Effects of Internet on Business

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND POLICY (BUSN 4415) MW: 9:30-10:45

Table Of Contents Pg.
History: 3
Abilities: 5
Features: 5
Effects: 8
Conclusion: 11

History

We have came accustomed to the technology of today but what did people do hundreds of years ago? I don’t think the world was ready for what was about to happen in early 1960s. During that time things happened that you could say changed the world. I’m going to give you a brief background on the Internet “The Internet was the result of some visionary thinking by people in the early 1960s who saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific and military fields. J.C.R. Licklider of MIT first proposed a global network of computers in 1962, and moved over to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in late 1962 to head the work to develop it. Leonard Kleinrock of MIT and later UCLA developed the theory of packet switching, which was to form the basis of Internet connections. Lawrence Roberts of MIT connected a Massachusetts computer with a California computer in 1965 over dial-up telephone lines. It showed the feasibility of wide area networking, but also showed that the telephone line's circuit switching was inadequate. Kleinrock's packet switching theory was confirmed. Roberts moved over to DARPA in 1966 and developed his plan for ARPANET. These visionaries and many more left unnamed here are the real founders of the Internet”.

The Internet initially connected four computers in universities in the southwestern US these universities were UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UCSB, and the University of Utah. “The contract was carried out by BBN of Cambridge, MA under Bob Kahn and went online in December 1969”. “By June 1970, MIT, Harvard, BBN, and Systems Development Corp (SDC) in Santa Monica, Cal. were added”. This was a huge step for what was to come in the form of Internet and what we use the Internet for today.

This Internet was not what we are using to today, but it did shortly follow. “Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web browser on a NeXT computer, called WorldWideWeb, finishing the first version on Christmas day, 1990. He released the program to a number of people at CERN in March, 1991, introducing the web to the high energy physics community, and beginning its spread”. After the introduction of the WorldWideWeb there were several updates and versions to come. In August of 1995 Microsoft Introduced the Windows 95 Operating System which included a web browser that would change how the world would use this amazing technology.

Abilities

The truth is if you are not using the Internet in your business than you are loosing market share. The capabilities of the Internet are remarkable and are continuing to progress. “The Internet has created an entire business function commonly referred to as e-business or e-commerce. E-business represents the use of Internet and business technology in a company’s operations”. The facts are simple most all companies have implemented the use of Internet in their companies. Although, not all of the companies use the Internet for the same purposes. Some companies have more advanced operating systems set up specifically for their organization to take full advantage of this priceless technology. Others use if for basic communication in small businesses.

Features

The most basic and significant features is the ability to communicate within the organization at anytime but even better all over the world. This is done through e-mail servers that are available from many different companies throughout the Internet. When e-mail was first introduced you had to be setting in front of the computer to access it and send or receive anything. With the emerging technology of today you can have all of that same access in the palm of your hand anywhere you go with cell phones. This makes communicating in the business world much more easily done and readily available.

Along with email companies create websites that lets customers view information about the company, such as mission statements and history of the company and the location of its stores or offices. These websites not only supply company information to the customers, but if the company sells products it can list their products with pictures and descriptions. These descriptions and photos of the products are extremely useful when customers are researching products they are looking to purchase. Some website are even equipped with the capabilities for customers to write their own reviews of the product they had purchased and these reviews are viewable by new customers. This is also very helpful to new customers that are not sure if the products will suit their needs. The customers can look at these reviews and decide if the product would be helpful for them or if they need to find another alternative.

Marketing has highly evolved since the creation of the Internet. Marketing is what sells the products for your business. “It wasn't that long ago when the marketing menu for businesses consisted of print, radio and television.” But, with more and more people spending time on the Internet companies started to realize what kind of opportunities they were missing by not using this to their advantage. This really exploded marketing companies and made Internet marketing a very large business. I will not get into the business of marketing, but this is a multi billion-dollar business now due to the Internet. The technology that the Internet has was able to take the marketing to another level. By monitoring the searches you do online marketing companies have programs that can suggest companies that have these items you are searching for. If you pay attention while searching the web the ads that are on the web pages that you are looking at are often products that you are interested in or have been researching on the web. Do you think these ads come up by coincidence? Even how remarkable it is that those ads can be put in front of eyes that are interested in them and not just every person that is watching T.V. when your commercial plays the its gets better. With the Internet a marketing company are able to keep track of websites and adds that are visited by customers. This gives the marketing company as well as the business a better feedback than what newspaper, magazine, and commercial adds are capable of giving. This may not seem like much, but a lot can be done by just knowing how many times people are looking at your website. By watching these numbers you can change your marketing techniques and see which techniques are effective and if they are worth the costs that you are spending. “Many online marketing platforms represent a cost savings. You can put almost unlimited content on your website for a very marginal cost. Starting a company blog can help drive traffic to your website and build trust with potential customers. Maintaining a presence on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allows you to share information on special promotions or new products with a few strokes of the keyboard and the click of a mouse.”

Effects

“The Internet also has allowed companies to find ways for lowering operational costs and saving capital on production of goods or services.” This is what it is all about lowering the operational costs gaining room for larger profits. “Companies often implement business software to track various business operations and review the efficiency and effectiveness of each department. These business software packages help managers review information in a real-time format and make better or more-informed decisions regarding the efficiency of operations.” Another way companies decrease costs is by implementing programs that monitor stores inventory. To much inventory on hand can be very expensive for the company and by decreasing the amount of inventory you have on hand, but not running out and not having it on hand when customers ask for it is the key to keeping inventory cost low. If inventory stocks get high you stand of chance of getting stuck with it or it going bad if it doesn’t have a long shelf life, like produce, or you stand a chance of the products going obsolete. These programs are hooked to the Internet and monitor when the inventory is getting low. Depending on the program you can have it alert you when certain inventory is low and you can place an order, or it can be ordered automatically from the warehouse just by setting up the programs to do so. The larger organization, such as wal-mart, uses these types of inventory systems to keep their shelves full but not over due it. Like I said earlier with grocery items too much inventory is like throwing money away if you don’t have the consumers to purchase it.

The Internet has not only increased corporations sales at the local, regional, and national level, but this technology has let business reach consumers that were never thought possible on the global market. When you can reach consumers clear across the country at the low cost that websites provides you cannot afford not to use this resource. “Many companies in the traditional business environment were unable to directly sell goods or services to consumers and other businesses. These companies, such as manufacturing and intermediate goods producers, often needed a middleman to help sell goods in the business environment.” Not only being able to view products on-line it you are able to purchase the product at that moment and getting the processing started much faster than you would with original mail order companies such as Sears that would send out catalogs to everyone and hope they would order something. Again that show how the Internet has lowered the cost of marketing, and intern decreased the operational cost involved in doing business. “Many argue technology has blurred the line between professional and private lives. Wireless Internet, cell phones and Blackberries have made it easy to work from home -- or for that matter, from the beach. The fact that it's easy to work from the beach compels people to do so. On the flip side, people also feel compelled to use Internet access at work for personal reasons. In this way, technology allows workaholics to work and slackers to slack.” That bring another effect that might not be so good but everything can’t always be perfect everything will have some sort of negative side.

There are some misconceptions that are involved with the Internet. “The Internet is not an end-all, be-all solution for business. Many businesses, small and large, often face significant upkeep charges for maintaining current technology in their business operations.” That is the worst part of about technology you may have the top of the line electronic equipment one week and it be outdated the next. The equipment that is used on this scale is not cheap and it is very costly to keep up with the technology. “Failing to maintain current technology in business may allow a competitor to use new Internet-based technology for creating a competitive advantage in the economic marketplace. Companies also must be careful to invest in technology that will be supported and commonly used in the business environment.”

Conclusion

With technology continuing to change you must keep up with it if you want to stay competitive in the marketplace. If you are not keeping up with the technology you can bet your competitors are. That alone will put them and at distinct advantage and could possibly put you out of business. The bottom line if you are not using the Internet in your corporation for marketing and supplying your products you are loosing market share and with the ability to maximize sustainable competitive advantage.

Works Cited

http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html November 22, 2012

http://www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_browse.htm November 22, 2012

http://www.smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-internet-modern-businesses-corporations-896.html November 22, 2012

http://www.latimes.com/features/aranet/business/ara-8066600101-20120521,0,1440360.adstory November 23, 2012

http://money.howstuffworks.com/technology-changed-business.htm November 23, 2012