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Compare and contrast the kinds of commitment needed in a strategic alliance.The type of commitment required for a successful strategic alliance is predicated upon ensuring that both sides remain trustful of each other's intentions and dedication to the alliance. Therefore, organizations must develop cooperative interdependence that is built upon trust and respect for what each organization brings to the table. Commitment must revolve around organizations that are willing to pool the cost of establishing new technologies and facilities that are necessary as a strategic alliance requires for organizations to invest manpower, money, and time into a new venture that isn't guaranteed to work, which is why both organizations have to be dedicated to providing the appropriate resources for ensuring success.If an alliance fails to meet strategic goals, how do top managers resolve the situation? How can an alliance be improved?Alliances that fail to meet strategic goals have failed to navigate the many differences that exist between organizations, which can be improved by recognizing and embracing the differences through a focus on the various strengths that each organization can use to assist the alliance. The focus should be solely on how to collaborate effectively in reference to understanding each organization's strengths, how they operate and engage in decision-making, allocate resources, and their views on ethical behavior. The impetus to develop a strategy that respects the different organizational structure, policies and procedures, and culture and norms of the other organization is necessary, and this is how alliances are improved.What are some of the factors that an MNC manager considers when picking a country for establishing an e-commerce business? Why do trading blocs such as Mercosur, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and the EU (European Union) present significant potential for e-commerce businesses?With the proliferation of the internet, e-commerce has become an integral part of most company’s distribution channels. The internet and the World Wide Web have increased businesses ability to reach more customers and at the same time customers have a wider reach in terms of products goods and services due to the information available via the internet and the World Wide Web. However, before making the decision to establish an e-commerce venture in a country, MNCs consider a number of factors to ensure that the venture is a success and that it gives the organization a competitive advantage. The first consideration is the level of information technology infrastructure development. MNCs will favor countries with highly developed information technology infrastructure when deciding where to establish their e-commerce ventures. Secondly, they consider the government regulation and policy as pertains e-commerce in the country. Companies will establish e-commerce ventures in countries where government policy and regulation is not constrictive. In addition to these factors, MNCs will consider language, religion, culture and personal characteristics in establishing e-commerce platforms in other countries. Trading blocs such as Mercosur, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and the EU (European Union) present significant potential for e-commerce businesses as established by MNCs because they have a long and established history as trading nations that import and export a wide range of goods and services which forms the basis of a success e-commerce venture. They have well developed cyber laws, a sound banking and fraud detection system with dedicated enforcement agencies. On the other hand, these blocks have highly developed information technology infrastructure with very high internet speeds which is the backbone of e-commerce.Explain conditions under which a firm chooses a management structure available for a strategic alliance.Firms may choose to a strategic alliance when they seek to grow into a multinational organization, which requires global strategic alliances with other nations wherein the management structure would consist of working partnerships wherein leaders from the host country are sent overseas to work as expats in the foreign nations that have established strategic alliances between their companies and the host company. This global alliance could represent a company forming a strategic alliance with a foreign government, companies in different industries, and even rival companies if the strategic interests of the alliance are the same.Describe the basic steps for a successful e-commerce strategy.In order for an e-commerce strategy to be successful, a company should be strategic in how they approach the design, establishment, execution and implementation of their e-commerce venture. First and foremost, the business should ensure that it keeps abreast with the latest advancements in the technological field. Secondly, they should carry out an analysis of what they want and develop a detailed functional requirements document with the end user in mind. This is premised on an industry analysis, competition e-commerce platforms analysis to establish what works and what does not work. Once this is done, development of content follows with a focus on multi-media content due to the fact that an e-commerce platform that has a lot of multi-media content is likely to attract a lot of viewers who can be converted. The company should select a well qualified person to design, build and maintain the platform. The person should also carry out search engine optimization and link social media sites to the platform to drive traffic and subsequently grow the sales of company products and services that are sold on the platform. This should all be in line with the goals and objectives of the company and in line with the functional requirements document developed to guide the development of the e-commerce site.What are e-commerce enablers? Why are they becoming essential to e-commerce? What are the essential services provided by e-commerce enablers?E-commerce enablers include middleware, which represent e-commerce tools capable of assisting organizations in creating new strategies and policies that can integrate their businesses' into the new 21st century internet-based marketplace. These enablers are essential for allowing organizations to r support many different internet-access devices capable of delivering transactions and business sales to customers' mobile devices while also providing new tools for business success. Enablers will continue to facilitate business opportunities through the internet marketplace.What are the main types of strategic alliances? Compare and contrast themMultinational Companies use different strategies to enter foreign markets or conduct their business activities. One of these strategies is strategic alliances. This is where companies enter into collaborative agreements with other businesses, governments, customers or other entities in order to achieve specific objectives geared at gaining a competitive advantage. There are a number of types of strategic alliances with the most common being joint ventures, affiliate marketing, franchises, licensing, and distribution agreements.Joint ventures are an agreement between two or more firms that come together and pool resources to pursue specific objectives. They are mainly common where the resources required are beyond the capacity of each of the entities independently. The profits or the proceeds of such a venture are shared as per pre-agreed ratios. Affiliate marketing strategic alliances are agreements between a company and its customers who refer other customers for a fee or discounts on subsequent purchases from the number of referrals they make. Unlike Joint ventures, there is a no profit sharing agreement between the partners here. An affiliate program is open to all customers of a business entity. On the other hand, a franchise is an agreement between two business entities where the franchiser allows the franchisees to manufacture and sell products owned by the franchiser under an agreement that binds the franchisee to observe specific productions and distribution standards. The franchisee in this case enjoys all the profits and is under no obligation to share with the franchiser unless the contract stipulates otherwise. It is almost similar to licensing where the holder of a patent or copyright licenses the same to another firm to manufacture and sell items under license for a share of the profits. Finally, distribution agreements are where a manufacture of certain products enters into an agreement with another business entity to purchase and resell their products exclusively in a specific market and in turn enjoys a discount on purchases from the manufacturer.Explain e-commerce security. What are the four key aspects of information security? What can a multinational do to ensure security of its e-commerce system?E-commerce platforms should be secure in order to ensure the security of both the organization and the customers who carry out their shopping activities online and pay on the e-commerce platform. E-commerce securityis all the activities and strategies adopted to protect e-commerce platforms or assets from access by unauthorized personnel. Further it entails protection from unauthorized use, changes and or complete destruction. The key tenets of information security in an e-commerce system are; integrity, that is, the prevention from unauthorized access or modification; confidentiality and privacy, that is, the ability to safeguard information held on the e-commerce platform against unauthorized sharing and disclosure; authenticity, that is, verification and ascertainment of all data sources; and non-repudiation, that is protection against any of the parties reneging on their agreement after completion of a sale. In order for multinationals to ensure e-commerce security, they need to put in place firewalls, an updated anti-virus and malware protection, data encryption and multi-layered user authentication systems, use of digital certificates, and further by abiding by laws, rules and regulations that govern cyber security. The use and application of these approaches will ensure a secure system that protects both the company and the external users, that is, the customers from unauthorized access and subsequent loss of information which can be used maliciously or the total destruction of data and information or the whole e-commerce platform.
Solution: MB6631 - What are e-commerce enablers