The purpose of my dissertation is to analyze the implications of Electronic Commerce for UK business. The area of my research covers:

· The analyses of Internet history and growth

· The impact of the Internet on a global basis

· Analysis of the e-commerce features and benefits

· Comparison of the e-commerce with more traditional activities

· The analysis of the security policies, customer’s privacy

· Barriers in implementing e-commerce

· E-commerce future

The volume of business-to-business electronic commerce greatly exceeds that between business and consumers. Thus, while consumer issues are important and represent a potentially large market in the future, this should not obscure the importance of policy issues that are more business specific such as adapting commercial business codes to this new environment, trans-border data flows between businesses, establishing new means for engaging in contracts (e.g. digital signature, authentication and certification) and improving the reliability of the infrastructure to meet the quality –of-service demands of businesses.

· Within the business-to-consumer segment, the leading activity is entertainment (e.g. adult entertainment, online games and gambling)

· In the business-to-consumer markets, digital products such as software, travel services, entertainment and finance are the leading electronic commerce products

“Electronic commerce is about doing business electronically. It is based on the electronic processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and video. It encompasses many diverse activities including electronic trading of goods and services, online delivery of digital content, electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, on-line sourcing, public procurement, direct consumer marketing, and after-sales service. It involves both products (e.g. consumer goods, specialized medical equipment) and services (e.g. information services, financial and legal services); traditional activities (e.g. healthcare, education) and new activities (e.g. virtual malls).” (European Commission, 1997)

“Electronic commerce is the exchange of information across electronic networks, at any stage in the supply chain, whether within an organization, between businesses, between businesses and consumers, or between the public and private sectors, whether paid or unpaid” (Cabinet Office Report, 1999)

Critical success factors:

· Target the right customers

· Own the customer’s total experience

· Streamline business processes that impact the customer

· Provide a 360-degree view of customer relationship

· Let customers help themselves

· Help customers do their job

· Deliver personalized service

Research question

The scope of my research is to analyze how the electronic commerce will impact on the UK businesses.

Research objectives:

To analyze:

· Companies’ attitude towards doing business on the Internet

· The features of electronic commerce

· Internet benefits

· To compare electronic commerce with more traditional forms of activities

· Barriers of implementing e-commerce solutions

Identifying the barriers in implementing e-commerce:

1. Resistance to new technology

2. Difficulty of implementation

3. Security is an over hyped problem

4. Lack of skills

5. Lack of potential customer connected

6. Cost

Web commerce transactions are often unprofitable because companies fail to change their back-end fulfillment process. Below are some fallacies, in order of importance:

· Our logistics operation can handle web commerce fulfillment

· We can now sell effectively around the globe

· Our existing supplier relationship will support e-commerce applications

· We are selling over the web so we must be making money over the web