Abstract
Ongoing advancements in technology have enabled E-business processes to become more complex, resulting in increased global market access. E-business paired with virtual reality (VR) technologies has further enhanced this process and has provided a promising shift of traditional business models as well as streamlining of operational and business processes. VR enables users to be immersed in simulated environments, which allows organizations to take their E-business platforms to unexplored levels. It provides more value at lower cost, as well as a more engaging platform. This successively improves operational processes through the collection of data from engaged users. VR is predicted to become an essential tool in the business world; however, its use comes with challenges that do not have current solutions. VR brings benefits that create better decision making and value creation for both the organization and the customer. This chapter examines the role of E-business in the global market and how it can be used to create a competitive advantage across all sectors of business.
TopE-Business
Briefly, E-business is when a traditional business transaction or business process of any form is modified to be completed digitally or over the internet (Raphael & Zott, 2001). E-business uses the internet to network and empower business processes and includes electronic commerce (E-commerce) or the buying and selling of products or services (Combe, 2012). Typically, organizations or retailers will create an online storefront or platform in the form of a website, for ease of use for the consumer. This platform then creates a data collection source which can be used to gain information used for marketing and other purposes (Combe, 2012). Combe (2012) explains that often E-business and E-commerce are used interchangeably; however, E-business includes a broader range of activities than E-commerce. E-commerce began in 1995 as a narrow concept of selling goods online (Zhang, 2020). E-business can include processes such as internal transactions relating to procurement, logistics, supply chain management, payments, inventory, and order tracking. The two overlap when these digital and internet based process modifications enable the buying and selling of products and services online, either tangible or non tangible, that are offered by the organization (Combe, 2012).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Value Chain: Any process or activity that allows a business or organization to add value to the end product or end customer.
Competitive advantage: A business or organization that has an identifiable and favorable advantage over another business or organization of a similar caliber based on its processes, techniques, or operating procedures.
E-Business: Any business process that has been transitioned to have the capability to be completed digitally over the internet, typically through sharing of information between multiple parties.
Business Process Enhancement: When a process required for day-to-day business operations is improved or made better by the addition of technology or others means, making it more efficient or effective within the organization.
Virtual Reality: A simulated and immersive artificial experience that can based off real world scenarios or from an alternative perspective .
E-Commerce: The process of buying or selling a good or service digitally through an internet enabled platform.
Value Creation: The process of turning resources such as labour into a product or service that will meet needs of others, especially buyers of products or services.