developing countries, including SMEs, there is very low willingness to provide sensitive financial information over the Internet.66 On the other hand, consumers have reservations about transacting with SMEs through the Internet due to the lack of a clear policy on returns and use of data. To address this concern, government can encourage companies/ SMEs to make their privacy policy explicit in their Web sites.
A more comprehensive measure that government can undertake to ensure security in e-commerce transactions is the establishment of a Certification Authority, which verifies seller and buyer identities, examines transactions and security procedures, and issues digital certificates to those who are able to meet the set security standards. A good example of this government effort is Singapore’s Certification Authority, Netrust. This suggestion does not to discount the importance of private-driven security solutions such as Web sites like Hypermart, which host and build storefronts for SMEs while providing them a common system for secure payments.68

Box. 15. Data Protection and Transaction Security

Transaction security pertains to three important components and related issues, namely:

• Transaction Privacy, which means that transactions must be held private and intact, with unauthorized users unable to understand the message content;

• Transaction Confidentiality, implying that traces of transactions must be dislodged from the public network and that absolutely no intermediary is permitted to hold copies of the transaction unless authorized to do so; and

• Transaction Integrity, which pertains to the importance of protecting transactions from unlawful interference-i.e., transactions must be kept unaltered and unmodified. In an open network like the Internet, it seems difficult to ensure these. There are, however, technological solutions that seek to address these security concerns. These solutions usually come in the form of authorization schemes, i.e., programs that make sure that only authorized users can gain access to information resources such as user accounts, files, and databases. Typical examples of authorization schemes are: password protection, encrypted smart cards, biometrics (e.g., fingerprinting, iris-scanning), and firewalls.67 A firewall is a system of cryptographic methods supported by perimeter guards to ensure the safe arrival and storage of information and its protection from internal and external threats. The most common data and transaction and data security scheme is encryption, which involves a set of secret codes that defends sensitive information crossing over online public channels. It makes information indecipherable except to those with a decryption/decoding key.

Government can also provide guidelines for SMEs in the development of a system of collaborative ratings, which these entrepreneurs can display on their Web sites not only to inform but also to assure their consumers of security. For instance, in electronic exchanges, customers should be able to rate suppliers in terms of quality of product or service and speed of delivery, among others. To minimize fraud, certain safeguards should be built into the rating system like imposing the requirement of presenting evidence of purchase before one’s rating can count, with ratings of regular customers having more weight. Trends in ratings and comments should be made readily available to all users. SMEs should also be encouraged through appropriate government incentive schemes to participate in internationally accredited Web-based online rating schemes.69
Government can also design and establish a legal and judiciary framework that provides for minimum standards of and requirements for transparency, impartiality and timeliness. While in many developing countries this may be a very ambitious goal, in the medium term SMEs may use self-regulated codes of conduct covering, for example, return policy, data protection, and acceptable forms of content, that are applicable within associations, cooperatives or their respective groups of peers and e-entrepreneurs.70 It is important to have not only a rating system but also an enforcement regime that people trust.
Human Resources Development. The government can initiate pilot projects and programs for capability-building, training and e-commerce support services, such as Web design. In Kenya, for instance, the youth from Nairobi’s slums are being trained in Web design skills.
In general, government initiatives should be in line with current efforts in the foregoing areas of concern. Coordination with development cooperation agencies is important to avoid any duplication of initiatives and efforts.

Business informatics

Business informatics (BI) or organizational informatics is a discipline combining information technology (IT), informatics and management concepts. The BI discipline was created in Germany, from the concept of "Wirtschafts informatics". It is an established, successful academic discipline including bachelor, master and diploma programs in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and is establishing in an increasing number of other countries as well as Australia or Mexico. BI integrates core elements from the disciplines business administration, information systems and computer science into one field.

Business informatics as an integrative discipline

 

BI shows many similarities to information systems (IS), which is a well established discipline originating from North America. However, there are a few differences that make business informatics a unique own discipline:

1. Business informatics includes information technology, like the relevant portions of applied computer science, to a larger extent than information systems does.
2. Business informatics includes significant construction and implementation oriented elements. I.e. one major focus lies in the development of solutions for business problems rather than the ex post investigation of their impact.

Information systems (IS) focuses on empirically explaining phenomena of the real world. IS has been said to have an "explanation-oriented" focus in contrast to the "solution-oriented" focus that dominates BI. IS researchers make an effort to explain phenomena of acceptance and influence of IT in organizations and the society applying an empirical approach. In order to do that usually qualitative and quantitative empirical studies are conducted and evaluated. In contrast to that, BI researchers mainly focus on the creation of IT solutions for challenges they have observed or assumed.
Tight integration between research and teaching following the Humboldtian ideal is another goal in business informatics. Insights gained in actual research projects become part of the curricula quite fast because most researchers are also lecturers at the same time.^[1] The pace of scientific and technological progress in BI is quite rapid, therefore subjects taught are under permanent reconsideration and revision.^[2] In its evolution, the BI discipline is fairly young. Therefore, significant hurdles have to be overcome in order to further establish its vision.^[3]

• Master of Business Informatics
• List of universities offering degrees in business informatic

References

1. ^ Virtual Global University "Virtual Global University".
2. Jump up ^ Ives, B., J. Valacich, R. Watson, R. Zmud and et al. (December 2002). "What Every Business Student Needs to Know About Information Systems". Communications of the Association for Information Systems 9.
3. Jump up ^ Lyytinen, K., R. Baskerville, J. Livari, D. Te'eni (2007). "Why the old world cannot publish? Overcoming challenges in publishing high-impact IS research". European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) 16: 317–326. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000695

 

How to Start a Small Scale Business

Starting a small scale business is a lot like falling in love. It grows on you. Sometimes you may not fancy the person that much, but as you get to know and interact with the person more, they grow on you, and before long, your heart starts to skip a beat.
You do not need a clash of cymbals, roll of drums, thunder and lightning flashes to get your business started. You may not even be thinking of starting a business in the first place. It often starts with your hobby or pet project. Something you have loads of fun doing on the side. You cannot wait to get back from work to jump on it. You are at work or school, but your mind keeps straying to it.
All it takes to move it to the next level is seriousness and commitment. Seriousness in improving your skills through practice and exposure, and commitment in finishing what you started. This may lead you to start a business or build your name into a brand. Somewhere along the line, it grows into a business. Maybe you are building a prototype of a machine that will change the way we do things, taking your cooking or sewing to the next level, compiling a volume of poems, writing a book, songs or film script, creating a masterpiece, composing a song, whatever it is that makes your heart race and soar. A business creates a platform for you to give the world what you’ve got.
At the beginning, you are just pottering around and having fun. You have no intention of going public or turning this into a business. You are just doing what you love. Somewhere down the line, as your product or service begins to make impact, it dawns on you, or you keep getting the comment “why don’t you turn this into a business”, the seed is sown in your mind, and the idea begins to grow.


Nnamdi E. Armstrong
stone4sloane@gmail.com
+2348162319833
+2348122735908

Sloane Business Management Consultants: International Opportuniteis

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• Market and business plans for companies that want to enter or expand in international markets
• International market research, including screening to find target markets that best meet the needs of your current product mix, business strategy, and company culture
• Identifying competition and understanding distribution channels and pricing
• Guidance in developing and implementing effective credit and collections policies

International Product Sourcing

• Business plans for off-shoring or outsourcing of services, products and manufacturing
• Determining the best locations for sourcing based on existing supply chains, markets, competitiveness benchmarking, and trade preferences
• Identifying potential partners and advising on decisions to invest directly or contract with local suppliers, and on how to best structure agreements

Entering the U.S. Market

• Market research, marketing plans, and business plans for international firms thinking about entering the U.S. market

International Operations

• Advice on how to structure businesses to optimize worldwide operations
• Assistance structuring meaningful financial reporting systems for multi-national, multi-currency operations
• Assistance identifying and managing currency and other risks associated with international operations
• Help in identifying and dealing with local legal and regulatory issues and in finding appropriate local agents, distributors, and joint venture partners
• Speeches and workshops at your workplace or conference.

Nnamdi E. Armstrong
stone4sloane@gmail.com
+2348162319833
+2348122735908

Sloane Business Management Consultants: How To Write a Business Proposal

Sloane Business Management Consultants: How To Write a Business Proposal: If you want to know how to write a winning business proposal, the best person to ask is your customer. The goal of business proposal writ...

How To Write a Business Proposal

If you want to know how to write a winning business proposal, the best person to ask is your customer. The goal of business proposal writing is to answer your customer's questions and persuade them to select you. Business proposal writing should be more about your customer than it is about you. Following a business proposal template won't help you with writing a proposal that speaks directly to the customer.
The customer.
There is no universal standard for layout or composition of proposals. If you think about it, it makes sense. A “proposal” is intended to persuade someone. What is required to do that is up to the person being persuaded.
If you want your proposal to succeed, you must know your customer. If your customer wants:

• If your customer wants details, give it to them. If they don’t want to do a lot of reading, give them a short proposal.
• If your customer wants references, give it to them. Otherwise, don’t.
• If your customer wants pricing, give it to them. If they’re not ready for pricing, don’t give it to them.
• If your customer wants contractual details, give it to them. If they’re not ready to discuss contractual details, don’t force them.
• If your customer wants to know who will be doing the work, tell them. If they don’t care, don’t tell them.
• If your customer wants things presented chronologically, organize your proposal that way.
• If your customer wants information organized functionally, organize your proposal that way.

If you don’t know the answers, find them out.
If the customer doesn’t know what they want or need, give them criteria to help them figure it out.
Never load the customer up with a bunch of paper just because they might want something. Give them what they want. No more, no less.
A simple proposal formula
Here is a simple approach to help you cover all the bases in your proposal. For each section/requirement that you must address, make sure you answer: who, what, where, how, when, and why. Repeat it until it rolls off your tongue and you have it memorized. Use it to identify and answer all of your customer's questions.
After you have written your proposal, you can use the same formula to review it. In each section of your proposal, simply ask yourself if it answers "who, what, where, how, when, and why?"

• Who: who will do the work, who will manage the work, who does the customer call if there is a problem, who is responsible for what
• What: what needs to be done/delivered, what will be required to do it, what can the customer expect, what it will cost
• Where: where will the work be done, where will it be delivered
• How: how will be work be done, how will it be deployed, how will it be managed, how will you achieve quality assurance and customer satisfaction, how will risks be mitigated, how long will it take, how will the work benefit the customer
• When: when will you start, when will key milestones be scheduled, when will the project be complete, when is payment due
• Why: why have you chosen the approaches and alternatives you have selected, why the customer should select you

This simple little phrase (who, what, where, how, when, and why) can help you ensure that your proposal says everything needed to "answer the mail." For each of the customer’s requirements, go through the list and you will probably have everything covered. Simply doing a better job of answering your customer's questions can give you a competitive edge when everything else between two competitors is equal.
In addition to using it for inspiration when writing, you can also use it like a checklist for reviewing a draft proposal. When you read a draft proposal, consider these questions and pretend to be the customer. Go over the questions and see if the proposal provides all of the answers.
All you have to remember is "who, what, where, how, when, and why."
And you thought proposal writing was supposed to be hard.


Nnamdi E. Armstrong
stone4sloane@gmail.com
+2348162319833
+2348122735908

Sloane Business Management Consultants: Marketing as a business philosophy

Sloane Business Management Consultants: Marketing as a business philosophy: Improved standard of living result in more people and further increases in output accompanied by simple mechanization which culminates in ...

Marketing as a business philosophy

Improved standard of living result in more people and further increases in output accompanied by simple mechanization which culminates in a breakthrough when the potential of the division of labouris enhanced through task specialization. Task specialization leads to the development of teams of workers and to more sophisticated and efficient mechanical devices.  A major feature of our own industrial revolution is that production becomes increasingly concentrated in areas of natural advantage, that larger production units develop and that specialization increases as the potential for economies of scale and efficiency are exploited.

Nnamdi E. Armstrong
stone4sloane@gmail.com
+2348162319833
+2348122735908

Finacial Transformation

Sloane Business Management Consultants (SBMC) a division of Sloane International Investments Ltd (SIIL) provides business advisory and IT management consulting services to banking, investment, insurance, life & pensions and capital markets clients. Our consultants have a highly successful track record in converting strategy into realistic programme of change, and working with organizations to help implement practical solutions.
Our approach is driven by client demands and business imperatives. This is a necessity in an industry that must continually respond to regulatory initiatives while at the same time meeting the challenges of reducing costs, managing risk and enhancing the total customer experience, working in cost effective unison with a wide range of partners and product suppliers.
Sloane Business Management consultants is an independent consulting firm that understands the needs of clients in the financial services sector, shares their business aspirations and recognizes the challenges. Our consultants appreciate that in today’s complex business world, the best solutions are rarely available ‘off the shelf’ but come from experience, intelligent insight and creative thinking.
Sloane Business Management Consultants work in partnership with clients to supplement their management teams to assess situations, consider issues, identify options, plan change programmes and manage their effective introduction. Our services include:

• Programme governance, including programme and project management
• Electronic document and records management
• Business/IT function outsourcing
• Business transformation
• Aligning business and IT strategy

Programme governance, including programme and project management
We provide experienced consultants to formulate and deliver major programmes of change, using established practices to align investment more closely to strategic goals, enhance accountability for change delivery, improve the realization of business benefits and manage risk more effectively. Our expertise in the financial services sector includes:

• Programme managing the development and launch of new retail financial products
• Conducting programme assurance reviews for a major business change & IT investment
• Providing coaching and mentoring to banking staff to improve the effectiveness of their project managers
• Undertaking a ‘project recovery’ exercise and restoring a major project to good health

Electronic document and records management
EDRM covers the management of information (both structured and unstructured) as a corporate resource, ensuring that appropriate policies and procedures are in place. Information management also includes responding to the broad regulatory requirements. We employ a large number of consultants who are EDRM specialists and offer formal training programmes using the highly acclaimed AIIM courseware. Our EDRM activities include:

• Helping create enterprise-wide records management strategies
• Undertaking a Document and Records Management project prompted by Sarbanes-Oxley

Business/IT function outsourcing
Our consultants assess the business function outsourcing opportunity and examine the viability of forming an outsourcing relationship. We assist with implementation, including the structuring of service level agreements and provide help in managing the outsourcing contract. Sloane Business management Consultants also provides ‘health checks’ and reviews of existing arrangements and offers support for the reintroduction in to the main business of a previously outsourced service. Our experience includes:

• Implementing outsourcing arrangements for third party administration
• Reviewing potential outsourcing arrangements for a major financial institution

Business transformation
We achieve cost effective and efficient methods of working by redesigning operational processes both within and external to the organization. At the same time our consultants normally review and determine appropriate technology solutions. This may involve straight-through processing to deliver cost savings by streamlining the flow of information from customers through sales channels to back-office and outsourced processes. Our work includes:

• Performing a business process re-engineering project across all aspects of sales, document production, supplier interfaces, accounting and compliance
• Defining new service level agreements and redesigning business processes between a financial services organization and one of its clients

Aligning business and IT strategy
Our consultants work with senior management to enable information and technology within the organization to work effectively together, delivering tangible business value. We are also skilled in helping improve the effectiveness of both development and production environments using frameworks such as CMMI and ITIL. Examples include:

• Implementing a new quality management regime into a large and sophisticated IT organization
• Improving the performance and effectiveness of a large-scale IT function by introducing significant process improvements.

Nnamdi E. Armstrong
stone4sloane@gmail.com
+2348162319833
+2348122735908

Lenovo CEO on Apple, Samsung: 'Our mission is to surpass them'

By Miguel Helft, senior writer January 30, 2014: 4:01 PM ET

In an interview with Fortune, Yuanqing Yang says that his company seeks to replicate its ThinkPad success with Motorola.

FORTUNE -- Fresh from signing a $2.91 billion deal with Larry Page to acquire Google's Motorola unit, Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang spoke to Motorola employees for 45 minutes at the latter company's headquarters outside of Chicago on Thursday. Immediately after that meeting, Yang discussed the deal and Lenovo's plans to compete in the smartphone market with Fortune.
The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.
You just spoke with Motorola employees in Chicago. What was your message to them, and how was it received?
The message to them is that this is a good combination. We are very complementary to each other. Together we can win in the smartphone industry. I wish we could sell more than 100 million smartphones together in the year 2015. I think the team here is very motivated and understands that we are very complementary. Lenovo currently has China and emerging markets. They have the U.S., Latin America, and a little bit of the European market. We are both committed to innovation. They have very strong engineering capabilities and very good relationships with carriers. So this combination is perfect.
How did you first get interested in Motorola?
It's a very, very interesting love story. We were interested in Motorola a long time ago, even when they split into two companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions (MSI) [in January of 2011 --Ed.].
Right after Google (GOOG) bought Motorola [in 2012 ], I invited [Google executive chairman] Eric Schmidt to have a dinner at my house. I told him, "If you think you want run the hardware business, you can keep the business; but if you are not interested in the hardware business, we definitely can handle that, take over that."
He remembered that, and two months ago, he sent me an e-mail. I called him back, and he asked me, "Are you still interested in Motorola?" I said, "Definitely." We started to discuss it. I went to Silicon Valley many times. [Google CEO] Larry Page invited me to his house to have a dinner. Very quickly -- in just two months -- we closed the deal.
You've said that you plan to sell more than 100 million smartphones by 2015. That's roughly double both companies' combined 2013 sales: According to IDC, Lenovo sold 45 million devices for the year and Motorola about 10 million. Where is the growth going to come from?
Definitely both emerging markets and Motorola markets. Even though Motorola has a lot of influence in the U.S. and Latin America, the market share is still limited. So we still have very good opportunity to grow. We want to become a very decent player in these markets.
Before this deal, your plan was to build up the Lenovo brand in the U.S. and then enter the market with smartphones. This deal changes that strategy -- now, you have two brands of smartphones that are sold in different markets. Moreover, Lenovo's product strategy is to offer a large number of models, while Motorola has a simplified product line. How will you integrate those two in the U.S. and in emerging markets?
We will fully leverage the Motorola brand in the U.S. and Latin America, just like we leveraged the ThinkPad brand in the PC space. Motorola will be our smartphone product.
So there will be no Lenovo-branded phones in the U.S.?
We haven't made a final decision. Most likely we will leverage the Motorola brand, but it could be something like "Motorola by Lenovo."
In China, certainly we will keep the Lenovo brand, but it is possible that we will reintroduce the Motorola brand as well. We have a full range of channels to sell our phones, so for different channels we could use different brands to maximize our sales volume.
Regarding the product portfolio, we don't want to be playing just in the entry level or to be viewed as a cheaper brand. We want to compete in the full range of the product line, including the premium segment. Both Lenovo and Motorola have the DNA of innovation. I believe we can develop a very innovative or very premium product. Meanwhile, we should be more competitive in the entry level given that Lenovo has global scale in our manufacturing capabilities and operational efficiency.
Will you continue making Motorola phones in the U.S., or will manufacturing shift to China?
We haven't made a final decision. In my understanding, Motorola does customization of phones [in the U.S.]. If that is what the market needs, we will definitely keep that. It is a good model, so we may replicate that in other markets.
Between Texas and North Carolina, where you make PCs, how many manufacturing employees will Lenovo have in the U.S.?
About 250. [A Lenovo spokesman clarified that all of those 250 workers are in North Carolina, and the workers who assemble Motorola phones in Texas are employees of a contract manufacturing firm, not Motorola.]
Lenovo now faces two regulatory reviews, including from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.: One for Motorola and one for your purchase of the IBM server business, announced last week. Do you think you can get cleared on both? What is your message to U.S. regulators and lawmakers who may be concerned about a Chinese company pushing into the U.S. market?
We will cooperate with all the governments to go through the process.
With Motorola, Lenovo will be the No. 3 smartphone maker worldwide. Do you think your company can catch up with Apple (AAPL) or Samsung, who are still far ahead of you? And how long will it take?
Definitely, over time. Our mission is to surpass them.
Are there similarities between this deal and the Lenovo acquisition of IBM's PC business in 2005, which transformed Lenovo into a global PC brand?
I think there are lots of similarities. We are definitely complementary, so we can replicate the success we've had with the ThinkPad in the PC business. I think this is a good deal for both Google and Lenovo. Together, we can win more market [share] and have a worldwide footprint.
For more, read Fortune's detailed look at Lenovo and its ambitions from 2013.

Posted in: Apple, Google, Larry Page, Lenovo, Mobile, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphones, ThinkPad, Yuanqing Yang

Sloane Business Management Consultants: WHO: Imminent global cancer 'disaster' reflects ag...

Sloane Business Management Consultants: WHO: Imminent global cancer 'disaster' reflects ag...: By Tim Hume and Jen Christensen, CNN February 5, 2014 -- Updated 0020 GMT (0820 HKT) WHO predicts 'imminent human disaster...

WHO: Imminent global cancer 'disaster' reflects aging, lifestyle factors

By Tim Hume and Jen Christensen, CNN

February 5, 2014 -- Updated 0020 GMT (0820 HKT)

WHO predicts 'imminent human disaster'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Cancer is preventable, if resources are dedicated to fighting it, experts say
• New cases of cancer are tipped to rise 57% worldwide in 20 years, says the WHO
• World Cancer Report says developing countries will be disproportionately hit
• Even rich countries will struggle to deal with the spiraling costs of treatment

(CNN) -- Cancer cases are expected to surge 57% worldwide in the next 20 years, an imminent "human disaster" that will require a renewed focus on prevention to combat, according to the World Health Organization.

The World Cancer Report, produced by the WHO's specialized cancer agency and released on World Cancer Day, predicts new cancer cases will rise from an estimated 14 million annually in 2012 to 22 million within two decades. Over the same period, cancer deaths are predicted to rise from 8.2 million a year to 13 million.

The rising incidence of cancer, brought about chiefly by growing, aging populations worldwide, will require a heavier focus on preventive public health policies, said Christopher Wild, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

"We cannot treat our way out of the cancer problem," he said. "More commitment to prevention and early detection is desperately needed in order to complement improved treatments and address the alarming rise in cancer burden globally."

The report notes that the rocketing cost of responding to the "cancer burden" -- in 2010, the economic cost of the disease worldwide was estimated at $1.16 trillion -- is hurting the economies of rich countries and beyond the means of poor ones.

Report editor: We can reduce cancer risk

The report said about half of all cancers were preventable and could have been avoided if current medical knowledge was acted upon. The disease could be tackled by addressing lifestyle factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and exercise; adopting screening programs; or, in the case of infection-triggered cancers such as cervical and liver cancers, through vaccines.

"I know the report said we can't treat our way out of (the cancer problem) but there are major things we can do," said Dr. David Decker who works in oncology at Florida Hospital in Orlando. "Virtually 80 or 90 percent of lung cancers are caused by smoking. I know stopping smoking is not easy for people, but it does seem like a pretty simple way to reduce the numbers."

"The cancer rates are not going up for shocking reasons, but for reasons that are easier to understand, and if we improve overall health, there are things we can do to prevent this from happening," Decker said.

Cutting smoking rates would have a significant impact, as lung cancer remained the most commonly diagnosed cancer (1.8 million cases a year, or 13% of total cancer diagnoses) and the deadliest, accounting for about one-fifth (1.6 million) of all cancer deaths worldwide.

There is a silver lining to the report, some experts said: It may lend urgency to the fight against cancer. Countries such as the United States present examples of success stories stemming from legislation and financial resources devoted to cancer prevention.

"The good news is, in (the United States), cancer mortality is trending downward, and that would be more true if you make an age adjustment," said Dr. Walter Curran, chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory University's School of Medicine in Atlanta.

"Since we have an aging population, the cancer rate increases, and if you adjust for the aging of America, the cancer rate is declining notably."

Curran said a typical 20-year-old American who doesn't smoke, "who has a good diet and a healthy lifestyle, someone with moderate alcohol consumption and who takes preventive health measures like regularly seeing a doctor and getting exercise -- their chance of cancer is significantly less than someone who for example lives in a developing country in Africa right now."

However, the United States is dealing with an obesity epidemic -- the rates of adults who are considered obese has doubled since the 1970s -- and drinking excessively is still the No.3 cause of lifestyle-related death.

Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. However, when the U.S. Surgeon General linked tobacco to lung cancer 50 years ago, more than 40% of the adult population smoked; now it's about 19%.

Public health initiatives have also made a difference in smoking rates. The report eventually spurred local governments to make it harder for a smoker to find a place to practice their habit. Many restaurants, bars, and even public parks ban smoking.

National leadership gave state governments license to raise taxes on cigarettes so much that people quit because they could no longer afford their habit.

Money from the federal tobacco lawsuit settlement went into smoking cessation programs and gave farmers incentives to grow crops other than tobacco. The FCC banned persuasive cigarette ads that may have encouraged young people to smoke.

Smoking rates remain high in Asia and Africa. China -- where one-third of the world's cigarettes are smoked, according to the World Health Organization -- only recently moved to ban indoor public smoking.

The report's authors suggested governments take similar legislative approaches to those they had taken against tobacco in attempting to reduce consumption of alcohol and sugary drinks, and in limiting exposure to occupational and environmental carcinogens, including air pollution.

According to the report, the next two most common diagnoses were for breast (1.7 million, 11.9%) and large bowel cancer (1.4 million, 9.7%). Liver (800,000 or 9.1%) and stomach cancer (700,000 or 8.8%) were responsible for the most deaths after lung cancer.

"The rise of cancer worldwide is a major obstacle to human development and well-being," said Wild, the International Agency for Research on Cancer director. "These new figures and projections send a strong signal that immediate action is needed to confront this human disaster, which touches every community worldwide."

The report said the growing cancer burden would disproportionately hit developing countries -- which had the least resources to deal with the problem -- due to their populations growing, living longer and becoming increasingly susceptible to cancers associated with industrialized lifestyles.

More than 60% of the world's cases and about 70% of the world's cancer deaths occurred in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.

"In the developing world, we are really at the beginning of understanding how serious the cancer problem is in these countries," said Emory School of Medicine's Curran.

Cancers related to the HIV epidemic in developing countries and the spread of Hepatitis C are also on the rise, but so too is the general age of the population in developing counties. When you now have the potential to live long enough to see your grandchildren -- something that was not true even a decade ago in many developing countries -- your risk of having cancer is going to go up.

"When life expectancy get better, cancer rates will go up and so will cancer fatalities," Curran said.

Governments needed to appreciate that screening and early detection programs were "an investment rather than a cost," said Bernard Stewart, co-editor of the report -- and low-tech approaches had proven successful in some developing countries.

The World Cancer Report, which is published about once every five years, involved a collaboration of around 250 scientists from more than 40 countries. Tuesday is World Cancer Day.

READ: Samuel L. Jackson in new childhood cancer PSA

READ: Is lung cancer screening right for you?

READ: Surgeon general links colon cancer, diabetes to smoking

Nonprofit helps fight poverty in Mexico with microloans

Global Exchange, Rafael Romo

A nonprofit organization in Mexico called Envia is helping women in poverty by providing micro loans. Envia founder Carlos Topete told CNN that he was inspired to start the organization by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the idea of micro loans, small loans for poor borrowers with a zero rate of interest.
The program was launched in 2008 with 12 women and operating with Topete's own money. In three years, it has grown to serve 260 women in five different communities in the valley of Oaxaca. CNN's Rafael Romo reports.