Chapter 5 Emerging Modes of Business Solutions

Group A

Group B

(A) E-business

(5) Electronic business

(B) B2C

(4) Business to Consumer

(C) Outsourcing

(6) BPO

(D) Digital cash

(9) Exist only in cyberspace

(E) Registration

(3) First step

1. (C) Give one word/phrase/term for the following statement

1. (D) State whether following statement are true or false

1. (E) Find the odd one

1. (F) Complete the sentences

1. (G) Select the correct option and complete the following table

(Business to Business, First step, e-commerce, Payment mechanism, e-business)

Answer:

1. (H) Answer in one sentence

1. (I) Correct the underlined word and rewrite the sentence:

1. (J) Arrange in proper order

2. Explain the following term/concept:

(2) The entire process of settling up a website, helping the customers navigate through the website, offering available products, discounts, to attract the prospective buyers, e-business establishes more closer relationship between partners, employees, suppliers and helps companies to manage their business efficiently.

In India, till today most of the business firms are managed as per traditional methods. Now most of the businesses are well aware of benefits of e-business and hence they started incorporating e-business in their business policy and strategy. Google pay, swiggy, ola, ebay are the examples of e-business. Various types of ’e’ business transactions are B2B, B2C, C2B, C2C, B2A, and C2A.

(2) When services such as security, canteen, sanitation, etc. are outsourced by a company, then the security guards, waiters, cooks, sanitation scavangers, etc. are not the employees of the company although they work inside the company premises. They directly work under the control of service provider or contractor. Many organisations, companies, corporate houses, establishments, hospitals, shops, malls, housing societies, offices, etc. outsource their non-core (less important) areas of business such as canteen, sanitation, security services, etc. to outside agencies.

(2) In brief, BPO is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities to a third party to minimise cost and increase efficiency.

(2) In some industry or organisation in house legal department or a company outsourced legal work to such law firms where it can be done or performed at less cost. For instance, many companies in Europe or US outsource their legal work to Indian law firms where it can be done at considerably lower cost.

(2) KPO is nothing but the allotment of more important or relatively high level tasks or functions to an outside organisation or to a different group specially in a different geographic location. KPO is a subset of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). KPO implies outsource of more important or core functions or business process to third party service provider or organisation to perform which may or may not reduce its cost of the parent company but surely assists in value addition.

3. Study the following case/situation and express your opinion

(i) Which shopping is from traditional business?
(ii) Which shopping is from e-business?
(iii) Which business involved high risk ?

5. Answer in brief

(2) When services such as security, canteen, sanitation, etc. are outsourced by a company, then the security guards, waiters, cooks, sanitation scavangers, etc. are not the employees of the company although they work inside the company premises. They directly work under the control of service provider or contractor. Many organisations, companies, corporate houses, establishments, hospitals, shops, malls, housing societies, offices, etc. outsource their non-core (less important) areas of business such as canteen, sanitation, security services, etc. to outside agencies.

(3) Similarly arrangements for wedding, anniversary, birthday celebration, etc. can also be outsourced to such agencies. This is because many a time an organisation cannot handle all the functions or aspects of business process internally. Some processes are temporarily required to be performed. In such cases, organisation does not want to recruit and appoint professionals to perform such tasks. Most of the services require finely tuned skills which organisation cannot provide. With increasing global competition, most of the companies are focussing their attention on the improvement of quality of their products. Hence, they outsource their non-core business areas so that they can concentrate fully on their core business activities.

(4) Outsourcing benefits the organisation in two ways, viz. (i) It helps to reduce overall costs and (ii) It can use the expertise of the specialised agencies to perform certain tasks more efficiently.

(2) In brief, BPO is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities to a third party to minimise cost and increase efficiency.

(3) It refers to the outsourcing of less important (non-core) or non-primary activities of the organisation to an external organisation or service provider to minimise the cost and increase efficiency of the organisation.

(4) For instance, customer care centres for various banks, service providers, etc. BPO is less complex and requires process expertise. It also requires good communication skills. It focuses on low level process.

(2) KPO is nothing but the allotment of more important or relatively high level tasks or functions to an outside organisation or to a different group specially in a different geographic location. KPO is a subset of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). KPO implies outsource of more important or core functions or business process to third party service provider or organisation to perform which may or may not reduce its cost of the parent company but surely assists in value addition.

(3) Thus, in KPO the business processes which are outsourced are exceptionally more specialised and knowledge based in comparison to Business Process Outsourcings. In brief, KPO is a form of outsourcing in which knowledge related and information related work is done or carried out by the workers working in different company or by a subsidiary of the some organisation which may be in the same country or on off shore location to save cost.

(4) In KPO, both core as well as non-core activities are performed. It requires advanced analytical and technical skills and high degree of specialist expertise. Margarent Rouse defines KPO as, “KPO is the allocation of relatively high- level tasks to an outside organisation or a different group within the same organisation’’

(2) In some industry or organisation in house legal department or a company outsourced legal work to such law firms where it can be done or performed at less cost. For instance, many companies in Europe or US outsource their legal work to Indian law firms where it can be done at considerably lower cost.

(3) In recent years, LPO an high end industry has been growing rapidly in India. LPO is superficially a media invention which is derived from BPO. LPO has made tremendous progress in India in past few years.

(4) LPO gained success by producing and rendering services such as document review, legal research and writing, drafting of briefings, etc. Important benefits of outsourcing legal functions is cost savings and to access high level talent and niche expertise that may not exist within the firm or company.

6. Justify the following statements

(2) In traditional business large, physical space is needed, to arrange and display the variety of goods. It needs large amount of capital to have infrastructure, staff and other required facilities, e-business can be started, managed and operated with the help of the internet from any place or even from one’s own home. Naturally, it requires very less capital. It is also easy to set up.

(3) In traditional business, time is required to travel, to convince, to negotiate and to interact with the customers. In such process lot of time, energy and money are wasted. While in e-business required information is provided and accepted with terms and conditions more instantly.

(4) e-business is also free from most of the problems as faced by the traditional business. Thus, it is easy to set up e-business.

(2) In order to begin with e-business, a business owner must have an internet presence. He has to obtain an e-mail address for communicating the same to the customers and other business associates. This helps speedy communication between business firms and customers. Communication is easy as there is no face to face interaction.

(3) Once the owner of e-business has acquired an electronic means of contact, he may sell goods to the customers residing in any part of the world. There is no need of any wholesalers, retailers, etc. This reduces costs and increases profit. In e-business, goods can be purchased on internet from any place across the globe, payments can be made with the help of debit, credit card, internet banking and the goods are physically delivered at the doorstep of the buyer.

(4) Similarly, he can do trading in any field, e-business uses internet to connect people and processes. The World Wide Web (WWW) offers lot of exposure to e-business on a global platform. International relationship is very strong in e-business. The Government also offers lot of support to e-business. Thus, it allows one to work across the globe in any field he likes.

(2) When a customer likes a product or service, he/she selects, pick ups and drops the items or things in the shopping cart. The shopping cart keeps the systematic and detail record of what items have been picked up while browsing the online store.

(3) The buyer then proceeds to the payment option after selecting all the products. Payment can be made by accepting cash on delivery mode of payment, after receiving physical delivery of goods. The customer may pay in cash or by debit or credit card. The buyer also sends a cheque to the seller and the seller sends the products after the realisation of the cheque.

(4) If the payment is transferred by the buyer from his account to the seller’s account electronically, then after the payment is received by the seller, he sends the goods to buyer. The credit card or debit card is also used by the card holder for. making payment of purchases. The amount gets immediately transferred to vendor’s bank account. After the successful transfer of funds, goods are delivered by the vendor to buyer. Thus, all the aspects of online transaction are completed with the help of the internet.

7. Attempt the following

(2) Lower investment requirements : As compared to traditional business, the investment requirements of e-business are very low. This is because for conducting e-business, the entrepreneurs do not need a large store or professional space, e-business can be managed with minimum manpower. If entrepreneurs have good contact (network), they can do extremely good business with less investments.

(3) Convenience : In e-business, seller and buyer get advantages of internet platform. Internet offers the convenience of 24 × 7 × 365 days a year to both buyer and seller. Business can be done any time with great flexibility. Truly speaking, e-business has enabled and enhanced by electronics. It offers benefits of accessing anything, anytime and from anywhere.

(4) Speed : Web facilitates direct communication between the seller and buyer. It helps the customer to direct or point out his needs and expectation. Similarly, using website seller can show the available products, offer discount and do everything 1 possible to sell his products. Thus, much of buying or selling involves exchange of information through internet at the click of mouse.

(5) Global access : Truly speaking, internet is boundaryless. Internet facilitates and allows the seller an access to the national as well as global market. Internet also offers freedom to buyer to select products from any part of world. There is no need of face to face interaction between buyer and seller. All the things are completed by using internet.

(6) Movement towards a paperless society : Use of internet has considerably reduced its dependence on the paperwork. Due to use of internet, recording and referencing of information are very easy and less time consuming.

(7) Government support : In e-business transactions, cost reduction and availability of products at relatively low prices are possible. This is beneficial to society at large. Hence, government always supports or favours e-business by providing favourable environment for establishing e-business. This support facilitates maximum transparency in the business.

(8) Easy payment : The payment in e-business can be done by credit card, debit card, fund transfer, etc. These facilities are available round the clock.

[B] Disadvantages of e-business : The disadvantages of e-business are explained as follows:
(1) Lack of personal touch : Before buying the products most of the customers want to see, handle, touch, inspect or test the products which is not possible in e-business system. Because of this reasons, most of the customers do not look for online purchase of products on the internet.

(2) Delivery time : In e-business, the delivery of products takes considerable time. In traditional business, immediate delivery of products is given to buyer after he buys the products. The considerable time lag discourages the customer to buy products from e-business. Now a days most of the e-business assures one day delivery. This improvement does not solve the issue completely.

(3) Security issues : The scam through online business by many people cannot be denied. It is also easier for hackers to obtain one’s financial details which can be misused for their personal gain. Thus, online business has less security and integrity issues. Because of these reasons the potential buyers are also discouraged to buy anything from e-business.

(4) Government interference : Many a time, the government monitors, interferes and controls the e-business system. This may put a great hurdle on its growth and prosperity.

(5) High risk : In e-business system, transaction risks such as supply of inferior quality of goods, supplied products do not match with the sample shown, high prices, defects in products, cheating, etc. cannot be denied. In case of any fraud, it becomes very difficult to take legal action due to lack of direct contact between the parties.

The type of e-business are explained as follows:
(1) Business to Business (B2B) : The transactions under B2B include the transactions between one business firm with other business firms. In this type of transactions individual consumers are not involved. In order to get raw materials, catering services, manpower, components of machinery, etc., business firms interact with each other. B2B transactions include supplying ancillary parts/components to manufacturers, providing value added services like catering, providing man power, etc. The business must depend upon one another in order to survive.

(2) Business to Consumer (B2C) : The transactions under B2C include transactions between business firms and consumers. When consumer identifies a need or requirement, he searches for the product or services to fulfil his need. He then selects a vendor, negotiates the price, receives product or services, makes payment and gets service and warranty claims.

The business firms use their website for different range of marketing activities such as sales or product promotion, product information, reviews about the product or service and delivery of the products at doorstep. In order to get more response from the customers, the cost of products and services is kept low through this method and the speed of transaction is faster, e.g. www.flipkart.com, www.yebhi.com, etc.

(3) Consumer to Business (C2B) : Consumer to Business is rapidly growing where the consumer demands or requests a specific service from the business lender. In this transaction, buyers quote their own price for specific product or services. A consumer who is in need of product or services posts his request with a specific budget. The companies interested in providing services or products review the customer’s requirement, negotiate price and finalise the deal. Pest control service, doorstep food delivery, taxi services, etc. are the examples of Consumer to Business transaction.

(4) Consumer to Consumer (C2C) : The transactions under Consumer to Consumer are between two people. Using e-business facility on internet, the consumers can buy and sell goods and services to other consumers, through some third party. A common consumer posts the product or services for sale with the price and other details online and other consumers tries to buy them. The sites are performing the role of intermediaries, just to match the consumers.

For buying and selling, internet allows a lot of space for consumers group to be formed. The consumer forums interact with each other for best variety of goods and services. Through such groups redressal of complaints is also possible. One may sell his products through an online retail space operated by eBay or Yahoo! shopping, etc.

(5) Business to Administration (B2A) : The transactions under Business to Administration are between the business and public administration. This part of e-commerce entirely includes all transactions conducted online between firm at one end and public administration on the other end. For instance, registration of companies, filing returns, payment of taxes, getting permits, etc.

(6) Consumer to Administration (C2A) : The transactions under Consumer to Administration are between the Consumer and Public Administration. This part of e-commerce includes entirely all transactions conducted online between consumer at one end and public administration on the other end. For instance, obtaining passport, aadhaar card, licenses, etc.

(2) Stimulates entrepreneurship, employment and experts : Outsourcing encourages and stimulates entrepreneurship, employment and expertness in the country from where outsourcing is done.

(3) Low manpower cost : In every organisation manpower is required to operate machineries, to do routine work, to perform jobs, to administer and manage business affairs. Recruitment and appointment of personnel on permanent basis are costly. Manpower through outsourcing is available at a lower cost. Outsourcing is beneficial in some portions of business process.

(4) Access to professional, expert and high quality services : Usually the non-core areas or tasks are given to the people who are expert, specialised and skilled in that particular field. These people provide better level of services. They commit less errors and avoid wastage and misuse.

(5) Emphasis on core process rather than the supporting ones : Outsourcing supporting the business processes, facilitates the organisation to concentration on its core (more important) areas to improve the quality of its products and services. This in turn leads to better profits and increase output and turnover.

(6) Investment requirements are reduced : By outsourcing the non-core areas, the organisation can easily save on investing in the latest technology. These organisation allow the outsourcing partners to handle the entire infrastructure. Thus, the organisation itself is required to manage only remaining portion of business process. Hence, investment requirements of the organisation are very less.

(7) Increased efficiency and productivity : Many a time tasks are outsourced to the vendors who are specialised in their fields. Outsourced vendors have deep knowledge, experience, specific equipment and technical expertise. They give performance or do assigned task much better than the ones at the outsourcing organisation. As a result the tasks can be completed faster, with greater efficiency and with better quality output.

(8) Knowledge sharing : Most of the times tasks are outsourced to the vendors who are specialised and expert in their fields. While working together outsourced partners (vendors) share their knowledge, experience, technical expertise, etc. with the employees of the organisation. This is one of the prime advantages of outsourcing. Organisation also uses and shares particular kind of service. Thus, outsourcing helps to develop both the companies and also boosts goodwill in the industry.

(2) A threat to security and confidentiality : When an organisation outsources some portions of business process, it involves a risk of exposing its confidential information to a third party. Similarly, there is danger of the misuse of company’s confidential information by the contractors. So outsourcing involves security issues.
(3) Dissatisfactory services : In case the organisation does not select right partner for outsourcing, it has to face several problems such as substandard quality output, delayed delivery, inappropriate categorisation of responsibilities, etc. It has to compromise on the quality of outsourcing.

(4) Ethical issues : In some cases, the company outsourcing its non-core areas, ignores ethical issues related to outsourcing. When the functions of the organisation are outsourced to a company from another country, the employment opportunities from one’s own country get reduced, which in turn aggravates the unemployment problem.

(5) Other disadvantages :

8. Answer the following

(2) Placing an order : The online shopper can select, pick up and drop the items or things in the shopping cart. The shopping cart keeps the systematic and detail record of what items or things have been picked up, quantity to be bought, the price of each product while browsing the online store. After confirmation, the customer or shopper has to choose a payment option.

(3) Payment : Making payment is the last step in online transaction. The buyer is required to select the payment option. The payment systems in online transactions are secured with very high level encryption. Because of these arrangements, the personal financial information gets completely secured. Payment can be made in one of the following ways:
(i) Cash on Delivery (COD) : According to Cash on Delivery mode of payment, after receiving physical delivery of goods, payments is effected at the doorstep of the customer. The customer can make payment in cash or through debit or credit card.

(ii) Cheque : Under this mode of payment, the S vendor collects the cheque from the customer and j after realisation of the cheque, delivery of the goods is given to the buyer.

(iii) Net banking transfer : Under this mode, the payment is made by buyer to vendor by transfer of funds through the internet. The buyer transfers the agreed purchase amount to the online vendor’s account. It is an electronic facility i of transferring funds though the internet. After receiving the amount, the vendor delivers the goods to the buyer.

(iv) Credit or Debit Cards : Credit card and Debit card are also called Plastic Money. The vendor gets the amount from the buyer through credit or debit card. The amount gets immediately transferred to vendor’s bank account. After the successful transfer of funds, goods are delivered by the vendor to buyer.

(v) Digital Cash : Digital cash is a form of electronic currency which has no reed physical properties. However, digital cash offers the ability to use real currency in an electronic format.

[B] Advantages : The advantages of outsourcing are explained as follows:
(1) Overall cost advantages : Outsourcing reduces cost. Outsourcing avoids the need to hire employees in houses. Hence, recruitment and training costs can be eliminated or minimised. It is also saves time and efforts on training the employees. Similarly, cost of outsourcing services is much less than recruiting work force for the company.

(2) Stimulates entrepreneurship, employment and experts : Outsourcing encourages and stimulates entrepreneurship, employment and expertness in the country from where outsourcing is done.

(3) Low manpower cost : In every organisation manpower is required to operate machineries, to do routine work, to perform jobs, to administer and manage business affairs. Recruitment and appointment of personnel on permanent basis are costly. Manpower through outsourcing is available at a lower cost. Outsourcing is beneficial in some portions of business process.

(4) Access to professional, expert and high quality services : Usually the non-core areas or tasks are given to the people who are expert, specialised and skilled in that particular field. These people provide better level of services. They commit less errors and avoid wastage and misuse.

(5) Emphasis on core process rather than the supporting ones : Outsourcing supporting the business processes, facilitates the organisation to concentration on its core (more important) areas to improve the quality of its products and services. This in turn leads to better profits and increase output and turnover.

(6) Investment requirements are reduced : By outsourcing the non-core areas, the organisation can easily save on investing in the latest technology. These organisation allow the outsourcing partners to handle the entire infrastructure. Thus, the organisation itself is required to manage only remaining portion of business process. Hence, investment requirements of the organisation are very less.

(7) Increased efficiency and productivity : Many a time tasks are outsourced to the vendors who are specialised in their fields. Outsourced vendors have deep knowledge, experience, specific equipment and technical expertise. They give performance or do assigned task much better than the ones at the outsourcing organisation. As a result the tasks can be completed faster, with greater efficiency and with better quality output.

(8) Knowledge sharing : Most of the times tasks are outsourced to the vendors who are specialised and expert in their fields. While working together outsourced partners (vendors) share their knowledge, experience, technical expertise, etc. with the employees of the organisation. This is one of the prime advantages of outsourcing. Organisation also uses and shares particular kind of service. Thus, outsourcing helps to develop both the companies and also boosts goodwill in the industry.

[C] Disadvantages of outsourcing : The disadvantages of outsourcing are explained as follows:
(1) Lack of customer focus : An outsourced vendor may be catering to the expertise needs of several companies at a time. In such cases, the vendors may lack complete focus on outsourcing company’s needs or tasks. As a result, the quality of the outsourced service may not be up to the mark.

(2) A threat to security and confidentiality : When an organisation outsources some portions of business process, it involves a risk of exposing its confidential information to a third party. Similarly, there is danger of the misuse of company’s confidential information by the contractors. So outsourcing involves security issues.
(3) Dissatisfactory services : In case the organisation does not select right partner for outsourcing, it has to face several problems such as substandard quality output, delayed delivery, inappropriate categorisation of responsibilities, etc. It has to compromise on the quality of outsourcing.

(4) Ethical issues : In some cases, the company outsourcing its non-core areas, ignores ethical issues related to outsourcing. When the functions of the organisation are outsourced to a company from another country, the employment opportunities from one’s own country get reduced, which in turn aggravates the unemployment problem.

(5) Other disadvantages :