AD212 American Business and Management

Fall 2002

Chapter 4: Navigating the World of e-Business

and

Brown, "Big Business Meets The e-World

E-business (not just e-commerce) continues to expand rapidly, even though the dot-com bubble of the late '90s has burst. [At that time, we learned that it doesn't always make sense to sell dog food and fertilizer over the web (as, for example, Pets.com and Garden.com went bankrupt, the latter with a chunk of your professor's retirement savings...)] What, then, ARE the various ways in which e-business continues to expand? Some of your answer should be based on your own experience, some on the class readings.

Choose one web site or one use of the internet with which you are familiar (NOT from the readings) that you think is particularly innovative or has great potential for profitability. Be prepared to explain what it is and why you think it is especially promising. (This may require you to spend some time looking at sites.)

Compare Sears's and Whirlpool's strategies for using the internet to enhance their business and increase their profitability. Which effort do you think is likely to be more successful, and why? (A SWOT analysis for each might help sort this out.)

In what ways can e-business be used to facilitate (what our text calls) global business? (Hint: there really are many ways, some not so obvious.)