1) Information technology particularly the internet has transformed the way organizations conduct business. The continued use of the internet by the society will have significant implications on the future of e-business. The use of internet by the society will change how companies conduct marketing and advertisement. According to a research conducted by Pew Research Center’s Internet & America Life Project, young adults form the majority of users of social media (http://www.pewinternet.org/). This implies that business targeting this group will introduce marketing strategies based on social media platform. Businesses will increasingly conduct market research using social media. Additionally, more companies will conduct promotional activities through the internet. New business models will also emerge as e-business continuously undergo changes. For example, traditionally, many businesses were not able to sell directly goods or services to consumers or other businesses. With the increase in adoption rate of smartphone among Americans to access the internet, companies will be able to set up websites to sell products and generate a pipeline for future business sale. In the past, companies such as manufacturers often needed an intermediary to help sell goods and services in the business environment. Another research conducted by Pew Research Center’s Internet & America Life Project also indicates that many Americans are using the internet to socialize and celebrate during holiday seasons than to make purchases (http://www.pewinternet.org). Increasing number of people will use the internet to arrange for parties and send e-greeting cards than buy holiday gift online. The availability of the internet will increase the scope of the needs of customers for choices of holiday destinations.
2) Government policy can act as a barrier to entry or an aid to entry into an industry. Government policy can limit entry into an industry either directly or indirectly through licensing requirements, pollution standards, limits to raw materials, and product testing regulations among others (Porter, 2008). Good examples of heavily regulated industries include liquor retailing, airlines, and taxi services. There are some countries where the government restricts drinking hours and this may directly discourage businesses planning to enter the liquor industry. Some government policies such as expansive patent rules or safety regulations may indirectly hinder entry into an industry by raising the economies of scale faced by new entrants (Porter, 2008). Pollution control requirements may raise the capital required to develop the appropriate technology to handle pollution. However, government policy can also facilitate entry into an industry either directly or indirectly. Government subsidies can attract more businesses to enter into an industry due to the perceived benefits. In addition, government policy can indirectly facilitate entry into an industry, for instance by funding basic research capable of increasing productivity and availing it to all companies.
Government policy can influence the profitability of an industry in a number of ways. For example, the government can introduce subsidies, where the government taxes the public and transfer the funds to a particular industry to make it more profitable. Similarly, the government can introduce tariff to imported products to make them more expensive, allowing domestic firms to increase the prices for their products and gain more profit (Porter, 2008). Currently, the U.S. government is promoting solar heating through research grants and tax incentives. Similarly, the government is quickly eradicating acetylene as a chemical feedstock.
3) According to Unruh’s (2008) article, there are three biosphere rules that can be implemented to produce a profitable and sustainable manufacturing. The first rule is Parsimonious Palette, which gives description of the law of parsimony, which draws from Aristotle’s assertion “The more perfect a nature is, the fewer means it requires for its operation.” When applied to manufacturing, this rule implies manufacturers should emulate the simplicity of nature to produce simple products because they are most sustainable and that they can be profitable due to the limited resources required in the production process. The second rule is Cycle Up. As Unruh (2008) puts it, nature has a means of ensuring that organisms get raw materials equally, and he refers to this as cycle up. On the contrary, down cycling destroys the original value of raw material, for example when a plastic computer casing is melted to make speed bumps. Righteous recycling relies on planned obsolescence. In relation to manufacturing, up-cycling and planned obsolescence can help a firm achieve environmentally superior designs through natural evolution. The third rule is exploiting the power of platforms. According to Unruh (2008), all species on earth share a fundamental design, which firms have exploited over the years. Firms should also develop a general-purpose platform like Microsoft’s Windows to ensure sustainability.
Sustainable manufacturing is an e-business ethical issue because it can help a firm reduce operational cost, increase scale of production, and foster profitable returns on investment on sustainability. Sustainable manufacturing can be important to a business-to-customer e-business in building brand loyalty among customers who value sustainability as well as creating a competitive advantage.
References:
Pew Internet. Research Center’s Internet & America Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org
Porter, M. E. (2008, January). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review
Unruh, G. C. (2008, February). The biosphere rules. Harvard Business Review
