Qs 1: Give the concept of B2B, with B2B architectural model?

Ans: Basic B2B concept

Business-to-business e-commerce: Transactions between businesses conducted electronically over the Internet, extranets, intranets, or private networks; also known as eB2B (electronic B2B) or just B2B.

B2B Characteristics

i. Online intermediary: An online third party that brokers a transaction online between a buyer and a seller; can be virtual or click-and-mortar

ii. Spot buying: The purchase of goods and services as they are needed, usually at prevailing market prices

iii. Strategic sourcing: Purchases involving long-term contracts that are usually based on private negotiations between sellers and buyers

Types of transactions

i. Spot buying: The purchase of goods and services as they are needed, usually at prevailing market prices

ii. Strategic sourcing: Purchases involving long-term contracts that are usually based on private negotiations between sellers and buyers

Types of materials

i. Direct materials: Materials used in the production of a product (e.g., steel in a car or paper in a book)

ii. Indirect materials: Materials used to support production (e.g., office supplies or light bulbs)

iii. MROs (maintenance, repairs, and operations): Indirect materials used in activities that support production

Direction of trade

i. Vertical marketplaces: Markets that deal with one industry or industry segment (e.g., steel, chemicals)

ii. Horizontal marketplaces: Markets that concentrate on a service, material, or a product that is used in all types of industries (e.g., office supplies, PCs)

One-to-many and many-to-one: company-centric transactions

i. Company-centric EC: E-commerce that focuses on a single company’s buying needs (many-to-one, or buy-side) or selling needs (one-to-many, or sell-side)

ii. Private e-marketplaces: Markets in which the individual sell-side or buy side company has complete control over participation in the selling or buying transaction

Many-to-many: exchanges

i. Exchanges (trading communities or trading exchanges): Many-to-many e-marketplaces, usually owned and run by a third party or a consortium, in which many buyers and many sellers meet electronically to trade with each other; also called trading communities or trading exchanges

ii. Public e-marketplaces: Third-party exchanges that are open to all interested parties (sellers and buyers)

Benefits of B2B

Eliminates paper and reduces administrative costs. Expedites cycle time Lowers search costs and time for buyers Increases productivity of employees dealing with buying and/or selling Reduces errors and improves quality of services. Reduces inventory levels and costs Increases production flexibility, permitting just-in-time delivery Facilitates mass customization Increases opportunities for collaboration

Qs 2: What do you mean by Marketplace in E-Commerce? Explain Supplier Oriented Market Place and Buyer Oriented Marketplace?

Ans: An e-marketplace is a virtual online market where organizations register as buyers or sellers to conduct business-to-business e-commerce over the internet.

There are many types of e-marketplace based on a range of business

models. They can be operated by an independent third party, or be run by some form of industry consortium that has been set up to serve a particular sector or marketplace.

Services offered by e-marketplaces include electronic catalogues for

online purchasing of goods and services, business directory listings and online auctions.

Types of e-marketplace

There are many different types of e-marketplace based on a range of business models. They can be broadly divided into categories based on the way in which they are operated.

Independent e-marketplace

An independent e-marketplace is usually a business-to-business online platform operated by a third party which is open to buyers or sellers in a particular industry. By registering on an independent e-marketplace, you can access classified ads or requests for quotations or bids in your industry sector. There will typically be some form of payment required to participate.

Buyer-oriented e-marketplace

A buyer-oriented e-marketplace is normally run by a consortium of buyers in order to establish an efficient purchasing environment. If you are looking to purchase, participating in this sort of e-marketplace can

help you lower your administrative costs and achieve the best price from suppliers. As a supplier you can use a buyer-oriented e-marketplace to advertise your catalogue to a pool of relevant customers who are looking to buy.

Supplier-oriented e-marketplace

Also known as a supplier directory, this marketplace is set up and operated by a number of suppliers who are seeking to establish an efficient sales channel via the internet to a large number of buyers. They are usually searchable by the product or service being offered.

Supplier directories benefit buyers by providing information about suppliers for markets and regions they may not be familiar with. Sellers can use these types of marketplace to increase their visibility to potential buyers and to get leads.

Vertical and horizontal e-marketplaces

Vertical e-marketplaces provide online access to businesses vertically up and down every segment of a particular industry sector such as automotive, chemical, construction or textiles. Buying or selling using a vertical e-marketplace for your industry sector can increase your operating efficiency and help to decrease supply chain costs, inventories and procurement-cycle time.

A horizontal e-marketplace connects buyers and sellers across different industries or regions. You can use a horizontal e-marketplace to purchase indirect products such as office equipment or stationery.

Qs 3: Explain following payments instruments in detail:

A. Cyber Cash

Cyber Cash’s Secure Internet Credit Card Service delivers a safe, real-time solution for merchant processing of credit card payments over the Internet. The Credit Card Service lets any consumer with a valid credit card buys from any Cyber Cash enabled merchant. Designed to integrate fully with existing transaction processing systems used by banks and other financial institutions, the service provides automated and instantaneous authentication, enabling order processing to traverse the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Consumers Benefits:

Safe, private and easy to use. Protected by the highest allowed levels of Internet encryption with assured authentication.

Use existing Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover. No special credit cards are necessary.

Complete on-line payments

Merchant Benefits:

Real-time authorization and settlement Receive payments instantly and secure No need to maintain expensive phone or fax operations Open 24 hours a day

Benefits:

Real-Time, automatic sales 24 hours a day: all processes are carried out from your website without manual intervention. Transactions occur within 15 to 20 seconds. Consumers have more payment options, so sales are increased

Inexpensive to integrate: because the Cyber Cash Credit Card Service works with over 80% of existing merchant banks, most merchants can continue their established banking and order-processing procedures.

B. Smart Cards

A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC), is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. There are two broad categories of ICCs. Memory cards contain only non-volatile memory storage components, and perhaps dedicated security logic. Microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile butadiene styrene or polycarbonate . Smart cards may also provide strong security authentication for single sign-on within large organizations.

A smart card may have the following generic characteristics:

Dimensions similar to those of a credit card. ID-1 of the ISO/IEC 7810 standard defines cards as nominally 85.60 by 53.98 millimeters (3.370 × 2.125 in). Another popular size is ID-000 which is nominally 25 by 15 millimeters (0.984 × 0.591 in) (commonly used in SIM cards). Both are 0.76 millimeters (0.030 in) thick.

Contains a tamper-resistant security system (for example a secure crypto processor and a secure file system) and provides security services (e.g., protects in-memory information).

Managed by an administration system which securely interchanges information and configuration settings with the card, controlling card blacklisting and application-data updates.

Communicates with external services via card-reading devices, such as ticket readers, ATMs, etc.

BenefitsSmart cards can provide identification, authentication, data storage and application processing.

The benefits of smart cards are directly related to the volume of information and applications that are programmed for use on a card. A single contact/contactless smart card can be programed with multiple banking credentials, medical entitlement, driver’s license/public transport entitlement, loyalty programs and club memberships to name just a few.

Multi-factor and proximity authentication can and has been embedded into smart cards to increase the security of all services on the card. For example, a smart card can be programed to only allow a contactless transaction if it is

also within range of another device like a uniquely paired mobile phone. This can significantly increase the security of the smart card.

Governments gain a significant enhancement to the provision of publicly funded services through the increased security offered by smart cards. These savings are passed onto society through a reduction in the necessary funding or enhanced public services.

Individuals gain increased security and convenience when using smart cards designed for interoperability between services.

C. Credit Cards

A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services. The issuer of the card creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the consumer (or the user) from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the user.

A credit card is different from a charge card: a charge card requires the balance to be paid in full each month. In contrast, credit cards allow the consumers a continuing balance of debt, subject to interest being charged. A credit card also differs from a cash card, which can be used like currency by the owner of the card. Most credit cards are issued by banks or credit unions, and are the shape and size specified by the ISO/IEC 7810 standard as ID-1. This is defined as 85.60 × 53.98 mm (3.370 × 2.125 in) (33/8 × 21/8 in) in size.

Benefits to customers

The main benefit to each customer is convenience. Compared to debit cards and cheques, a credit card allows small short-term loans to be quickly made to a customer who need not calculate a balance remaining before every transaction, provided the total charges do not exceed the maximum credit line for the card. Credit cards also provide more fraud protection than debit cards.

Many credit cards offer rewards and benefits packages, such as offering enhanced product warranties at no cost, free loss/damage coverage on new purchases, and points which may be redeemed for cash, products, or airline tickets. Additionally, carrying a credit card may be a convenience to some customers as it eliminates the need to carry any cash for most purposes.

Features

As well as convenient, accessible credit, credit cards offer consumers an easy way to track expenses, which is necessary for both monitoring personal expenditures and the tracking of work-related expenses for taxation and reimbursement purposes. Credit cards are accepted worldwide, and are available with a large variety of credit limits, repayment arrangement, and other perks (such as rewards schemes in which points earned by purchasing goods with the card can be redeemed for further goods and services or credit card cash back).