An e-Business Model Ontology for Modeling e-Business

After explaining why business executives and academics should consider thinking about a rigorous approach to e-business models, we introduce a new e-Business Model Ontology. Using the concept of business models can help companies understand, communicate and share, change, measure, simulate and learn more about the different aspects of e-business in their firm. The generic e-Business Model Ontology (a rigorous definition of the e-business issues and their interdependencies in a company’s business model), which we outline in this paper is the foundation for the development of various useful tools for e-business management and IS Requirements Engineering. The e-Business Model Ontology is based on an extensive literature review and describes the logic of a “business system” for creating value in the Internet era. It is composed of four main pillars, which are Product Innovation, Infrastructure Management, Customer Relationship and Financial Aspects. These elements are then further decomposed.e-business models, ontology, e-business, strategy

E-Business Technologies

Internet technologies have revolutionized the business world by creating a global online marketplace. Appropriate understanding for the technologies and the impact of different design choices of technologies (including the Internet and open systems) dramatically affects both functional and non-functional aspects of the e-business solution.e-business, open systems, internet technologies

Insurance Industry and E-Business

亀井利明教授古稀記念特

Mapping the e-business profile and trends in cost management in the UK construction industry

The advancement of e-business applications and IT infrastructure has had massive impact on construction business processes over the last decade. The added effects of globalisation coupled with global economic recession have forced businesses to implement e-business applications within their organisations. It is clear in all industries, that e-business technologies have become a key strategic vehicle in improving performance. In Construction, e-business applications complement most of the business functions and have removed geographical boundaries resulting in a global construction market with increased competition, increased collaboration and have helped reducing the fragmentation of the industry. However, even though the successes are inevitable, it is scrutinized that the advancement is still constrained within the industry. Thus there is a need to undertake an analysis of current construction e-business usage and attitude of construction professionals towards e-business trends to ensure a productive and beneficial implementation of construction e-business tools within organisations. This study acknowledged the niche for research into current e-business usage in UK construction organisations and aimed to determine and map the use of ICT in construction cost management activities, and explore the attitudes of professionals towards e-business approaches. Initially a comprehensive literature review was carried out together with an online web search to identify what ICT and software packages are being used for construction cost management activities. Results from this review aided in developing the research questionnaire and a detailed an online structured survey was carried out using the chartered quantity surveying organisations within the UK. This paper presents the findings of the survey and discusses the ICT usage within construction organisations for cost management activities and the attitude of construction professionals towards BIM and construction e-business trends

SMEs e-business behaviour: a demographics and strategic analysis

The aim of this research was to understand the strategic uses of e-business systems and technologies by classifying companies and particularly small and medium businesses according to demographics as well as e-business behavior variables.The study was based on data from a large quantitative survey of European E-business W@tch for the period 2007 using questionnaire interviews (N=409). We employed two-step cluster analysis, multinomial logistic regression and stepwise descriminant analysis as the most appropriate methods for our analysis. The findings revealed six clusters associated to e-business adoption. The six groups differ in terms of demographic characteristics as well as e-business applications they use. We found that the following clusters exist: (a) Leaders: large companies that extensively use ebusiness in a strategic manner (b) innovators: use e-business in an way that allows them to innovate and differentiate from other companies (c Beginners: small and medium companies across all sectors that only recently start to use e-business (d) Unready Adopters: micro and small companies that lag behind (e) Late Adopters: small-size companies but larger that the Unready Adopters, that appear not to be interest in the advances of ICTs and (f) Laggards: micro companies with little use of e-business.The results of our survey can positively contribute to managers aiming to take advantage of technological advances in electronic business as well as to any researcher who study e-business management and applications

The state of the art in e-business: A case study from the Chinese construction industry

In the 21st century, e-business is seen as the new frontier. Currently e-business has been widely used in other industry and to some extent in global construction market, particularly in developed countries, such as UK, EU and USA. Evidence of performance and success stories shows that the implementation of e-business is already delivering high improvement and innovation in construction project planning, design, delivery and management. However, the current performance of e-business in the emerging market, such as India and China is limited. China, as the world’s second largest economy after the United States, has the world fastest growing economy, averaging 10% growth of the past 30 years. The domestic construction industry is booming in both infrastructure and building construction sectors. It is predicted that nearly half of the world’s new building construction will be in China by 2015. In a similar way to other countries, there is a great potential for China to implement e-business in the construction industry in order to improve its productivity and competitiveness. This paper initially explains the concept of e-Business and its impacts in construction industry and reviews the development of Chinese construction industry over last two decades. A case study of one of the largest Chinese construction IT Companies is carried out to further analyse benefits, challenges and the market potential of e-business in China. This study provides a better and deeper understanding of the different characteristics of the implementation and capability of e-business in Chinese construction industry