Using E- and M-Business Components in Business

This chapter discusses using e- and m-business components in supporting and enhancing existing businesses and in creating new business innovations. A framework illustrating two different approaches companies have to adoption of e- and m-business components is proposed. Three cases of how Finnish companies have, in an innovative way, used e- and m-business components to support, enhance, and launch businesses are presented. Based on the illustrative framework and the cases, some rules of thumb for using e- and m-business components in business are proposed. The aim of this chapter is to offer managers helpful insights for planning e- and m-business component investments.

Sensis.Com.Au

Sensis Search, a young entrepreneurial dot-com launched in 2004, is the first mover in redefining the Australian search market and creates a new paradigm for Internet searches that delivers relevant, quality local, and global results. This chapter focuses on exploring the experiences of Sensis Search and identifying key issues of its operation. Data for this qualitative case study was collected mainly from two primary sources: (i) a documentary research into Sensis’ business reports, online newsletters, memos, agendas, and other official publications, and (ii) an in-depth interview with a senior manager of sensis.com.au. The case study illustrates how Sensis has been managed, how it has succeeded, and what lessons can be learned from its experience.

How E-Entrepreneurs Operate in the Context of open Source Software

The Internet has become an integral part of our everyday lives and it is often difficult to imagine how we ever functioned without it. This chapter presents experiences of two entrepreneurial companies, one of which has survived the ‘dot-com bubble burst.’ The chapter identifies current and future online business environments especially in light of open source software (OSS) being accepted globally. Unlike proprietary software (such as Windows), OSS comes with its internal implementation details (source code) visible both to its developers and users, along with the freedom to change and redistribute this source. The significant implications of this unique style of software distribution for e-entrepreneurs are examined.

A Prototype E-Business Model to Create a Competitive Advantage in SMEs

This study explores new ways for SMEs to create a competitive advantage through the use of e-business. It examines the level of ICT use in SMEs and identifies the drivers and barriers which owners/managers face in adopting e-business. Furthermore, it explores the degree of awareness amongst SMEs of the opportunities available to them for developing their employees, their business strategies, and their attitudes toward the range of initiatives and options, on the use of e-business. Industry behaviour and organisational culture in relation to the creation of competitive advantage through e-business also are explored. Case studies and literature review are used to collect information from and about SMEs in the UK. The results of these are employed to propose a prototype business model, named CATE-b – “Competitive Advantage Through e-business.”

The Beginnings of a Postal E-Marketplace

This e-business case study of the corProcure enterprise is instructive as it reflects three recurrent themes of the dot-com period: 1. First, the seemingly powerful but unstable corProcure’s business model was created between a number of large corporate institutions in response to the corporate pressure to enter the dot-com world. 2. The quick revelation that the initial business model was incompatible for the founding corporate partners. 3. The buyout of the venture by one of the partners, Australia Post, and re-engineering the direction of corProcure for a more workable e-marketplace business direction. This was considered to be the way forward. This evolution, learning curve, and redirection of the e-purchasing cartel was in one way just a snapshot at the macro-level of what happened to many ventures during the dot-com boom. At the micro-level, the change in direction was reflective of a more pragmatic business sense approach, when all the late 1990s hype was stripped away from the initial e-business model. The new business model incorporating an e-marketplace also reflected the need for the new owner to diversify into non-traditional products as part of new e-business and e-logistic strategies. These strategies were being examined globally by Postal Authorities.

Online Information Privacy and Its Implications for E-Entrepreneurship and E-Busines Ethics

This chapter reports the results of a national survey which investigated Australian Internet users’ attitudes and behaviours toward online information privacy using a typology that combines specific demographic and attitudinal measurements with behavioural data. The chapter contains a comprehensive examination of the internal, external/environmental, and behavioural dimensions of information privacy, incorporating a profile of each of the typologies’ categories along with a general profile of total respondents. The implications of the findings for e-entrepreneurship and e-business ethics also are discussed.

Strategies for Virtual Learning and E-Entrepreneurship in Higher Education

This chapter presents the strategies of higher education institutions and how they can be described using the balanced scorecard approach. The pedagogical ICT strategy describes the virtual learning and e-entrepreneurship in higher education. Strategic themes are presented to describe what management believes must be done to succeed and achieve the desired outcomes in virtual learning and e-entrepreneurship. Strategy maps are used to describe the strategy in a graphical representation. In addition, the study presents an example of the cooperation between a higher education institution and a spin-off company. This chapter helps the educational administrators to better describe and implement strategies for virtual learning and e-entrepreneurship.

Innovation and B2B E-Commerce

The massive wave of enthusiasm for B2B (business-to-business) e-commerce generated with the “dot-com” boom led many to believe that a fundamental transformation of how firms bought and sold products was just around the corner. The new “wired” world of commerce would lead to real-time, Internet-driven trading, with significant implications for — amongst other things — the nature of buyer-supplier relationships, pricing, and the management of industrial capacity. Despite the excitement, such a transformation has largely failed to materialise, and whilst there has been a limited uptake of B2B innovations (for example, the use of online reverse auctions), the fundamental character of B2B trade has remained mostly unchanged. Drawing on a multi-stranded empirical study, this chapter seeks to explain the divergence between the expected and realised degrees of innovation.

Exploreing Rhizomic Becomings in Post Dot-Com Crash Networks

This chapter introduces the work of Deleuze and Guattari, particularly their notion of rhizomic becomings to the study of emergent knowledge dynamics in contexts of innovation. It shows how an analysis of rhizomic becomings can assist to explore new and emergent patterns, channelling interpretation toward the discovery of new combinations and creative assemblages in knowledge. This is exemplified by the example of a qualitative study exploring knowledge dynamics in e-business entrepreneurship since the dot-com crash. The results highlight the forging of the conditions for innovation in new combinations of lines of affect and lines of technology.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation in E-Business

This chapter argues that a combination of entrepreneurship and innovation is a crucial factor to the long-term sustainability of e-commerce and e-businesses. Entrepreneurship and innovation are positively related to each other and interact to help an organisation to flourish. The chapter takes an integrative approach to exploring the synergies between entrepreneurship and innovation and to analysing the factors that foster an interaction between the two. Case studies of entrepreneurial and innovative dot-com companies were conducted to complement a comprehensive literature review of entrepreneurship and innovation. This empirical study contributes to a better understanding of the existing theories and practices of entrepreneurship and innovation in organisations.