Database Management Based Business Models for
Electronic Commerce
Walt Scacchi
GSM 274/FEMBA 274
Spring 2002
What is a business model for ECommerce or EBusiness?
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A business model is a process or framework
for how an business enterprise seeks to realize its strategic plan or vision.
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Remember, processes can be patented.
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It’s purpose is to help achieve an unfair competitive
advantage in the market.
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Your team project will identify or select one or more
DBM-EC business models to use
A sample of EC/EB business models
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Stategic position or engagement techniques
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Central technique embodied in each business model
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Role and implications for DBM for each model.
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Discussion item: can you identify a company or Web
site that embodies each business model?
Market Exclusivity
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Identify, capture and dominate a niche.
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Technique: Being first, being best, being the only choice,
being able to easily defend one's market position.
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DBM: Develop, acquire, or possess unique database content,
or more quality content than competitors
Encapsulation
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Surround, capture, divide, "cherry pick"
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Technique: Erect an intermediation structure that captures/controls
access to customers and restricts access by existing competitors, in order
to ingest or acquire them
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DBM: Create an all-encompassing DB service
Follow-and-Dominate
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Be "second to market", outflank first movers
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Technique: let the pioneers catch the arrows, then follow
the path the pioneers have established, but at a larger scale and scope
to discourage subsequent market entrants
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DBM: Build a bigger DB, add more types of data/content, provide
more DB access points
Disintermediation or Reintermediation
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Remove or replace the legacy middle-man
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Technique: Encapsulate market niche, remove/erect (in)efficiency
barriers to legacy competition
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DBM: Provide open Web access/transactions to DB services
controlled by legacy vendors
Aggregate Supply or Aggregate Demand
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Make a new market where one did not exist
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Technique: Gather vendors products/services for targeted
customers; gather potential customers for targeted vendors
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DBM: DB marketing using Ecatalogs or create "magnetic" DB-centered
Web sites/portals
Transformation
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Do legacy business processes/services in new ways
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Technique: Streamline, reengineer or make business processes
Web accessible
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DBM: Workflow automation via Web-based DBM services or process
transactions
Confrontation: David vs. Goliath
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Taking on a larger established competitor
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Technique: "Judo" (find your opponents vulnerability/hinge
points; use their "weight" to their disadvantage)
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DBM: Offer DB-driven product/service innovation
Integration
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Make a market niche from untapped fragments
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Technique: Pull together disparate capabilities/products
into a coherent framework that realizes economies of scale and scope
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DBM: Create integrated views, access or transactions to disparate
information sources
Open Source
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Advocate and exploit "open source" software development business
practices to undercut competition
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Technique: Establish two communities: one for commerical
customers who will pay for support and services, the other open for sharing
software source code with others
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DBM: (1) use open source DBMS and support environment (e.g.,
LAMP -- Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl) or (2) build commerical DBM-based application
in both "supported" (proprietary, fee-based) and "open source" (public,
no-fee or free) versions.
Peer-to-Peer (p2p)
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Advocate and exploit p2p technology for local/global sharing
of information resources, contents, or workspace (e.g., a persistent or
dynamic "view" into a database)
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Technique: Identify information sharing DBM applications
that have a surrounding community of users, then target each community
with a p2p DBM application service.
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DBM: Databases for Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs, wired/wireless
Web phones), local/global object sharing (including objects that contain
other objects), or shared workspaces are targets of opportunity for p2p
DBM applications.