M-CommerceIn Chapter 6, “Business N

M-Commerce
In Chapter 6, “Business Networks and Telecommunications,” you learned about the many
wireless technologies that enable people to access the Web while away from the office or home.
Wireless technologies enable what some people call mobile commerce, or m-commerce. Mobile
devices already let users log on to the Internet, but they can also provide an additional benefit
to businesses: a device can be located with an accuracy of several feet, much like locating a
cellular phone. As soon as you come within a few blocks of a store, your handheld computer or
phone could beep and display a promotional message on its monitor.

Virtual Worlds
You walk around, look at a map, like a piece of land, and decide to buy and develop it. You agree
to pay the price, $2,000. You develop it and later sell it for a profit of $4,800. Where is that?
Nowhere on planet Earth. It’s all in a virtual world accessed throughWeb browsers and additional
proprietary software that can be downloaded free of charge. Transactions like this take place daily
(or hourly) at SecondLife, a virtual world on the Internet. And, no, the dollars we mentioned are
not virtual. They are real dollars that you and the buyer paid using a real credit card. A virtual
world is a combination of images, video, sound, and avatars that resemble the real world created
by software and accessible for interaction by subscribers. An avatar is a three-dimensional
graphical character that subscribers use to represent them in the virtual environment.

FROM IDEAS TO APPLICATION: REAL CASES
A Blooming Web Business
Flowers are a highly perishable product. Most pass
their useful commercial life within hours. Therefore,
ensuring timely arrangement, packaging, and delivery
is of utmost importance for the survival of any florist,
let alone one that operates on the Web.
1800Flowers.com, Inc. is the oldest online florist.
Jim McCann opened a single flower shop on Long
Island in 1976. Within a few years he augmented it into
a chain of 14 flower shops in the New York City metropolitan
area. In 1986, he acquired the telephone number
1-800-356-9377, which allowed him to advertise the
company as 1-800-FLOWERS to receive orders by
phone. He registered it as a trademark. In 1995, he
acquired the domain name 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, registered
it, too, as a trademark, and opened a Web site.
The domain name has since become one of the most
recognized brands in gift retailing.

Thinking About the Case
1. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM promises its Web affiliates that
it will pay them a commission even if a customer
made a purchase at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM several
days after the visit at the original site. How can 1-800-
FLOWERS know that a customer visited the original
business and when?

2. What is the purpose of maintaining three sites at
three different locations?
3. What is the purpose of freezing all changes to the
sites some time before Valentine’s Day?
4. Business that comes through the Web is the most
profitable for the company. Why?
5. How difficult is it at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM to plan
upgrades, testing, and changes to the Web sites?
Banking on Web Technologies
Sovereign Bank, the 18th largest bank in the United
States, is based in Reading, Pennsylvania and has
financial assets of $82 billion. It employs more than
10,000 people, operates more than 800 branches
throughout the northeastern region of the United
States, and maintains over 2,000 ATMs. Sovereign has
experienced a dramatic increase in the number of customers
doing business through its Web site. Management
believes that a key to increasing its customer
base is to offer a large financial institution’s services in
a personal manner typical of small community banks.
To that end, the bank is relying on consumer-centric
multichannel marketing. In marketing, a channel is a
manner in which the marketing effort is carried out:
mail, e-mail, Web advertising, newspaper advertising,
and so forth.

Challenges of Global
Information Systems
LEARNING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
A growing number of organizations operate globally or, at least, in more than one
geographic market. These organizations face some challenges that have a considerable
impact on their information systems. The organizations have to meet the
demands of global operations by providing international ISs to accommodate the
free flow of information both within a single company’s divisions and between
multinational corporations. These issues are important because so many companies
operate a Web site, and Web sites are accessible globally. For professionals, this
means a growing need to understand other cultures, standards, and legal systems
when applying and using information systems.
When you finish this chapter, you will be able to:
 Explain why multinational corporations must use global information systems.
 Provide elementary advice for designing Web sites for an international audience.
 Cite the cultural, legal, and other challenges to implementing international information
systems.