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An analysis of the influence of E-commerce on Chinese business
management

Name

Institution

August, 2012

CHAPTER FOUR
FINDINGS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4
...
The research utilized a case study research design to achieve this main
objective
...
The primary data was collected mainly through observation
and questionnaires methods of data collection primarily from the case study company while the
secondary data was collected from the existing literature and business management in the
Chinese context
...
The chapter begins with providing an overview of the case company
used for the research
...
Finally, the analysis and discussion of the
findings to contextualize the findings is provided in the chapter
...
2 Overview of the Case Study
The case study for this research is Lenovo Company
...
The company is headquartered at Quarry Bay
in Hong Kong with the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since 2011 being Yuanqing Yang
...
37 million (Computer Business Review, 2012)
...
Lenovo Company is primarily a personal technology company that has
extensive operations in the industry with its presence spanning in more than 160 countries
around the globe
...
It does development, manufacturing and marketing of diversified products and
services involving a number of technologies
...
The principle products of
the company include the Idea-branded personal computers for consumers and commercial
personal consumers branded as Think-products
...
The company offers a wide range
of notebooks and desktops which are used for commercial purposes to businesses of different
sizes that embrace innovations that are customer centered, cutting-edge technological products
and make use of powerful features of production and manufacturing (Reuters, 2012)
...

Furthermore, the company provides to the market other information technology services, holding
and management services for property, supply chain management services, procurement agency,
management of intellectual property rights and computer hardware and software systems repair
services
...
These
segments include; China, Mature Markets and Emerging Markets (excluding China)
...

Furthermore, the company has its main centers for research located in Yamato in Japan;
Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing in China; and North Carolina and Raleigh in the United States
of America
...
The main and the top competitors of the company include
Dell Incorporation, Sony Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Apple Incorporation and Fujitsu
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Services Overseas Holdings Limited (Computer Business Review, 2012)
...

Consequently, management of such a massive business bringing into picture a number of
challenges which may be dealt with through the use of E-commerce
...

4
...
3
...
The major departments of the company that were relevant
to the research were targeted by the researcher
...
50 out of the 55 questionnaires
distributed by the researcher were effectively completed and collected and met the threshold for
being used for the purpose of the research
...
9 percent response rate which the
researcher considered sufficient for the research
...
3
...
1 Respondents by Departments
The questionnaires were distributed by the researcher to the different departments where
employees working in the respective departments were required to the complete and return the
completed questionnaires
...
On the other hand 16 (32%) of the respondents were from
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the purchases and procurement department while 9 (18%) were from the ICT department of the
company and 7 (14%) were from the finance and administration department of the company
...
1 and figure 4
...

Respondents By department
Department
Number Percentage
Sales and Marketing
18
36
Finance and administration
7
14
ICT
9
18
Purchases and procurement
16
32
Total
50
100

Table 4
...
1: Respondents’ Respective Departments
4
...
1
...
20 (40%) of the respondents were serving the managerial roles in the
5

different departments, 15 (30%) were serving as team leaders in their respective departments
while 10 (20%) were supervisors and only 5 (10%) were serving other positions in their
respective departments
...
2 and figure 4
...

Position held by respondents
position
number
Percentage
manager
20
40
Team leader
15
30
supervisor
10
20
others
5
10
Total
50
100

Table 4
...
2: Position held by the respondents
4
...
2 E-commerce Activities
The respondents were also requested through the questionnaires to indicate whether the company
uses E-commerce in the performance of their activities
...
All the respondents
(100%) indicated that the company made use of E-commerce
...
The researcher through review of literature identified a
number of activities that are performed by companies involved in the E-commerce and therefore
required the respondents whether the activities were part of what was being done by the
company
...

30 (60%) indicated that the company through their respective departments used Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI) while 40 (80%) of the respondents indicated that the company utilized
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) as one of the activities of E-commerce in the conduct of their
business
...
Figure 4
...


7

Figure 4
...
3
...
The models include business to business, business to consumer,
consumer to consumer, consumer to business and business to government E-commerce models
...
48 (96%) of the respondents contacted indicated that the company used a business
to business E-commerce model while 47 (94%) of the respondents indicated that the company
used a business to consumer model and 30 (60%) of the respondents identified that the company
used a business to government model of E-commerce
...
4 presented below represents
these findings
...
4: E-commerce models used by the company (source: data collected)
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4
...
4 E-commerce Technologies
E-commerce is facilitated by different technologies which the researcher also sought to identify
from the respondents
...
The technologies include; internet, intranets and extranets
...

4
...
5 Motivation for E-commerce
The researcher also required the respondents to indicate the motivation behind the significant use
of E-commerce by the company
...
The motivations were identified as
global consumers, global products, global operations, global resources and global collaborations
...
43
(86%) of the respondents indicated that global resources used by the company in their
manufacturing processes was also the motivation behind the company’s indulgence in the Ecommerce activities
...
The findings are presented in
figure 4
...


Figure 4
...
3
...
The
respondents were therefore required to indicate the different advantages that the company derives
from the use of E-commerce in performing their operations
...
3
...
1 To the Company
25 (50%) of the respondents indicated that use of e-commerce enabled the company to speed up
their business transactions, 30 (60%) indicated that E-commerce helped the company in saving
of costs while 35 (70%) identified increased potential market share as one of the advantages that
the E-commerce confers to the company
...
Figure 4
...


Figure 4
...
3
...
2 To the Customers
The respondents indicated that the company’s customers also benefit from the use of Ecommerce by the company
...
40 (80%) of the respondents
indicated that the customers of the company enables quick delivery of the products purchased

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through E-commerce enabled processes while 46 (92%) of the respondents indicated that Ecommerce offers the customers a global market space
...
7 below represents the findings
...
7: E-commerce advantages to customers (source: data collected)
4
...
7 E-commerce and Business Management
The respondents were also required to indicate the influence of E-commerce on the management
of the company
...
All the respondents indicated that Ecommerce has an influence on the management of the company
...
The five ways identified
by the researcher include provision of feedback from the business customers, dissemination of

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information to the customers, management of relationships with the customers, facilitates
speedier decision making process and facilitating efficient resource allocation
...
42
(84%) of the respondents indicated that E-commerce is helpful in the management of the
business through its ability to facilitate efficient dissemination of information to the customers
and other stakeholders in the business
...
This feedback is important in ensuring that the decisions mad by the management of
the company are in line with the interests of the company’s customers
...
41 (82%) of the respondents
indicated that the use of E-commerce by the company facilitated efficient allocation of resources
of the company
...
The findings are as presented in figure 4
...


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Figure 4
...
3
...
Different
commends were elicited from the respondents
...
Ecommerce was identified as the most efficient way of responding to the concerns raised by the
customers of the company and providing immediate feedback to the complaints that are raised by
the different stakeholders of the company including the customers
...
The client coverage where a company is using Ecommerce is high as indicated by some of the general commends
...
4 Analysis and discussion
The findings of this research were analyzed and discussed by the researcher
...
Different E-commerce activities and
models are discussed in this chapter, the motivations and advantages of E-commerce to business
management are also discussed in this chapter and finally the influence of E-commerce on the
business management is also provided in the chapter
...
5
...
This
methodology addresses the needs of business entities, merchants and consumers of a given
product to reduce the cost involved in the performance of their businesses without compromising
the quality of the goods and services offered by the company
...
In simpler terms E-commerce means that
business is done electronically
...
Electronic Data Interchange is one of the activities that are performed by businesses
involved in E-commerce
...
The
information may be related to different activities the parties indulge
...
Electronic Funds Transfer is also another activity of Ecommerce where funds are transferred from one economic agent to another
...
Online Transaction Processing is also another E-commerce activity where transactions
with the customers of the company are performed in the real time
...

Performance of these E-commerce activities by a business is facilitated through a number of
technologies including the internet, intranet and extranet
...
Therefore a
business may indulge in E-commerce through the internet where it would be accessible to a
worldwide market space (Stankovic and Djukic, 2001)
...
Transfer of information within the business is facilitated
through these intranet connections
...
For instance a supplying company electronically connected to the
purchasing company
...
e
...

There are different models of doing E-commerce
...
The
main models of E-commerce include business-to-business (B2B) model, Business-to-consumer
(B2C) model, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) model and consumer-to-business (C2B) model (Dou
and Chou, 2002)
...
These transactions include ordering, purchasing and other
administrative tasks for business entities
...
In
some cases, the model may exist between virtual companies where neither of the companies
trading has physical existence
...

Business-to-consumer (B2C) model encompasses the transactions that exist between a business
organization and consumers of the business’ products
...
For instance the business may
maintain sites for the display of information in a catalog that is placed online and data may be
stored online in the company’s database
...
Consumer-to-consumer model
entails transactions between consumers of a given product
...
In this case the consumer is the selling agent and the
business organization is the buying agent
...
The other models that
have been developed in the field of E-commerce relate to the activities of the business and the
government
...

4
...
2 Motivation for E-commerce and its advantages
The increasing use E-commerce by businesses in the modern business world is motivated by
different driving forces
...
Global customers refer to people who
travel to different places
...
By the use of global information technology the services provided by the
business to the customers from wherever is fast and convenient
...
Global
operations refer to the spread of production facilities in form of subsidiaries worldwide based on
the different changing economic conditions in the world economies
...
Finally,
global collaborations refer to the increasing interdependence between economic agents in terms
of shared knowledge and expertise
...

The general advantages of E-commerce include increased speed for transactions, cost saving,
elimination of national boundaries and ease of networking
...
Ecommerce uses the internet services which are ubiquitous and therefore are not restricted to the
national boundaries meaning that one can do business all over the world
...
In addition to these general advantages, E-commerce has a number of
advantages to both businesses and customers Stankovic and Djukic, 2001)
...
For instance the intermediaries are eliminated since the company
sells directly to the consumers
...
In addition, the customers are offered more
choices since all the brands of the different products that the company produces is displayed as
one the E-commerce activities
...
Finally, E-commerce
enables consumers to receive information that is relevant, detailed and updated in a matter of
seconds rather than in weeks or days
...
First, there is increased
potential market share since through the internet the business is able to gain access to the
international markets and hence economies of scale
...
Finally,
use of E-commerce by businesses offers the companies strategic benefits in terms of reduction of
the product delivery time, cost of labor and the cost incurred in the other areas of doing business
...

4
...
3 Influence of E-commerce on business management
The influence of E-commerce on the management of business revolves around the collection of
useful information from the company’s customers and the dissemination of important
information to the customers
...
The suggestions of
the customers on the different aspects of the company’s products including the quality of the
products and their functionality are collected through the E-commerce platforms
...
Furthermore, the information
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collected through the E-commerce platform enables the company to speed up its decision making
processes and efficiently allocate its resources
...
Consequently, more accurate decisions that work for
the sustainability of the business are made by the management
...
cbronline
...

Dou W
...
C
...
165 – 176
Gilbert D
...
, Powell-Perry J
...
(1999): Approaches by hotels to the use of the
Internet as a relationship marketing tool, Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied
Marketing Science, Vol
...
21-38
Lenovo
Company
(2012)
Lenovo
Research
Products,
th
http://www
...
com/products/us/, accessed on 6 August, 2012
...
and McCole P
...
12, No
...
198 – 204
Reuters, (2012) Lenovo Group Limited (0992
...
reuters
...
HK, accessed on 6th
August, 2012
...
and Djukic S
...
1, No
...
9 – 17
Yahoo

Finance, (2012) Lenovo Group Limited Company Profile,
http://biz
...
com/ic/56/56726
...


available

at

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Appendix: Questionnaire Form
Questionnaire Form
1: General Details
a) Name (optional) ………………………………………………………………………
b) Department;
Sales and Marketing [ ]

Finance and Administration [ ]

ICT Department [ ]

Purchases and Procurement [ ]

c) Position held;
Manager [ ]

Team leader [ ]

Supervisor [ ]

Others [ ]

2: E-commerce Activities and Models Used by the Company
a) Does your company use E-commerce in the performance of its activities? Yes [ ] No [ ]
If Yes, which are the activities of E-commerce are indulged by the company;
Electronic Data Interchange [ ]
Internet Marketing [ ]

Electronic Funds Transfer [ ]

Online Transaction Processing [ ]

Others [ ]

Kindly specify
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………
b) Which of the following E-commerce models are used by the company?
i
...


Business to consumer

[ ]

iii
...


Consumer to business

[ ]
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v
...


Internet

[ ]

ii
...


Extranets

[ ]

3: E-commerce motivations and advantages for the company
a) What are the motivations for the use of E-commerce by your company?
i
...


Global products

[ ]

iii
...


Global resources

[ ]

v
...


Speed

[ ]

ii
...


Increased potential market share

[ ]

iv
...


Strategic benefits

[ ]

c) Indicate whether the E-commerce use offers the following advantages to the customers of
the business;
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i
...


24-hour product access

iii
...


Quicker delivery

v
...


Provision of feedback

[ ]

ii
...


Customer relationship management

[ ]

iv
...


Efficient resource allocation

[ ]

c) Kindly give any commend on the influence of E-commerce on the management of

businesses;
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………
...


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