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Figure 4: Source: Wang, 1999
Small/Medium Business
each with a different
core competency
The Emerging Need for E-Commerce Accepted Practice (ECAP) 65
Game
Software
• authentication
• quality assurance
• cataloging services
• open standards enforced
• research collaboration
Customized product bundles
Books Clothing Music
Videos
Digital Intermediaries
Customer Customer Customer
The ABCD approach is a simple approach that assists the company in
assessing its social environment.
FURTHER ISSUES TO CONSIDER
E-commerce will only be encouraged if the infrastructure supports the
technology. An online customer may not feel adequately protected, choose to
research a product then buy off-line. There may arise a “digital divide” in the
business world: the larger, well-established companies effectively use the technology
forcing small and medium businesses to adapt or die. Governmental regulation
and legal issues would affect e-commerce, e.g., the question of when is a digital
contact concluded? In June 2000, the President of the United States signed the
Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign). This
provides equal legal status between electronic and traditional signatures, given
mutual consent between the parties to use E-Sign. Many countries will need to
follow this path awaiting international standards (McNurlin & Spragne, 2002).
Wang (1999) reports that ‘medium and small business often do not fully understand
the concept of information systems and its ability to facilitate electronic commerce.
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