ESL 2 BY TORRE WU

We have recently entered the Age of Knowledge．Often you might hear the phrases．“knowledge is power’’and“content is king’’。when discussing business on the Internet．Events in the short course of e-business and e-commerce history have demonstrated that successful e-businesses are those that recognize the needs of their target audiences and match those needs with relevant content．。Building an e—business to accomplish this is not limited to seasoned professionals–many successful online ventures have been started by students on college campuses．This unit aims at presenting a general overview of e—business and e—commerce．

1．Two Confusable Terms     The terms e—business and e．commerce，often confused with one another，are different．According to Andrew Bartel，vice president and research leader of ecommerce trends at Giga Information Group，Inc．，  E—commerce involves exchanges among customers，business partners and the vendor．For example，a supplier interacts with a manufacturer，customers interact with sales representatives and shipment providers interact with distributors．3 E-business is composed of these same elements．but also includes operations that are handled within the business itself．For example，production，development，corporate infrastructure and product management．

 2．Influences on Business     E-business and e-commerce have increased the speed and ease of business transactions and，as a result，competition is intense．Businesses must adjust constantly to new technologies，integrate newer and faster systems and meet the needs of people around the world．Inventories are no longer kept in preparation for。orders；rather，products are prepaid specifically for consumers.5 Good employees are hard to find and even harder to keep．Competing entities must now collaborate to survive，and must realize the customers do not have far to go to buy from the next available vendor．