E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen's adoption strategies

The Electronic Government initiative was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It will improve how the government operates internally, as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses. At the same time, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

COME July 1, all government agencies will go online and all payments can be made using e-pay facilities in the Klang Valley.

However counter services will still be made available to those who prefer settling their dues this way. Through the streamlining of the e-payment systems, the Government's task force for facilitating businesses hopes transactions with government agencies will be made more efficient.

A total of 57 agencies had made available online payment for a total of 90 services. These include payment for renewal of competent driving licence (CDL) and payment of summonses to the Road Transport Department (JPJ). The others that have extended the online service included the Immigration Department, Land and Mines Department, Education Ministry, Finance Ministry and Public Service Department. Even the purchase of train tickets for Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) can now be done online. The Klang, Shah Alam, Selayang, Sepang, Nilai, Subang Jaya, Ampang Jaya, Kajang, Kuala Langat, Kuala Selangor and Petaling Jaya municipalities have also extended similar mode of payment for the people to settle their assessment dues.

The majority of e-government portals developed in Malaysian are not appropriate to their users. For instance these portals target only literate people which means that more than 60% of potential users are automatically excluded. And, for the less than 40% of the ‘de factor’ users, these portals suppose that the user has at least a good knowledge in manipulating and communicating with computers, and focus on technical aspects and not on the portal’s fundamental goal which should provide an easy, clear and quick online service delivery.

In brief, the objectives of e-government are to improve the accessibility, convenience and quality of interactions between citizens, businesses and the government; and to improve the speed and quality of information flow and the processes of policy development coordination and the enforcement of government operation.

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction

Auction is market mechanism by which buyers make bids and sellers place offers, characterized by the competitive and dynamic nature by which the final price is reached. Electronic auctions (e-auctions) means auctions conducted online. There are some major limitations in e-auctions: lack of security, possibility of fraud and limited participation, long cycle time, monitoring time and order fulfillment costs.

According to Internet Fraud Watch, of all e-commerce activities conducted over the Internet, fraud is most serious in e-auctions. E-auction fraud accounted for 70 percent of the e-commerce fraud that occurred in 2001 (down from 87 percent in 1999). The average auction loss is $518 per complaint, and roughly $6.1 million was lost due to fraudulent activity in 2001.

Types of e-auction fraud:
- bid shielding
- shilling
- fake photos and misleading descriptions
- improper grading techniques
- selling reproductions
- failure to pay the auction house
- inflated shipping and handling cost
- failure to ship merchandise
- loss and damage claims
- switch and return
- other frauds, eg: sale of stolen goods, the use of fake ids, selling to multiple buyers

The largest Internet auctioneer, eBay, has introduced several measures in an effort to reduce fraud. Some are free, some are not. The company has succeeded in its goal: less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the transactions at eBay was fraudulent in 2001 (Konrad 2002).

The following are some of eBay’s antifraud measures:
- user id verification
- authentication service
- grading services
- feedback forum
- insurance policy
- escrow service
- nonpayment punishment
- appraisal services
- physical inspection
- verification
details

Corporate Blogging : A new marketing communication tool for companies.

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads. All current browsers (including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 7) support RSS technology, which enables readers to easily read recent posts without actually visiting the blog, which is very useful for low-volume blogs. Although there are many different types of corporate blogs, most can be categorized as either external or internal.

Internal Blogs --> An internal blog, generally accessed through the corporation's Intranet, is a weblog that any employee can view. Many blogs are also communal, allowing anyone to post to them. The informal nature of blogs may encourage: employee participation , free discussion of issues ,collective intelligence, direct communication between various layers of an organization ,a sense of community.

Internal blogs may be used in lieu of meetings and e-mail discussions, and can be especially useful when the people involved are in different locations, or have conflicting schedules. Blogs may also allow individuals who otherwise would not have been aware of or invited to participate in a discussion to contribute their expertise.

External Blogs --> An external blog is a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases, though a corporate blog often tries to accomplish similar goals as press releases do. In some corporate blogs, all posts go through a review before they're posted. Some corporate blogs, but not all, allow comments to be made to the posts.

External corporate blogs, by their very nature, are biased, though they can also offer a more honest and direct view than traditional communication channels. Nevertheless, they remain public relations tools.Certain corporate blogs have a very high number of subscribers. The official Google Blog is currently in the Technorati top 50 listing among all blogs worldwide.

Marketers might expect to have product evangelists or influencers among the audience of an external blog. Once they find them, they may treat them like VIPs, asking them for feedback on exclusive previews, product testing, marketing plans, customer services audits, etc.

The business blog can provide additional value by adding a level of credibility that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate site. The informality and increased timeliness of information posted to blogs assists with increasing transparency and accessibility in the corporate image. Business blogs can interact with a target market on a more personal level while building link credibility that can ultimately be tied back to the corporate site.

A list of externally available corporate blogs is available at The NewPR/Wiki.

The Corporate Blogging Book is now available in Mandarin Chinese on amazon.cn.

A review on a post on e-tailing from My E-Commerce Blog

Review on 1st Dell physical store in Malaysia!

There are two distinct categories of e-tailers are pure plays and bricks and clicks. A pure play e-tailer uses the Internet as its primary means of retailing. Examples of pure play e-tailers are Dell and Amazon.com. A brick and click e-tailer uses the Internet to push its good or service but also has the traditional physical storefront available to customers.

U.S. computer maker Dell Inc. on 23rd, Jan 2007 opened its first global business centre outside the United States to provide 24-hour engineering and technology support to its branches worldwide. Chief Executive Officer Kevin Rollins opened the 200,000 square foot (18,580 sq. metre) centre in Malaysia's high-tech city of Cyberjaya. Dell says the centre will employ 600 people by year-end and 1,000 within five years. more

DELL office in Cyberjaya

Dell is famous for selling it PC and laptop directly to their customers through the direct sales online which proved to be a very successful business model. However, Dell is slowly shifting away from this successful model when the growth of PC sales slowed. As Dell continue to strengthen their brick-and-mortar presence worldwide with especially in US and Europe, the computer vendor opened its first retail store in Malaysia at the Mid Valley Megamall's IT World section on 22nd Dec 2007.

Dell Direct Store
2nd Floor, IT World, Lot 15
Mid Valley Mega MallKuala Lumpur





It used to be that you could only go online to browse Dell products and the only way to order one was through the Internet or over the phone. That's changed. Dell has just arranged to have its products on display in 10,000-odd stores worldwide; some are Dell branded stores while others are joint ventures. The Malaysian store is a partnership with TecAsia, the retail arm of FTEC Resources Bhd, which also distributes its own range of notebook PCs.

Dell said the move was brought on by its aim to regain its lead position as the No 1 computer maker in the world from archrival the Hewlett-Packard Co. HP took the lead about a year ago. Dell has operated a manufacturing operation in the northern city of Penang since 1995, producing notebooks, desktop computers, servers and storage systems.

In 2005, Dell products accounted for 28 percent of Malaysia’s electronics equipment exports and currently employs more than 5,000 people in the country. Dell is vying with Hewlett-Packard Co. for dominance in the global personal computer market. For all of 2006, the two companies each registered about 16 or 17 percent market share, according to tallies by IDC and Gartner Inc. But in the fourth quarter, HP had a 17 to 18 percent of the worldwide market compared to Dell's 14 to 15 percent. more

E-tailers who take part in pure play–type business have the opportunity to turn higher profit margins, due in part to the fact that many of the overhead expenses associated with a physical retail space, such as labour, retail space, and inventory, can be significantly alleviated. Pure play allows for a retailer to be able to reach customers world wide, whilst still only maintaining one location for each and every customer to visit, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Many studies have shown that e-tailers are failing to meet the needs of online customers and that they generally only have one chance to make a good impression if they want their customers to return. It is said that the three most important things that e-tailers today must work on to ensure profitability are "search, support and promotion."

Credit Card debts: prevention and causes

Holding one card and paying off the balance on time helps establish your credit history. And you may need a card for travel expenses or emergencies. Aside from those cases, however, you should keep your credit card spending to the absolute minimum.

Following just five easy steps can keep consumers from falling into the pit that is credit card debt:

1. Establish a budget and then follow that budget exactly. In other words, don't be tempted to charge that plasma TV to your credit card on a whim when you haven't budgeted for it this month.
2. Carry a credit card balance for no longer than six months. The compounding of simple interest can produce a very expensive balance to pay off. If it helps, think of your credit card balance as a snowball that grows larger as it rolls downhill.
3. Know what you're doing with reward credit cards. Holders of these can end up spending more than the reward itself is worth if they don't pay attention to the fees and interest associated with their credit card.
4. Get a low interest credit card if your credit card's interest rate is excessive. The better your credit, the lower the rate for which you will qualify.
5. Be aware that balance transfer credit cards' teaser rates won't last forever. Six months is common now. The "normal" rate will return sooner than you think, so use that interest-free period to aggressively pay down balances.

Prevent Credit Card Debt Default Judgments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVvTJ56oEsU

Electronic currency

Electronic currency (also known as e-money, electronic cash, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are examples of electronic currency. Also, it is a collective term for financial cryptography and technologies enabling it.

Bitpass is a micropayment service that facilitates online content access transactions by integrating the processes involved in buying and selling content, and making it practical to charge very small amounts of money. In the BitPass system, transaction fees are paid by the content provider. For payments under $5, the charge is 15% of the cost. Micropayments are by definition very small sums, so the fee is usually just a few cents.

For the content buyer, the BitPass system works similarly to a pre-paid telephone card: you sign up for the service and put money into your account using a credit card or PayPal, which gives you credit towards the purchase of content. When the user agrees to pay the cost of access, their account is charged automatically rather than through a link to an external Web site for payment.

Although the micropayment concept has been proposed for several years, it's been a hard sell. After all, most online content has always been free, and people are naturally opposed to paying for anything they might reasonably expect to get for nothing. However, at least part of the reason that content has been free is likely that no one's found a viable way to get people to pay for it to this point.

On January 19th, 2007 Bitpass announced that they were shutting down, and operations officially closed on January 26th, 2007. No immediate reason for closure was given.

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd is a licensed Certifacation Authority (CA) operating out of the Multimedia Super Corridor. MSC Trustgate was incorporated in 1999 to meet the growing need for secure open network communications and become the catalyst for the growth of e-commerce, both locally and across the ASEAN region. In present, MSC Trustgate has 12 million in paid up capital.

Trustgate has been licensed under the Digital Signature Act 1997 (DSA), a Malaysia law that sets a goal precedent for the mandate of a CA. Its core business is to offer complete security solutions and leading trust services that are needed by individuals, enterprises, government, and e-commerce service providers' digital certification services, including digital certificates, cryptographic products, and software development. They are committed to providing the finest Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to assist all types of companies and institutions conducting their business over the Internet. The state of the art back-end infrastructure that costs RM14 million is probably one of the best in the region.

Security is the primary concern of entering into the new Internet economy. The ever-changing paradigm of e-commerce requires a well-mandated security infrastructure. Trustgate is determined to become the leading service provider of Internet utility company, thus complementing the aspiration of the MSC to be a world-class e-environment.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a protocol developed by Netscape in 1996 which was quickly adopted around the world as the method of choice for securing data transmissions across the Internet. SSL is an integral part of virtually all web browsers and web servers and makes use of a public-and-private key encryption system originally developed by RSA.

In order to establish an SSL connection, the SSL protocol requires that a server have a digital certificate installed. A digital certificate is an electronic file that uniquely identifies individuals and servers. Digital certificates allow the client (Web browser) to authenticate the server prior to establishing the SSL session. Typically, digital certificates are signed by an independent and trusted third party to ensure their validity. The "signer" of a digital certificate is known as a Certification Authority (CA), such as VeriSign.

Example: mphonline.com, maybank2u.com

SSL enables secure online transactions by combining the following three important elements:

(a) Authentication (b) Encryption (c) Message Integrity

Combining the three elements above, SSL becomes a simple yet extremely powerful security solution, enabling you to conduct authenticated and encrypted online transactions with visitors

to your Web site. With a VeriSign SSL certificate installed on your Web site,visitors will be able to submit credit card numbers or other sensitive information to you, with complete assurance that they are really doing business with you (and not an impostor) ad that the information they are sending to you can not be intercepted or tampered with during transmission. more

With the increased phishing and spoofing attacks on the Internet, your customers want to make sure that they are dealing with trusted parties when they conduct business with you online. They need to ensure that their information traveled over the Internet reaches the intended recipients and is safe from intruders. Trustgate offers the following SSL Certificates for your server security:

1. Global Server ID adopts today's strongest encryption commercially available for secure communications via Server Gated Cryptography (SGC) technology. GSID authenticates your web sites and enables 128- or 256-bit encryption to secure communications and transactions between the site and its visitors. Every purchase of GSID comes with a VeriSign Secured Seal that you can display on your web site. The seal is an instant proof that your web site is genuine because you have been verified by the World Leader of SSL Provider, and your customers can conduct business with you free of worry.
Example: Compaq, IBM, Javasoft, Lotus, Microsoft, Nokia

2. Secure Site SSL Certificates protect the transfer of sensitive data on Web sites, intranets, and extranets using a minimum of 40-bit and up to 256-bit encryption. It includes VeriSign Secured Seal.

Example: Compaq, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, Novell, Oracle

How do SSL certicicates enable secure authenticated e-commerce on the Web?

By obtaining and installing an SSL certificate, you enable the use of SSL at your Web site. When a browser connects via "https" to a Web site with an SSL certificate, the browser and the server will exchange information during what is called the "SSL handshake." Once the SSL session has been negotiated, all information that passes between the browser and the server will be encrypted. Most all browsers are equipped to recognize VeriSign SSL certificates automatically, enabling almost every visitor in the world to safely exchange sensitive information and conduct e-commerce transactions with your Web site.

Seven reasons to choose VeriSign SSL Certificates to protect your business

How to safeguard our personal and financial data.

Personal Data

There are steps you can take to minimize the risk of data loss. Responding to a call to action from the Federal Trade Commission for all major trade associations to address the security of data, the Direct Marketing Association approved security guidelines for its members. All members must follow four specific ethical guidelines to keep information about consumers secure.

Step 1. Have a Security Policy.Establish information security policies and practices to ensure the uninterrupted security of information systems.

Step 2. Train and Supervise for Security.
Institute vigorous training and oversight of your designated security team. But don’t stop there. Any other employee or contract worker with even occasional access to personally identifiable information must be trained and supervised.

Step 3. Use Available Technology to Guard Personal Data.
Written policies and training go far, but not far enough. Construct structural and technological walls to contain personal information and run tests to ensure that the system works. Make contingency plans.

Step 4. Inform Data Suppliers and Business Partners of their Responsibilities to Meet Your Security Specifications.

The information chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Make sure that personal data in your care are “tagged” and “fenced” when they enter your database, while they’re in storage and once they leave. Permit no information transfers without informing business partners to meet your security standards.

Financial Data

A new ISO standard will help to safeguard the privacy of people's financial data when being processed by automated, networked information systems.

ISO 22307:2008, Financial services – Privacy impact assessment, defines a methodology to help organizations in private and public sectors identify privacy issues and mitigate risks associated with processing the financial data of customers and consumers, business partners and citizens.

“One way of proactively addressing privacy principles and practices is to follow a standardized privacy impact assessment process for a proposed financial system, such as the one recommended in ISO 22307.”

The standard describes the privacy impact assessment (PIA) which should be carried out at an early stage in the development of a proposed financial system. As well as helping to identify optimal privacy options and solutions, it provides a way to ensure that the system complies with applicable laws and regulations governing customer and consumer privacy.

It is a tool that, when used effectively, can identify risks associated with privacy and help organizations plan to mitigate those risks. ISO 22307:
@ describes the PIA process in general
@ defines the common and required components of a privacy impact assessment, regardless of business systems affecting financial institutions, and
@ provides informative guidance, including frequently asked questions (FAQs) on PIAs and their implementation, together with a number of questionnaires designed to help users assess their needs and develop an effective PIA.

Bearing in mind that the legal framework for privacy protection differs from country to country, this internationally agreed standard on privacy impact assessments is an important step forward. The internationalization of PIAs is critical for global banking and, in particular, for cross-border financial transactions.

Is me.. ah_Ju..

Let me introduce myself. My name is Teo Jing Ji. I am a Malaysian Chinese. I am currently living in Sungai Long for my studies in UTAR. This is my last year in UTAR. I hope I can do better and graduate with flying color.
I am a person who is positive about every aspect of life. There are many things I like to do, to see, and to experience. Most I like to do is swimming. I feel relax in the water. I have a dream to dining at Tioman Island. But the fees for dining there is expensive for me. It is around RM1000++. I cannot pay it. So I think I need to work hard and save money from now.
The five(5) websites I visited the most are www.google.com, www.hotmail.com, www.utar.edu.my, www.haoting.com, and www.sinchew.com. I always use www.google.com to find some information for my assignment and what I am interested to know. And use www.hotmail.com to check my mail and create my space there too. The www.haoting.com is a nice place to listen the latest pop-music without download. I read the news through Sin Chew web everyday. So I can save RM 1.30 for buying newspaper everyday. UTAR web is use by me to check my studies environment. Let me know more for my university.
The top five internet activities are entertainment. Because people like to watching, reading, listening, chatting, and buying. All this can do through internet. It is convenience for the busy man.
E-commerce is a new subject for me in this semester. I think it is an interesting subject. I will be happy to learn it. And I will adopt it in fast.

Phishing: Examples and its prevention methods

Phishing is a type method criminals use to get to sensitive information (like usernames or passwords). It is a method of social engineering. Social-engineering schemes use 'spoofed' e-mails to lead consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. This mail appears to come from some bank or other service provider. It usually says that because of some change in the system, the users need to re-enter their usernames/passwords to confirm them. The users usually have a link to a page that looks almost like that of the real bank.

Through such practices, criminals get access data to bank accounts, or other platforms (like online trade platforms). Very often, it can also be used for identity theft.

Above is an example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank. The sender is attempting to trick the recipient into revealing secure information by "confirming" it at the phisher's website.

While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. A list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.

• Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
  - unless the email is digitally signed, you can't be sure it wasn't forged or 'spoofed'
  - phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately
  - they typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, etc.
  - phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, but they can be. Valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are personalized, but always call to check if you are unsure
• Don't use the links in an email, instant message, or chat to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic or you don't know the sender or user's handle
  - instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web adress in your browser
• Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
  - you should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone
• Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
• Remember not all scam sites will try to show the "https://" and/or the security lock. Get in the habit of looking at the address line, too. Were you directed to PayPal? Does the address line display something different like "http://www.gotyouscammed.com/paypal/login.htm?" Be aware of where you are going.
• Consider installing a Web browser tool bar to help protect you from known fraudulent websites. These toolbars match where you are going with lists of known phisher Web sites and will alert you.
• Regularly log into your online accounts
  - don't leave it for as long as a month before you check each account
• Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card satements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate
  - if anything is suspicious or you don't recognize the transaction, contact your bank and all card issuers
• Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied

Is mE..^^ wAI cHeE^^

Hello!! Welcome to our 4 In LoVe blog. I am Law Wai Chee or u can call my nickname..Ah May. I come from Taiping, Perak. My hobbies are sleeping, eating, watching tv, and listen music. I also like to reading books/magazines but searching for the one I like. My favorite movies are horror movies and happy ending drama. I like to listen any music, but depending on my mood. Besides that, I also like to traveling and shopping. Because of traveling can make me knowledgeable.

Online is my daily activity, as I can search for everything through the internet. The top 5 websites that I visited the most are www.hotmail.com – to check and send email to my friends, www.friendster.com – to find my friends and upload the photo, www.utar.edu.my – to check for UTAR’s news, www.google.com – to search the information for my assignment and other, www.baidu.com – to download the music. Through the internet we can do a lot of things such as chatting with friends, online shopping, download free software, making payments, buying books/products, booking airline tickets, etc. In today life, internet becomes a very important tool for everyone as it made our life easier.

Funny gal ~

I am Tan Bee Wee. I am 21 years old and come from a small town named Simpang Rengam in Johor. I have 5 siblings and parents. I love my big family. This is the first times I write a blog. Maybe someone will not believe as it is so famous and popular in today. I also seldom read other’s blog as I prefer to use my time to do something which is more meaningful and good for my future. My dream is to give my parents a better life, I hate to see they are so suffer and tough for my family. They are getting older and older and their healthy is also getting poorer and poored.

After I studied in University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), I joined the society (community service society), it makes my life a big change. I am very active to take part and organize in all the activities, such as visit to orphanage and old folk’s home, famine camp, community service camp, charity dinner, community sociology program and so on. Besides that, I also joined other society to organize event like dance night and attend the event others organized. I do not like to spend my time by studying or doing nothing at home. I like to do part time business when I am free.

I like to go shopping, traveling, watching movie, listening music, reading and surfing net. Surfing net is cheap and I can get a lot of useful information easily. Everyday I will log in http://www.hotmail.com/ and http://www.yahoo.com/to check mail and send e-mail to my business partner to tell them what I have done and learnt in a day. I like to search information and picture from http://www.google.com.my/, as it provides huge storage of information to users by free of charge. Youtube http://youtube.com/ is another free website for user; I can download a lot of video clip from there. I am also a member of friendster http://www.friendster.com/, so sometimes will upload photo and contact with my friends.

Nowadays, msn messenger is popular and famous for people to connect other. I also like to log in msn messenger to chat with friends at anywhere and anytime. E-banking is also a easy and fast way for me to pay my tuition fee of UTAR and also can check the balance and transaction of savings account. I can also buying and selling a product or service via internet like http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.ebay.com/.

An Example of an e-commerce failure and its causes

Good technologies and products usually survive; poor ones usually go extinct. But not all of the technologies and tech products that have swirled down the drain of the tech gene pool deserved their fate. Kozmo.com is an tech that we thought it will be us forever, but that unfortunately it has gone the way of the dodo.

Kozmo.com (1998-2001)
An online store and delivery service, promised fast, friendly delivery of almost anything: a DVD rental, a bag of groceries, or just a single pack of gum. It was incredibly convenient and a heck of a bargain. It was also too good to be true. The cost of the small-time deliveries contributed to the demise of this great idea.The founder of this company are Joseph Park and Yong Kang, they started the business in March 1998 at New York City. Kozmo.com is one of the top 10 tech we miss which hailed by CNET.com.

In February 2000, it entered a five co-marketing agreement with Starbucks in order to promote its services in their coffee shops by paying $150 million. But in the end Kozmo.com ended it services in March 2001 after paying out $15 million.

In July 2000, at the height of its business, the company expanded to seven cities. It was familiar with college student, young professionals, and the urbanites, but soon the company still went out of business. It is because later they found that it was cost too much to deliver a DVD and a pack of gum. Eventually a $10 minimum charge was introduced, but that did not stop it from closing in March 2001. Before the layoffs, Kozmo.com had filed an IPO with the SEC, but it never went public. Consistent with documents filed with the SEC , the company had revenue of $3.5 million in the year 1999, with a resulting net loss of $26.3 million.

As a summary, although Kozmo.com had a great idea to have an online business, but their business still come to failure with the reason of they did not had a proper business plan. Without a proper business plan, Kozmo.com was too late to learn that its primary attraction of free delivery was also its causes of defeat.

http://www.cnet.com/4520-11136_1-6259955-1.html?tag=feat.2

How E-Commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees' empowerment and facilitate customer support

Cycle time reduction means shortening the time it takes for a business to complete a productive activity from its beginning to end. E-commerce can reduce cycle time by eliminating steps in business processes. The steps may be redundant or can be replaced with more efficient technology solutions. the elimination of the steps speeds the overall process and reduces cycle time.

Alibaba.com (http://www.alibaba.com) is a global e-commerce powerhouse, and the largest e-commerce company in China. The company operates several e-commerce platforms that connect individuals and businesses from China, and around the world. Alibaba.com makes doing business easy, and even fun, enabling an interactive community of millions to meet, chat, search for products and trade online.

Sourcing online through Alibaba.com can cut the normal sourcing cycle by 75 percent, according to a new survey released at MAGIC 2006 by the world's largest online B2B marketplace for global trade. Alibaba.com members say it takes about three weeks to find the right trading partner and negotiate a deal through the website, compared to the average sourcing cycle of 3.3 to 4.2 months according to the Aberdeen Group. Alibaba.com reduces the souring time by bridging geographies and time zones and putting thousands of products and suppliers from around the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in one easy-to-use location. In 2006, the Aberdeen Group on a global basis business could save approximately $1.7 trillion by deploying effective e-sourcing strategies with the emergence of Alibaba.com.

E-commerce allows the decentralization of decision making and authority via empowerment and distributed systems, but simultaneously supports a centralized control. Employee empowerment means giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service to engage personnel in an e-business culture. It also provides greater and easier access to information provided by the employer. In e-commerce, your website is your sales office, showroom, supply chain hub, headquarters lobby and corporate image. Employees are empowered to update company's activities and provide guidance about the company and its products and services. They respond to customers' product information requests, answer their questions, and handle the complaints.

E-commerce facilitates customer support by providing a wide range of technological solutions and communication opportunities. Additionally, e-commerce supports self-help customer service so customer can answer their won questions. It also allow customers to see the full range of options available for a given product. Customers are then able to select the options that they desire and these options may be sent directly to the manufacturer or service provider. This provides a more direct link between the customer and the firm that will eventually fill their custom order.

In conclusion, e-commerce benefits consumers by providing them convenience, speed, cost, customization, personalization and communities. It benefits organizations by expanding the marketplace, creating a cost savings, improving business process and promoting interactivity. It also benefits society by improving the standard of living and delivery of public services.

The history and evolution of e-commerce

E-commerce becomes popular because it is a combination of the networking of business communities and the digitalization of business information. It also acts important roles in our lives such as we can shop or meeting anytime even we are wearing pajamas.

Trace back to the previous technology, e-commerce is still on the invention of vary old notion of “sell and buy”, electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the internet. During the 1970’s, the technology allowing this kind of commerce took hold and grew steadily throughout the 1980’s, the credit cards started to become widely use.

In 1984, EDI (electronic data interchange) is widely viewed as the beginning of e-commerce which had guaranteed that companies would be able to complete transactions with one another reliably. Unfortunately, online business stills not a reality for the average person who includes ATM and credit card transactions as well as the ability to do e-billing and e-banking. In 1991’s, thousands of business have taken up residence at web sites when the internet was opened to commercial use.

However, it wasn’t until the development of the Internet that e-commerce started looking like the type of business that we know today. For most people talking about it now, the term refers to transactions, which take place completely through the web. Computer security was strengthened enough to make consumers and businesses feel comfortable with conducting these types of transactions online. Combined with the fact that web design was improving and the speed of the Internet was increasing, e-commerce had a platform for development.

For example, Amazon.com, Inc. is the first and the most famous e-commerce companies which conduct the business to establish an affiliate marketing program and sell products such as electronics, software, MP3s, video games, footwear, health products, etc over the internet. Through this, people are able to sell or buy any items through internet without needing a whole business behind them.

For one thing, many people still didn’t have high speed internet in their homes so online shopping tended to be limited to what could be done in the workplace. Additionally, many small businesses invested too much money in creating a web presence and they weren’t able to sustain that development due to lack of funds. Today, the average person not only has a home computer but also has the high speed internet connection that lets him or her move easily between web pages. This makes it easy to do comparison-shopping online. More importantly, the availability of high speed internet has increased the ability of people to work from home.

However, the technology nowadays is rapidly growing. Both IT as well as business field are improving the skill and knowledge that needed to achieve goal, “make our living easier and convenience”.

An example of an E-Commerce success and its causes

With the changing trends of globalization and the advancement of modern technology, the development of e-commerce has boomed in the past few years. Nonetheless, an e-commerce company in order to succeed, needs to developed a strong and impressive structure and work thorough a effective organizational process with a strong and skillful management program that may help guiding the foresee change or rapid growth in the market among the other e-commerce companies.

Amazon.com was launched in 1999, which is an e-commerce best known as the first online retailer of the Internet world. Amazon is presently ruling the Internet business with its best marketing techniques and expertise in relation to the market trends and demands of its customers. It is booming through out the world of e-business with its wide range of books related to a variety of subjects and topics, committing a major source of income as well as also succeeded in marinating brand names. It is the only website that contains altogether web books, business brands and retails on a single web-based business. Therefore, Amazon does not only leads to sale books but also offer a variety of electronic items as well as video, music, health and fitness, wireless cell phones, automobile, house holds, gifts, software, hardware, kitchen utensils and many more stuff. It therefore contains items related to all ages, all interests and all fields as well as all areas.

Where the electronic business fashion is simple to understand as it provides a lower cost to its consumers due to the fact that they have lower operating costs, thus hold less inventory than the traditional stores in the market where we have to go personally shop to shop for purchasing required stuff. On the other hand Amazon.com has significantly grabbed the electronic business by selling its online books and now electronic items and other stuff. Nonetheless the effective management and consumer identification in the market lead Amazon.com to achieve tremendous success in the filed of e-commerce. It in true sense made business via Internet a wealthy way to improve profits and increase revenues. The strategy to work better and adopting a strong base of selling products marks Amazon different from the rest of the e-commerce organizations. Its prudential approach generated a marginal increase to the revenues as well as expanded its existing commercial activities.

Furthermore, the efficiency in dealing the customers and making them a priority as providing exceptional customer services continuously focus on them, makes Amazon.com on top of all the other e-commerce companies. Nonetheless the determination to achieve its goal to build the most customer-centric company of the universe with the ability to offer a healthy customer service both domestically as well as internationally has marked a great difference among the competitors of e-commerce since the last few years. In order to achieve success in their goals they hire local employees in foreign countries as they did in Germany and U.K. This not only helped them gathering information about the local market and the demand of the people of these countries but also introduced more channels and branches of Amazon.com in these foreign countries to provide them a familiar look to this e-commerce company. For instance, in United Kingdom Amazon.co.uk and for Germany they made Amazon.de. This was a brilliant idea for attracting the locals of foreign countries towards its business in regard to expansion its customers and increase in profits.

Amazon.com has immensely gained economic profit with recognition in e-commerce all over the world due to its strong organizational and effective team management strategies. But the most significant and distinguishing quality of Amazon.com is its customer relation management. Its effective customer relation policies and meeting the demands of its valuable customers are the key element that marks a distinction to its success from the other e-commerce companies.

Group's individual member self-introduction

I am Law Wai Chee. I come from Taiping, Perak. My hobbies are sleeping, eating, watching tv, and listen music. I also like to reading books/magazines but searching for the one I like. My favorite movies are horror movies and happy ending drama. I like to listen any music, depending on my mood. Besides that, I also like to traveling and shopping. Because of traveling can make me knowledgeable. Online is my daily activity, as I can search for everything through the internet. The top 5 websites that I visited the most are www.hotmail.com - to check and send email to my friends, www.friendster.com – to find my friends and upload the photo, www.utar.edu.my to check for UTAR’s news, www.google.com – to search the information for my assignment and other, www.baidu.com – to download the free music. Through the internet we can do a lot of things such as chatting with friends, online shopping, download free software, making payments, buying books/products, booking airline tickets, etc. In today life, internet becomes a very important tool for everyone. It made our life easier.

My name is Low JunLing. I’m taking Bachelor of Accounting, Year Three student in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. I will like to watch Hong kong drama when I have free time and surfing internet. I have few favorite websites like to introduce here which is www.tom365.com because it is a free movie to watch, stable and latest movie provided. I always download the movie or drama using this website and share with my housemate. Second website is www.google.com is my first choice when I use search engine. It also using the "SafeSearch" filtering technology to make every search result is protected. I will more enjoy on using Google.com to get any information or knowledge from there. Third website is www.hotmail.com because it is free webmail and I store many mail in hotmail especially sent by my friend. The important newsletter also will keep in the hotmail for my free hour reading. Fourth website is www.friendster.com which I can see my friends latest photo and event happening in them. I also always upload my photo in Friendster. Last most visited website is www.sinchew.com.my to read international and local news which updated everyday. I also get the acknowledgement about the earthquake in China from this website. Thanks to computer researchers to build and develop Internet to make my life connected with the global.

I am Tan Bee Wee. I am 21 years old and come from a small town named Simpang Rengam in Johor. I have 5 siblings and parents. I love my big family. This is the first times I write a blog. Maybe someone will not believe as it is so famous and popular in today. I also seldom read other’s blog as I prefer to use my time to do something which is more meaningful and good for my future. My dream is to give my parents a better life, I hate to see they are so suffer and tough for my family. They are getting older and older and their healthy is also getting poorer and poored.

After I studied in University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), I joined the society (community service society), it makes my life a big change. I am very active to take part and organize in all the activities, such as visit to orphanage and old folk’s home, famine camp, community service camp, charity dinner, community sociology program and so on. Besides that, I also joined other society to organize event like dance night and attend the event others organized. I do not like to spend my time by studying or doing nothing at home. I like to do part time business when I am free.

I like to go shopping, traveling, watching movie, listening music, reading and surfing net. Surfing net is cheap and I can get a lot of useful information easily. Everyday I will log in the hotmail and yahoo website to check mail and send e-mail to my business partner to tell them what I have done and learnt in a day. I like to search information and picture from the google, as it provides huge storage of information to users by free of charge. Youtube is another free website for user; I can download a lot of video clip from there. I am also a member of friendster, so sometimes will upload photo and contact with my friends.

Nowadays, msn messenger is popular and famous for people to connect other. I also like to log in msn messenger to chat with friends at anywhere and anytime. E-banking is also a easy and fast way for me to pay my tuition fee of UTAR and also can check the balance and transaction of savings account. I can also buying and selling a product or service via internet like http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.ebay.com/.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Teo Jing Ji. I am a Malaysian Chinese. I am currently living in Sungai Long for my studies in UTAR. This is my last year in UTAR. I hope I can do better and graduate with flying color.

I am a person who is positive about every aspect of life. There are many things I like to do, to see, and to experience. Most I like to do is swimming. I feel relax in the water. I have a dream to dining at Tioman Island. But the fees for dining there is expensive for me. It is around RM1000. I cannot pay it. So I think I need to work hard and save money from now.

The five(5) websites I visited the most are www.google.com, www.hotmail.com, www.utar.edu.my, www.haoting.com, and www.sinchew.com. I always use www.google.com to find some information for my assignment and what I am interested to know. And use www.hotmail.com to check my mail and create my space there too. The www.haoting.com is a nice place to listen the latest pop-music without download. I read the news through Sin Chew web everyday. So I can save RM 1.30 for buying newspaper everyday. UTAR web is use by me to check my studies environment. Let me know more for my university.

The top five internet activities are entertainment. Because people like to watching, reading, listening, chatting, and buying. All this can do through internet. It is convenience for the busy man.

E-commerce is a new subject for me in this semester. I think it is an interesting subject. I will be happy to learn it. And I will adopt it in fast.
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