HOW IMPORTANT OF INTRANET FOR A BUSINESS ENGAGING IN E-COMMERCE?

An intranet aids in the management of internal corporate information that may be organized with a company's e-commerce business (or transactions conducted outside the intranet). Inasmuch as the intranet allows for the immediate flow of inner information, vital information is concurrently matched and processed with data flowing from external e-commerce transactions, allowing for the effective and efficient integration of the corporation's managerial processes. In this framework, corporate processes, functions and decisions involving e-commerce actions are more logical and planned.

The production of intranets has caused a shift from a hierarchical command-and manages organization to an information-based organization. This shift has implications for managerial responsibilities.

Advantage of E - Commerce for business

E-commerce serves as an "equalizer". It enables start-up and small- and medium- sized enterprises to achieve the global market.

Leveling the Playing Field through E-commerce: The Case of Amazon.com

Amazon.com is an effective bookstore. It does not have a single square foot of bricks and mortar retail floor space. Nevertheless, Amazon.com is posting an annual sales rate of just about $1.2 billion, equivalent to about 235 Barnes & Noble (B&N) superstores. Due to the efficiencies of promotion over the Web, Amazon has used up only $56 million on set assets, while B&N has spent about $118 million for 235 superstores. (To be fair, Amazon has yet to turn a profit, but this does not prevent the point that in many industries doing business via e-commerce is lower in cost than conducting business in a conventional brick- and-mortar company.)

However, this does not discount the point that without a good e-business policy, e- commerce may in some cases differentiate against SMEs because it reveals proprietary pricing information. A sound e-business plan does not completely disregard old economy principles. The dot-com bust is proof of this. Lessons from the Dot Com Frenzy

According to Webmergers.com information, about 862 dot-com companies have unsuccessful

Since the height of the dot-com ruined in January 2000. Mass of these was e-commerce and content companies. The shutdown of these companies was followed by the folding up of Internet service providers, Internet-content providers, infrastructure companies, and other providers of dial-up and broadband Internet-access services.

From the viewpoint of the investment banks, the dot-com passion can be likened to a risk where the big money players were the venture capitalists and those laying their bets on the table were the small investors. The bust was mainly caused by the players' unfamiliarity with the sector, coupled with failure to cope with the amount of capital in circulation and the velocity of the Internet revolution.

Internet entrepreneurs put the prices of their services and goods at very low levels to gain market share and attract venture capitalists to infuse funding. The crash starts when investors started demanding rigid earnings for sky-high valuations. The Internet companies also spend too much on overhead before even gaining a market share.

E-commerce makes "mass customization" possible- E-commerce applications in this area contain easy-to-use ordering systems that permit customers to select and order products according to their unique and personal specifications. For example, a car developing company with an e-commerce policy allowing for online orders can have new cars built within a few days (instead of the several weeks it currently takes to build a new vehicle) based on customer's condition. This can work more efficiently if a company's manufacturing process is integrated and advanced into the ordering system.

E-commerce allows "network production" - This refers to the parceling out of the production process to contractors who are geographically detached but who are linked to each other through computer networks. The profit of network production include; more strategic target marketing, services, reduction in costs, and the facilitation of selling add-on products, and new systems when they are desired. With network manufacture, a company can allocate tasks within its non-core competencies to factories all over the world that focus in such tasks (e.g., the assembly of specific components).