Customer Reviews

The E-Commerce Question and Answer Book: A Survival Guide for Business Managers

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Rosen did not write this book for "dummies." Rather, for anyone (not only for business managers) who needs a thorough briefing on the basic concepts and nomenclature of e-commerce. (The term itself is rapidly being replaced by "e-business which includes but is not limited to "commerce.") I think the book will be especially helpful to school and college students as they prepare themselves for careers. Also for others who may now be reluctant to participate in conversations about the Internet and WWW. Also for still others who need a "briefing" on how their organization can determine what the nature and extent of its involvement in e-commerce can and should be.

Rosen organizes her material within six chapters:

Chapter 1: The Internet Today

Chapter 2: Identifying Your Direction

Chapter 3: E-Commerce Technology

Chapter 4: Creating E-Commerce Services

Chapter 5: Hosting and Supporting E-Commerce

Chapter 6: Marketing an E-Commerce Site

Rosen also provide a crisp summary at the end of each chapter and then a Glossary which is also well done. As the chapter titles and sequence correctly suggest, Rosen begins with the "basics" (as Vince Lombardi always did at the beginning of each new football season, assuming nothing) and then skillfully guides her reader through the process by which to determine appropriate organizational direction; then reviews various relevant technologies; then suggests how e-commerce services can create unique value (eg convenience); then explains what's involved in hosting and supporting e-commerce; and then finally, provides some excellent advice on the all-important task of marketing a website (or Web site).

Is this the definitive book in the subject? No. It wasn't intended to be. (Nor could any one book ever be. The business world is changing too fast.) Will this book be helpful to substantial numbers of people? You bet. Were I the owner of a small-to-midsize company, for example, and we were planning to get heavily involved in e-commerce, I'd buy a copy for every key person in the company and then conduct a rigorous group discussion of it. To paraphrase Henry Ford, whether you think you need this book or think you don't, you're probably right. .

Very helpful guide...clear, concise & always to the point. We're a nontechnical company (construction) moving a major part of our business toward e-commerce. This book identified and explained many of the issues & questions we'd been stumbling over. Highly recommend it as both a primer and a blueprint for taking on the e-commerce world.

This book is published so technical people can understand the business perspective of e-commerce and also so business people can understand the technical side of e-commerce. It caters to both audiences without being too boring or too difficult. It is also organized in a question and answer manner that you can quickly get the information you want out of it. You can read the entire book in very little time by skipping over the "tell me more" sections that you don't care to know more about and get more information by reading the "tell me more" sections that you do want to know more about.

The book does seem to be talking to the medium sized business, but all the information is still relevant to the small business person to see the bigger picture of e-commerce for their business. The book is not an exhaustive reference, but it is a good read for anyone getting started who needs to understand the business of getting on-line with your business -- quickly.

Is anyone making money on the Net besides web developers? If so, how can a small business participate, expanding their customer base and growth potential? The E-Commerce Question & Answer Book joins a few others on how to make money on the internet and addresses many side issues, from whether to hire a programmer to create Web pages to understanding how databases work in the e-commerce world. Invaluable here is a step-by-step approach which rates and discusses options and then tells how to achieve goals.

From e-auctions and trading to making sales on the net and evaluating how e-commerce can affect a product's distribution, The E-Commerce Question and Answer Book provides an important basic primer on the topic for business managers who need to consider e-commerce for their business. Chapters explain terminology and provide a foundation for making business decisions.

Anita Rosen's E-Commerce Question And Answer Book appears in its second edition to provide a survival guide for managers who want to assess their products or services for ecommerce potentials. From fulfillment policies for the Web to selecting service providers, this reviews the basics.