Topic 10 - Trust

1) What does this meant by the following statements?

Trust is not associative (non-symmetric)

Just because some has trust in you, doesn’t necessarily mean you have trust in them.

Trust is not transitive

Trust cannot be passed from person to person. Just because I trust Bob, does not necessarily mean you are going to.

Trust is always between exactly 2 parties

I don’t think so. Again, just because I trust you, doesn’t necessarily mean you trust me.

Trust will involve either direct trust or recommender trust

Direct trust is something you have experienced yourself. You’ve had dealings with a certain person or website, and have a feel as to whether they can be trusted or not. Recommender trust would be something where I have suggested to you that you try something based on my recommendation

2a) Have a look at the following websites. What are some of the elements that have been incorporated to increase your trust in the sites? If there are also some aspects which decrease your level of trust describe them as well.

http://www.eBay.com.au – I have used and will continue to use eBay. The site itself promotes safe selling and buying practices by using secure payment methods such as Paypal, thus giving the buyer ‘protection’ against the seller.

http://www.anz.com.au – Not a customer of ANZ, but it is run generically the same as the Commonwealth. Banking site HAVE to be safe and secure or their customer base would drop off in droves.

http://www.thinkgeek.com – Thinkgeek looks reputable. I’ve never seen or heard of it before, but appears to be above board with its live chat function, phone details and accepting Paypal payments. I would generally wait for ‘word of mouth’ before purchasing something from a website I’d not heard of before.

http://www.paypal.com.au – I love Paypal and the protection it offers consumers.

2b) Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.

Any file sharing website. Full of viruses that won’t ‘cost’ you anything to purchase, but can cost a fortune to clean up the mess they make L

Topic 8 – Online Auctions

Q1: eBay is one of the only major Internet "pure plays" to consistently make a profit from its inception. What is eBay's business model? Why has it been so successful?

A virtual sales platform that connects sellers and buyers from all corners of the globe. It has been so successful because it’s boundaries are almost unlimited. People from all corners of the world and all walks of life (with access to the internet), can use the services eBay has to offer.

Q2: Other major web sites, like Amazon.com and Yahoo!, have entered the auction marketplace with far less success than eBay. How has eBay been able to maintain its dominant position?

I think eBay has continued to remain successful because millions of different people can list millions of different items for sale, to a customer base that is spread world wide. Sites like Amazon and Yahoo list what items they are able to access and that’s it. It’s almost like, two minds are better than one. One item I might like to buy or sell, will be something completely different to what my next door neighbour would like to buy or sell. I think what eBay comes down to, is choice, unlimited types of items can be listed to be sold.

Q3: What method does eBay use to reduce the potential for fraud among traders on its site? What kinds of fraud, if any, are eBay users most susceptible?

eBay provides its users with information on fraud through its website. It has dedicated fraud pages that give users information on how to handle and report fraud.

The biggest threat of fraud on eBay is paying for an item and the seller not sending it.

Q4: eBay makes every effort to conceptualize its users as a community (as opposed to, say "customers" or "clients"). What is the purpose of this conceptual twist and does eBay gain something by doing it?

For me personally, it is a play on words. The word ‘community’ sounds trustworthy. No-one ever likes to think that anything bad is going to happen within their ‘community’. When you start talking about clients and customers, automatically you think, business, companies, corporations, and once you start thinking in those terms, you start to get the feeling of ‘not being loved’ any more. The personal feel of ‘community’ has been wiped from the corporate world of today. The longer eBay can hold on to this ‘feeling’ the longer they will continue to be successful.

Q5: eBay has long been a marketplace for used goods and collectibles. Today, it is increasingly a place where major businesses come to auction their wares. Why would a brand name vendor set-up shop on eBay?

eBay IS a brand name, so why wouldn’t a brand name vendor enter into business with another brand name that is equally if not more, successful? eBay’s marketplace would most likely be far wider than a brand name vendor could access in the physical world.

Q6. I have a few businesses, and I have used eBay for about 12 years on and off. Currently I have about 600 books listed on eBay (seller name ozrural). I stopped selling on eBay for a few years but they changed the rules this July and it is viable again (for me). What do you think changed?

In July, eBay changed their payment systems to more trusted and secure systems, as well as their listing price policies, making it more viable as a physical book seller in that environment.

Topic 7 - Introduction to Digital Automata

Check this link to my ‘intelligent’ cybertwin which I also mentioned in the Powerpoint. You may like to create your own cybertwin as well. The more you 'train' your twin, the better the responses will be. While it is just a fun exercise, Think of the opportunities. Imagine if we had a cybertwin that could answer your questions about the course. Or perhaps a shopping assistant?

Ian: Have you thought about studying eBusiness?

You: I am studying eBusiness

Ian: Bad luck.

You: Bahahahaha, tell me about it!!!

Ian: Don't tell me what to do Belinda or I might have to send you a tarantula in the mail.

Keep ya bloody creepy crawlies to yourself, Ian!!!

Write a one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument against the Turing Test, known as the about the Chinese room.

“The phrase “The Turing Test” is most properly used to refer to a proposal made by Turing (1950) as a way of dealing with the question whether machines can think. According to Turing, the question whether machines can think is itself “too meaningless” to deserve discussion (442). However, if we consider the more precise—and somehow related—question whether a digital computer can do well in a certain kind of game that Turing describes (“The Imitation Game”), then—at least in Turing's eyes—we do have a question that admits of precise discussion. Moreover, as we shall see, Turing himself thought that it would not be too long before we did have digital computers that could “do well” in the Imitation Game” (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-test/).

“The Chinese Room Argument can be refuted in one sentence:

Searle confuses the mental qualities of one computational process, himself for example, with those of another process that the first process might be interpreting, a process that understands Chinese, for example.

A man is in a room with a book of rules. Chinese sentences are passed under the door to him. The man looks up in his book of rules how to process the sentences. Eventually the rules tell him to copy some Chinese characters onto paper and pass the resulting Chinese sentences as a reply to the message he has received. The dialog continues.

To follow these rules the man need not understand Chinese.

Searle concludes from this that a computer program carrying out the rules doesn't understand Chinese either, and therefore no computer program can understand anything. He goes on to argue about biology being necessary for understanding” (http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/chinese.html).

It all sounds a little ‘Frankenstein-ish’, I think, but will become a large part of our world eventually.

3) Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high-quality customer service over the Web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience. Write you answer on your blog page or express an opinion on this voice discussion board (it's simple to join). If you choose this option please link (live in an hour or so) to it from your blog page.

Topic 6 - Digital markets

Question 1

a) What experiences have you had with shopping online?

Oh gosh, too many to mention, eBay, Deals Direct, OO.com, the list is endless.

b) Describe a good experience.

A good experience for me is when I’ve made a purchase, I receive an email to say the order has been received, payment has been confirmed and an invoice has been issued, then an email to say the order has been dispatched and when delivery could be expected, and then the order arrives as described in the stated time frame.

c) What did you like about the online store you used?

The ease of finding the item I wanted, payment options and delivery times.

d) Describe a bad experience.

Oh Lordy, Lordy. Just this last Christmas. I bought wrestling figure for a friends son, delivery was meant to be before Christmas, didn’t show up until WELL into January, then arrived it wasn’t ‘New In Box’ as described (wasn’t from eBay surprisingly), and ended up getting PayPal involved to get a full refund. Was eventually resolved by PayPal. NOT GOOD ENOUGH DINODIRECT!!!

e) What problems did you have with the online store?

Described above

f) What features make an online store more appealing?

Good search function, payment options, good customer service (eg. Live chat on Deals Direct and prompt response to emails etc.) reasonable delivery charges and times.

g) What features make an online store less appealing?

BAD customer service is the worst.

h) Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?

I would expect the price of goods and services to fall simply because of competition. Sometimes a customer in Australia can source something from the US for a lot cheaper than they can get it here. Prime example, a friend of mine bought some craft supplies from an eBay seller, and paid $12 for 4 items, she bought the exact same things from China, $4.95 for 50 items.

Question 2

a) The dispersion of prices (that is, the spread between the lowest and highest price for a particular product) will narrow.

I don’t necessarily agree. As with traditional, physical stores, sometimes one store can offer a lower price than another. A perfect example is a new heater I was looking for, for my house. One store in Ballarat quoted the exact same model as being $3000, and another on the same day, quoted $2200, just 12 months ago. Now, I assume one had got a deal with the supplier/manufacturer and perhaps could get a shipment in bulk, thus paying less per unit as the other store and therefore passing on that saving to the customer. The same could be said for online stores, you have one store that may get a great deal through a supplier/manufacturer that another can’t, and for an online store, it may be a simple problem such as storage, that they don’t have enough space to order a particular product in bulk and store it until they sell. Or they may have access to a cheaper supplier that another store does not. I think the online market will reflect traditional physical markets, some sellers have access to cheaper items, others do not.

b) The importance of brand names will decrease.

Again, I don’t necessarily agree. Brand names are ‘trusted’, plain and simple. Once a brand name has been established and has stamped itself firmly in the marketplace, it takes a lot to remove it. See http://www.interbrand.com/en/knowledge/best-global-brands/best-global-brands-2008/best-global-brands-2010.aspx for brand movements in the last 12 months. The Google brand has jumped from 7^th position last year, to 4^th position this year. The top three brands, Coke, IBM and Microsoft have retained their top positions from the previous year also. Brands that have successfully secured themselves within the marketplace, will stay there, unless something drastic happens. I don’t think the internet will decrease the importance of brand names.

c) Price competition will make all products cheaper.

Again, I disagree. One seller can have access to a supplier/manufacturer that can sell to them cheaper. It’s one of those unwritten laws in business, some have access, some don’t. Some get a bargain, some miss out.

d) Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites, like Amazon.com.

To an extent I agree. I think this comes down to brand names and reputation. If a site like Amazon retains its huge reputation, it will continue to boom. Generally speaking, sites like Amazon can afford to pay for 1^st rate marketing, thus when consumers search for a product, sites like Amazon will be the first to appear at the top of the search page. And again, generally speaking, even if they are selling an item for a slightly higher price than another online seller, they may well get that sale simply because of their brand name and trustworthiness.

e) How do you think the balance of power between buyer’s and seller’s will change?

With access to a wider range of sellers, consumers have a wider choice. Consumer power increases as more and more people buy online looking for the best quality for the best prices.

f) Prices are clustered online.

I think it depends on the type of product. If you’re looking for something like a mobile phone cover, then you’re looking at roughly the same prices no matter what site you’re looking at. However, I was looking at Etsy.com today (someone on Facebook mentioned it and I went for a quick squiz), it’s a site for handmade crafts and some of the items on there were selling for astronomical prices!!! A hand knitted scarf (http://www.etsy.com/listing/65565013/cabled-alpaca-scarf-long?ref=cat1_gallery_2) is selling for almost $50 USD. I can knit the same thing for less than $10 AUD. More ‘abstract’ items tend to attract higher prices, I believe.

g) Online prices are elastic. ( i.e. immune to change up and down with demand)

I think this is almost answered in the previous question. It depends on the product. Common products generally sell in a very narrow price range, whereas other ‘abstract’ items attract a price well above and beyond its value.

h) Online prices are generally transparent (the extent to which prices for a given product or service are known by buyers in the marketplace.).

I tend to agree. With the internet providing access to users from all four corners of the globe, consumers are able to see what things are selling for and where and with information at the touch of one’s finger tips, consumers are comparing more and more every day.

Question 3

a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?

As far as I’m aware, they have an online App Store, not aware of any marketing etc.

b) Which of these services do you use?

Ummmmmmmmm, none!!! LOL Don’t need anything more than what my phone has already (that and i’m a little technically challenged in the mobile department!!!)

c) What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?

On my wireless laptop, I do everything, buying, selling, bill paying, banking. Just not confident or knowledgeable enough with my phone.....yet!!!

d) What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?

Nothing that I can think of.

e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?

I’ve not experienced it, but I think it would give me the irrits!!! As if we’re not already bombarded with millions of adverts in our regular daily lives, to get mobile advertising sent to me while I’m in the middle of cooking dinner for two half starved children, would be almost as bad as having a door-to-door salesman show up at the same time (and not know the meaning of NO, meanwhile my steak is burning in the pan on the stove!!!).