Editorial
Journal
Electronic Markets
ISSN
1019-6781
ISSN-Digital
1422-8890
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2000-07-01
Author(s)
Schmid, Beat
;
Buchet, Brigette
Abstract
Electronic commerce shakes the foundation of all business activities that generate value. Information and communication technologies, their rapid development and convergence, leads to radical changes for businesses. However, perhaps, the most profoundly effected activity to dates has been the marketing arena. While new media offers new sales and distribution channels, it is also wrought with new challenges and vexing problems. It is with this in mind that EM - Electronic Markets is pleased to present our issue focused on electronic commerce and marketing (Vol. 10, No. 3).<br><br>The focus section, Electronic Commerce and Marketing, is brought to you by our Guest Editors, Marcus Schögel and Torsten Tomczak from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland - the same university where this journal is edited. Our thanks go out to Messrs. Schögel and Tomczak for all of their hard work and dedication. The Focus Section presents five articles examining new challenges presented by new media for marketing and distribution. In the interest of openness, it should also be noted that three of these articles come from the University of St. Gallen, albeit from three separate institutes here at the University. That is not the way it was planned, but the way the blind review process worked out. The three institutes are the Institute for Marketing and Distribution (from whence our Guest Editors come), the Institute for Institute for Technology Management, and the Institute for Media and Communications management.<br><br>Julian Pötzl leads off with an article entitled, Issues in Direct Channel Distribution, and he hails from the Institute for Technology Management here at St. Gallen. He poses three questions: Is there really a new opportunity to bypass intermediaries? Is it possible to do so profitably? And, with what resources do the middlemen in the channels have to defend themselves? The research examines air travel and fast moving consumer goods and draws differing conclusions from the industry structures.<br><br>Sabrina Helm, from the University of Dusseldorf's Chair of Marketing presents the next article, entitled"Viral Marketing - Establishing Customer Relationships by 'Word-of-Mouse'. Her article attempts to rectify a problem in literature dealing with viral marketing, in that it tends to rely heavily on anecdotes, without a solid theoretical underpinning or even consistent definitions. Her article breaks down into two main content sections. First, an examination is undertaken of the unique aspects of word-of-mouth marketing, with regards to the internet. Second, is an examination of viral marketing, and its various strategies along with its various risks and opportunities.<br><br>Veith Körner and Hans-Dieter Zimmermann from the University of St. Gallen, Institute for Media and Communications Management (and home of the editorial office of EM) present their work, entitled, Management of the Customer Relationship in Business Media. Their starting point is that the new, digital economy drives not only technological change, but process and structural changes as well. They argue that these changes will affect business partners - suppliers and customers. They go on to examine three trends: changing customer behavior, utilization of ICT, and new business models. Incidentally, Mr. Zimmermann will be serving at Guest Editor for Vol. 11, No. 1, our official anniversary edition, in which we celebrate 10 years of Electronic Markets.<br><br>The Guest Editors, Messrs. Tomczak and Schögel, and Ben Birkhofer with their article," Transaction- And Trust-based Strategies in Electronic Commerce - a Conceptual Approach" is next. Their approarch is to classify e-businesses into two categories - those with a Main Street presence and those that only exist in the world of electronic commerce. They then apply the traditional marketing taxonomy of transaction-base and trust-based to e-commerce.<br><br>The focus section is closed with the article,"Scoring with the Net - the Cybermarketing of English Football Clubs," by John Beech, Simon Chadwick, and Alan Tapp from Conventry University's business school. Their paper assesses the scope, nature, and content of English football clubs websites from a marketing perspective. Their methodology is qualitative in nature and employs surveys and interviews. Their conclusions that they draw are in the realms of intermediation, organizational change, and marketing activities.<br><br>In the research section. Villanova University's James Otto and Q. Chung present"A Framework for Cyber Enhanced Retailing: Integrating E-Commerce Retailing with Brick-and-Mortar Retailing," an article that proposes a conceptual framework that aims to integrate cyber-retailing with traditional retailing. Their approach is rooted in existing literature and yields some insight into this topic.<br><br>Se-Joon Hong from the University of Hong Kong Science and Technology presents"Information-Processing Costs in Online Stock Trading." He argues that a lot of attention has been focused on transaction costs and the effects that online trading brings to them. In contrast, Mr. Hong focuses on the cost incurred before the transaction - the information processing costs and argues that these costs may be significantly higher.<br><br>The final article in this issue is by Satish Nambisan at the National University of Singapore. He examines supply chain management (SCM) by breaking it down into three internet-based forms, although not all of these forms are fully developed. His paradigms are: firm-centered SCM, industry-centered SCM, and inter-industry SCM.<br><br>This issue is closed with a book review by Christoph Hoffmann of the University of St. Gallen. He reviews Paul Timmers's new book Electonic Commerce Strategies and Models for Business-to-Business Trading. The book, published by John Wiley& Sons, was published in 1999. Paul Timmers is the author of EM's all-time most popular article,"Business Models for Electronic Commerce," published in Vol. 8, No. 2.<br><br>We hope that you enjoy the issue. The next issue examines communities and platforms and is guest edited by Ulrike Lechner, Katarina Stanoevska, and Yau-Hua Tan.<br><br>Beat F. SchmidBrigette Buchet
Language
English
Keywords
Marketing Aspects
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Routledge
Publisher place
London
Volume
10
Number
3
Start page
151
End page
152
Pages
2
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
9314