B2B E-Commerce
Multiple Choice Questions
1) B2B transactions that involve communication, design, planning, information sharing and activities beyond financial transactions among business partners is referred to as ____________.
a. exchanges
b. collaborative commerce
c. trading communities
d. public marketplaces
2) The purchase of goods and services as they are needed, usually at prevailing market prices, is referred to as ____________.
a. direct materials
b. consolidation
c. spot buying
d. strategic sourcing
3) What are the two types of materials and supplies that are traded in B2B?
a. Digital and physical
b. Direct and indirect
c. Horizontal and vertical
d. Commodities and nonproduction
4) The ________ consists of a number of interrelated subprocesses that extend from the acquisition of materials from suppliers to packaging it and moving it to distributors and retailers.
a. supply chain
b. vertical market
c. horizontal marketplace
d. production chain
5) EC companies will usually separate their B2C orders from their B2B orders because B2C and B2B orders have different _____________.
a. buying and delivery processes
b. accounting and financial processes
c. marketing processes
d. order-fulfillment processes and pricing
6) By using the Internet and automatic-response software agents, GE reduced the cost of customer service calls from $5.00 per call when done by phone to ________ per electronically answered call.
a. $2.50
b. $1.00
c. $0.20
d. $0.05
7) Several benefits of Microsoft's ________ are that distributors can check inventory, make transactions, and look up the status of their orders, significantly reducing the number of phone calls, e-mails, and incorrect product shipments.
a. extranet-based order-entry tools
b. electronic data interchanges
c. customized catalogs
d. auto-responders
8) Benefits of using a third-party hosting company for conducting B2B auctions instead of developing an auction site in-house include all of the following except:
a. no hiring costs.
b. no redeployment of corporate resources.
c. time-to-market of several weeks.
d. no need for additional resources such as hardware, bandwidth, or IT personnel.
9) An example of a successful aggregation of suppliers' catalogs is that of ________, which aggregates more than 10,000 items from the catalogs of approved suppliers into an internal electronic catalog.
a. MasterCard International
b. Amazon.com
c. Google
d. Priceline.com
10) Denver Boards, a B2B manufacturer of snowboard equipment, can reach and target new retail customers in order to grow its online business by ____________.
a. hiring an affiliation service to drive traffic to its Website
b. reviewing POS data
c. mining data
d. advertising in traditional media
Critical Analysis / Case Study Problems
The Critical Analysis questions are designed to help you gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter, develop an increased ability to apply what you have learned and integrate this knowledge into a greater understanding and appreciation for your field of study. Completion of the following questions will help you outline your answers and organize your thoughts within an appropriate framework. These practice questions will not be graded, but you should apply the same analytical skills and writing proficiencies that you will need for the unit essays. We suggest writing your answers on another piece of paper and comparing your results to the suggested answers at the end of this chapter to help you identify any areas you need to review.
1. Assess the following: spot buying versus strategic sourcing, direct materials versus indirect materials, and vertical markets versus horizontal markets.
2. Provide reasoning for the logic of group purchasing and how it is organized.
3. Consider the advantages of selling through online auctions over selling from catalogs. What are the disadvantages?