Businesses use online strategies to plan their Internet-based activities. Quite often, online strategies are designed to work in conjunction with other business strategies not related to the Internet. For example, traditional retailers like department store chain J.C. Penney, clothing chain The Gap, and book giant Barnes & Noble developed online strategies in the late 1990s, hoping to supp…
As a method of transmitting information, the Internet provides a wealth of opportunities. It wasn't long after the opening of the Internet to the general public that broadcasters and other media companies began considering how to distribute their content over the new medium and capitalize on the fresh business channels. Streaming media emerged as one of the primary methods by which these or…
Subscription models are specific kinds of business models—tools used to describe how companies generate revenue. Business models describe how products, information, and other important elements flow, and what a company's role is during commerce. In the corporate world, there are many different ways to profit in the marketplace. Some companies sell products and services directly to co…
Sun Microsystems, Inc. is a leading supplier of enterprise network computing products, including workstations, servers, software, microprocessors, and a full range of services and support. Through its software, hardware, and service offerings, the company is well positioned for the open, networked world of the Internet. Sun spent more than a decade working on the network capabilities of its server…
Supply chain management is the practice of using the Web and other information technologies to coordinate and keep track of supplies as they move through a business's supply networks. The simultaneous goals of supply chain management are to quickly meet customer demand—by, for instance, fulfilling their orders in a timely fashion and offering them accurate projections—and to m…
During the normal course of doing business, companies engaging in e-commerce are faced with a wide variety of challenges or problems. These vary depending on many factors, including the way a company is structured to profit in the marketplace, the industry in which it operates, legal requirements for tracking or reporting information, and more. A process called systems analysis is used to create n…
The novel business practices, environments, and structures—not to mention the new range of desired skills—that characterize e-commerce have created a range of challenges and concerns for companies in their attempts to recruit and retain talented employees. To attract and retain the best available workers, professionals, and executives, firms need to pinpoint the appropriate combinati…
The commercial Internet, by the 21st century, had already substantially transformed business transactions, both in the United States and worldwide. In the early 21st century, similar changes were expected in the realm of taxation. Despite the financial downturn of the early 2000s and the collapse of many dot.com start-ups, projections for rapid growth and burgeoning e-commerce profits suggest that…
One of the main ways in which the Internet and e-commerce provide value is through the transfer of information between different entities, be they consumers, businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies, or entire industries. Networks like the Internet allow information to flow freely across the well-defined structures to which these entities normally conform. They foster collaboratio…
Telephony is the technology that allows telephones to work. When a telephone call is placed, sounds are converted into electrical signals, transmitted over telephone lines, and converted back into sounds. Early telephony was analog; a single pair of copper wires carried signals over short distances. As the number of telephone calls increased, telephone companies attempted to overcome the limitatio…
Teligent, Inc. is a Vienna, Virginia-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) that uses its own high-frequency microwave and broadband SmartWave networks to offer local and long-distance phone services, Internet access, World Wide Web hosting, and similar services to small and mid-sized businesses. Domestically, Teligent serves 43 major cities; its international reach includes Argentina, Sp…
Terra Lycos, Inc. was formed in October 2000 by the merger of Spain's Terra Networks, S.A. and the popular Internet portal and search engine, Lycos, Inc. Pittsburgh-based Lycos originated as an Internet search engine in 1995. Through partnerships and acquisitions it became an Internet portal operating several Web sites under different brands, from dating service Matchmaker to financial chat…
TheStreet.com Inc. is an online financial news source with roughly 75,000 subscribers. Access to the site is free, although the firm does operate a subscription-based sister site, RealMoney.com, which offers more in-depth information for stock trading professionals. Sales grew 63 percent in 2000 to reach $23 million. However, TheStreet.com lost $62 million that year. In an effort to attain profit…
The World Wide Web is one of several utilities—including e-mail, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Telnet, and Usenet—that form the Internet. At the heart of the Web is a system of many Web servers. While the term server is normally used to describe the computers that host Web sites, it also can refer to the software used to store Web pages. The World Wide Web …
Those who attend major sporting events, plays, and concerts likely obtain their tickets through Los Angeles-based Ticketmaster, which sells tickets at physical locations, through call centers, and via ticketmaster.com. The world's leading ticket company, Ticketmaster sold more than 83 million tickets worldwide (totaling $3.2 billion) for its clients in 2000. Formerly known as Ticketmaster C…
On the surface, the concept of time may seem relatively simple and straightforward. Anyone who interacts with other individuals or organizations relies heavily on time to manage daily activities. People constantly complain that they don't have enough of it and continually save it, waste it, and try to find more of it. Without clocks, time frames, and time zones, the fabric of organization a…
In the digital world, it is necessary to have a means for verifying the integrity and accuracy of documents and important records. Used in conjunction with digital certificates, which are issued by third party organizations to ensure the legitimacy of Web site operators, timestamping is used to prove and verify the date and time when a digital document or record was created. Simply typing dates an…
Trade shows related to the Internet, e-business, electronics, and computers grew in popularity throughout the 1990s. As certain shows—including the PC Expo, Internet World, and COMDEX—became known as the "who's who" trade shows of the e-business industry, technology-based companies began eyeing the trade show arena as a lucrative venue for securing customers. Du…
As companies embraced electronic commerce and worked to devise winning online business strategyies they faced a number of key challenges. Among these, perhaps none were more pressing or problematic in the late 1990s and early 2000s than the issues related to online transactions. With problems ranging from implementing effective online ordering systems to securing electronic payments and customer i…
The term transparency is used to describe conditions under which information flows freely and important business information is readily disclosed so that it is obvious and easily understood. In the realm of e-commerce, the term transparency can be applied to different aspects of business, including the general concept of fair and honest business practices; pricing; and the degree to which companie…
Travelocity.com is a leading online travel Web site where travelers can make airline, hotel, and car rental reservations, book cruises and vacation packages, find information about destinations, and access a range of other travel-related services. It was launched in March 1996 as a joint venture of Sabre Interactive and Worldview Systems Corp. Sabre Interactive was a business unit of American Airl…
24/7 Media Inc. is an advertising agency specializing in the Internet and interactive media. Headquartered in New York City, the company operates globally and offers a wide range of advertising, direct marketing, promotions and sponsorships, and technology services and solutions. Starting in 2000, the firm organized its business into three functional areas: 24/7 Network, 24/7 Mail, and 24/7 Techno…
Ubiquity refers to the ability of a company—and the products and services it sells—to establish a dominant presence among consumers. Although physical retail locations and traditional marketing initiatives support this end, the Internet and e-commerce do much to champion ubiquity for a company. The Internet makes it possible for consumers and companies to be in constant contact with …
In the old days, international trade relied exclusively on paper documents, and over the years an international consensual framework evolved to facilitate trade by this means. However, with the development of sophisticated information technology—and particularly the Internet—international commerce was forced to readjust itself to accommodate a new technological and economic environme…
As both international and electronic commercial activity escalated dramatically in the closing decades of the 20th century and into the 2000s, businesses, governments, and international economic and trade organizations recognized the growing importance of standardizing the protocols used to transmit electronic data. If such protocols were inconsistent or competing within and across industries and …