Verified Document

Communication And Information Technologies That Help E-Commerce Essay

¶ … communication and information technologies that help e-commerce firms to perform work in a virtual work environment. The paper adopts the approach of a consultant tasked with performing SWOT analysis of Amazon. Based on the SWOT analysis of Amazon, the report recommends that the company should adopt DIVA, a group-ware communication and collaboration tool proposed by Sohlenkamp and Chwelos (1994). The model will help Amazon compete with the new e-commerce firms such as Boxed®. The wholesale competitor has efficiently used communication and information technology tools to create a niche in the market. New communication system: Impact on e-commerce and business communication

Businesses increasingly provide telecommuting facility for their employees. To effectuate this working design, internet and intranet are used as communication sources. To communicate through web-based applications and systems, employees require effective communication skills both formal and informal. The remote working model requires that employees collaborate with the employer through reliable and cost-efficient tool. The impact of these new communication systems is manifold. Time and travel expense of each employee is saved, and the company can hire experts to enhance communication skills. The latest communication systems based on a private intranet of e-commerce companies also help in increasing inter-group proximity in virtual teams. Real-time team communication and work report tracking are also made available through these telecommuting technologies (Cascio, 2000). The information and communication technologies (ICT) also allow e-commerce...

Email, voice mail, video conferencing, and messages through social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are also used to communicate for work related matters in virtual work environment. Computer aided design (CAD) and excel spreadsheet are used to communicate the work progress taking place in virtual teams. Following is a SWOT analysis of Amazon that will help identify areas in which Amazon requires improvement.
Amazon SWOT

Strengths: The main strength of Amazon is that the company is a cost leader in the e-commerce retail industry. It has the widest product categories to offer to customers. The economies of scale of Amazon's operations allow the company to offer lowest prices. Amazon's popular offer was "refund the difference." Renowned supply chain: Amazon's supply chain is one of the most renowned in the work of retail shopping. It has the largest number of fulfillment warehouses in all markets that the company operates. Each fulfillment center is strategically located in the geographical areas served by Amazon. Superior IT capabilities: Amazon's information technology capabilities are also superior to the competitors. The company offers transactional security and order status monitoring to its customers. Having an excess server capacity, Amazon also offered cloud computing services. Weaknesses: Amazon uses its leadership in market share as a competitive advantage. The approach leaves the company with zero-margin in several product categories. The company mostly relies on…

Sources used in this document:
References

Cascio, W.F. (2000). Managing a virtual workplace. The Academy of Management Executive, 14(3), 81-90.

Mims, C. (2013, Nov). How 10 people built a competitor to Amazon.com for $1 million-in 90 days. QUARTZ. Retrieved from: http://qz.com/149811/how-10-people-built-a-competitor-to-amazon-com-for-1-million-in-90-days/

Sohlenkamp, M., & Chwelos, G. (1994, October). Integrating communication, cooperation, and awareness: the DIVA virtual office environment. In Proceedings of the 1994 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work (pp. 331-343). ACM. Retrieved from: http://pdf.aminer.org/000/121/938/integrating_communication_cooperation_and_awareness_the_diva_virtual_office_environment.pdf

Appendix I
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now