text:
Cantonese/Lesson 2/Conversation

Buildup
(At a party in Hong Kong)

Recapitulation
(At a party in Hong Kong)

b, d, g, j
b, d, g, and j (IPA: [p],[t],[k], and [tɕ] ), sounds in Cantonese are voicless, in contrast to the voiced English sounds spelled with the same letters. The tongue position for Cantonese b and g sounds is the same as for English. For the d sound the tongue tip is more forward in Cantonese than in English--against the base of the upper teeth for Cantonese, on the dental ridge for English. The tongue position for the j sound has been discussed in Lesson 1. All of the above sounds are unaspirated, as are the English counterparts. But the Cantonese and English sounds contrast with respect to tenseness--the Cantonese initial consonants are tense while the English lax in isolated words and in stressed positions of a sentence.

p, t, k, ch
Cantonese p, t, k, and ch sounds (IPA: [pʰ],[tʰ],[kʰ], and [tɕʰ] ) are similar to English counterparts p, t, k, ch as they are both voiceless and aspirated. The tonguie position for p and k is the same as for English. For the t sound the tongue tip is more forward in Cantonese than in English--against the base of the upper teeth for Cantonese, on the dental ridge for English. The tongue position for ch has been discussed in Lesson 1. The Cantonese consonants are tenser than the English counterparts.

un
un as in Yahtbún and Yahtbúnyàhn is a two part final composed of a high back rounded vowel (IPA: [u] ) by the alveolar nasal consonant (IPA: [n] ). When the two are together there is a slight offglide to the high central position (IPA: [uːin] ). The vowel is not nasalized before nasal final. The Cantonese 'un' is roughly comparable to the `oon` in English (e.g. `boon`).

Listen and compare
 * 1) bún (本), boon
 * 2) boon, bún (本)

eui
The lips should be rounded throughout the final. Remember that the i of eui represents the high front rounded vowel (IPA: [y] ).

Listen and repeat
 * 1) kéuih 佢
 * 2) deuim̀hjyuh 對唔住
 * 3) deui 對

iu
iu is a two-part final composed of the high front unrounded vowel (IPA: [i] ) plus the high back rounded vowel (IPA: [u] ). In this sequence the i is pronounced as an onglide, with the longest portion being the u.

Listen and repeat
 * 1) síujé
 * síu

Tones
Listen and repeat
 * 1) dōu dōu, sing sing, haih haih
 * 2) dōu sing haih, haih sing dōu
 * 3) dōu sing, sing haih, dōu haih, haih dōu
 * 4) dōu dōu, Jèung Jèung
 * 5) Jèung, dōu, dōu Jèung
 * 6) síu síu, néih néih
 * 7) síu néih, néih síu
 * 8) haih yàhn, yàhn haih

title: Cantonese/Lesson 2/Conversation


text:
User:Gearsofwarfanboy000~enwikibooks

As the name says. GEARS OF WAR IS GOING TO BE THE GREATEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are planning on buying a PS3 please tell me, so I can insult the crap out of you. EMERGENCE DAY!!!!!!!!!!

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User:Gearsofwarfanboy000~enwikibooks


text:
E-Commerce and E-Business/Preface

Preface to the First Edition
One of the many challenges facing the countries in the Asia-Pacific today is preparing their societies and governments for globalization and the information and communication revolution. Policy-makers, business executives, NGO activists, academics, and ordinary citizens are increasingly concerned with the need to make their societies competitive in the emergent information economy.

The e-ASEAN Task Force and the UNDP Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) share the belief that with enabling information and communication technologies (ICTs), countries can face the challenge of the information age. With ICTs they can leap forth to higher levels of social, economic and political development. We hope that in making this leap, policy and decision-makers, planners, researchers, development practitioners, opinion-makers, and others will find this series of e-primers on the information economy, society, and polity useful.

The e-primers aim to provide readers with a clear understanding of the various terminologies, definitions, trends, and issues associated with the information age. The primers are written in simple, easy-to-understand language. They provide examples, case studies, lessons learned, and best practices that will help planners and decision makers in addressing pertinent issues and crafting policies and strategies appropriate for the information economy.

The present series of e-primers includes the following titles:

 * 1) The Information Age
 * 2) Nets, Webs and the Information Infrastructure
 * 3) e-Commerce and e-Business
 * 4) Legal and Regulatory Issues for the Information Economy
 * 5) e-Government
 * 6) ICT and Education
 * 7) Genes, Technology and Policy: An Introduction to Biotechnology

These e-primers are also available online at http://www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers

The primers are brought to you by UNDP-APDIP, which seeks to create an ICT enabling environment through advocacy and policy reform in the Asia-Pacific region, and the e-ASEAN Task Force, an ICT for development initiative of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. We welcome your views on new topics and issues on which the e-primers may be useful.

Finally, we thank all who have been involved with this series of e-primers-writers, researchers, peer reviewers and the production team.

title: E-Commerce and E-Business/Preface


text:
Talk:Computer Go

My TODO list

 * http://senseis.xmp.net/?BensonsAlgorithm
 * Wanted: Dirty Rectangle-Algorithm (preferableworking)
 * http://computer-go.org/pipermail/computer-go/2006-March/004481.html
 * CGOS
 * http://sparcs.kaist.ac.kr/~tinuviel/chuk/
 * komi in computer-computer games
 * http://computer-go.org/pipermail/computer-go/2006-March/004571.html
 * Orego
 * GoGUI
 * http://www.markus-enzenberger.de/compgo/gogui.html
 * CGOS: SGF mime type
 * http://computer-go.org/pipermail/computer-go/2006-March/004567.html
 * Influence
 * Monte Carlo
 * CGOS simple strong algorithm (and influence)
 * http://computer-go.org/pipermail/computer-go/2006-March/004951.html
 * The problems with SGF
 * http://computer-go.org/pipermail/computer-go/2006-April/005381.html
 * Collection of high-quality Go games
 * http://computer-go.org/pipermail/computer-go/2006-April/005416.html

Notes for further expansion

 * Obtaining Legal Play
 * Representing the board
 * Chain tracking
 * Liberty counting
 * Suicides and Captures
 * Ko tracking
 * Data Structures and Algorithms
 * Fundamental Decisions
 * Pattern matching (why, when, and how)
 * Tables, data files, etc vs. hard-coded rules
 * Learning
 * Regression testing
 * Storing coordinate based information
 * Representing the board
 * 1D vs 2D?
 * Array of structures or multiple arrays?
 * Collections of points
 * Speed vs. Size trade-offs
 * sets, hashes, unique lists, and other
 * Spatial representations
 * Surrounding chains/groups
 * Distance from edge
 * Next stone in 4 cardinal directions
 * Incremental updates verses recalculation ???
 * Caching methodologies ???
 * Implementing Go Concepts
 * Life and Death
 * Territory and Influence
 * Libraries of Joseki and Fuseki
 * Chain and Liberty tracking
 * Array of chain ID's
 * Liberty accuracy requirements
 * 4 liberties for tactial stability ???
 * Extend to 5 liberties in contact fights ???
 * Incremental approaches verses recalculation
 * Tactical Reading
 * Minimax vs. AlphaBeta vs. Lambda ???
 * Group Tracking ???
 * Full Board Evaluators ???

title: Talk:Computer Go


text:
E-Commerce and E-Business/E-Commerce Applications: Issues and Prospects

E-Commerce Applications: Issues and Prospects
Various applications of e-commerce are continually affecting trends and prospects for business over the Internet, including e-banking, e-tailing and online publishing/online retailing.

A more developed and mature e-banking environment plays an important role in e-commerce by encouraging a shift from traditional modes of payment (i.e., cash, checks or any form of paper-based legal tender) to electronic alternatives (such as e-payment systems), thereby closing the e-commerce loop.

a) Benefits of e-Commerce
 * Expanded Geographical Reach
 * Expanded Customer Base
 * Increase Visibility through Search Engine Marketing
 * Provide Customers valuable information about your business
 * Available 24/7/365 - Never Close
 * Build Customer Loyalty
 * Reduction of Marketing and Advertising Costs
 * Collection of Customer Data

b)  Basic Benefits of e-Business e-Commerce
 * Increase sales - this is the first thing that people consider when dealing with e-commerce
 * Decreasing costs
 * Increase profits
 * Understanding that profits is not the same as sales
 * Expands the size of the market from regional to national or national to international
 * Contract the market
 * Reach a narrow market
 * Target market segmentation allows you to focus on a more
 * Select group of customers
 * And therefore have a competitive advantages in satisfying them

What are the existing practices in developing countries with respect to buying and paying online?
In most developing countries, the payment schemes available for online transactions are the following:

A. Traditional Payment Methods

 * Cash on delivery. Many online transactions only involve submitting purchase orders online. Payment is by cash upon the delivery of the physical goods.
 * Bank payments. After ordering goods online, payment is made by depositing cash into the bank account of the company from which the goods were ordered. Delivery is likewise done the conventional way.

B. Electronic Payment Methods

 * Innovations affecting consumers, include credit and debit cards, automated teller machines (ATMs), stored value cards, and e-banking.
 * Innovations enabling online commerce are e-cash, e-checks, smart cards, and encrypted credit cards. These payment methods are not too popular in developing countries. They are employed by a few large companies in specific secured channels on a transaction basis.
 * Innovations affecting companies pertain to payment mechanisms that banks provide their clients, including inter-bank transfers through automated clearing houses allowing payment by direct deposit.

What is an electronic payment system? Why is it important?
An electronic payment system (EPS) is a system of financial exchange between buyers and sellers in the online environment that is facilitated by a digital financial instrument (such as encrypted credit card numbers, electronic checks, or digital cash) backed by a bank, an intermediary, or by legal tender.

EPS plays an important role in e-commerce because it closes the e-commerce loop. In developing countries, the underdeveloped electronic payments system is a serious impediment to the growth of e-commerce. In these countries, entrepreneurs are not able to accept credit card payments over the Internet due to legal and business concerns. The primary issue is transaction security.

The absence or inadequacy of legal infrastructures governing the operation of e-payments is also a concern. Hence, banks with e-banking operations employ service agreements between themselves and their clients.

The relatively undeveloped credit card industry in many developing countries is also a barrier to e-commerce. Only a small segment of the population can buy goods and services over the Internet due to the small credit card market base. There is also the problem of the requirement of “explicit consent” (i.e., a signature) by a card owner before a transaction is considered valid-a requirement that does not exist in the U.S. and in other developed countries.

What is the confidence level of consumers in the use of an EPS?

Many developing countries are still cash-based economies. Cash is the preferred mode of payment not only on account of security but also because of anonymity, which is useful for tax evasion purposes or keeping secret what one’s money is being spent on. For other countries, security concerns have a lot to do with a lack of a legal framework for adjudicating fraud and the uncertainty of the legal limit on the liability associated with a lost or stolen credit card.

In sum, among the relevant issues that need to be resolved with respect to EPS are: consumer protection from fraud through efficiency in record-keeping; transaction privacy and safety, competitive payment services to ensure equal access to all consumers, and the right to choice of institutions and payment methods. Legal frameworks in developing countries should also begin to recognize electronic transactions and payment schemes.

What is e-banking?

E-banking includes familiar and relatively mature electronically-based products in developing markets, such as telephone banking, credit cards, ATMs, and direct deposit. It also includes electronic bill payments and products mostly in the developing stage, including stored-value cards (e.g., smart cards/smart money) and Internet-based stored value products.

 * Box 7. Payment Methods and Security Concerns: The Case of China

What is the status of e-banking in developing countries?

E-banking in developing countries is in the early stages of development. Most banking in developing countries is still done the conventional way. However, there is an increasing growth of online banking, indicating a promising future for online banking in these countries. Below is a broad picture of e-banking in three ASEAN countries.

The Philippine Experience

In the Philippines, Citibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Philippine National Bank, and other large banks pioneered e-banking in the early 1980s. Interbank networks in the country like Megalink, Bancnet, and BPI Expressnet were among the earliest and biggest starters of ATM (Automated Teller Machines) technology.

BPI launched its BPI Express Online in January 2000. The most common online financial services include deposits, fund transfers, applications for new accounts, Stop Payment on issued checks, housing and auto loans, credit cards, and remittances.

The Singapore Experience

In Singapore, more than 28% of Internet users visited e-banking sites in May 2001. Research by NetValue (an Internet measurement company) shows that while the number of people engaging in online banking in Singapore has increased, the average time spent at sites decreased by approximately four minutes from March 2001 to May 2001. This decline can be attributed to the fact that more visitors spend time completing transactions, which take less time than browsing different sites. According to the survey, two out of three visitors make a transaction. All major banks in Singapore have an Internet presence. They offer a wide range of products directly to consumers through proprietary Internet sites. These banks have shifted from an initial focus on retail-banking to SME and corporate banking products and services.

Among the products offered are:

 * Fund transfer and payment systems;
 * Integrated B2B e-commerce product, involving product selection, purchase order, invoice generation and payment;
 * Securities placement and underwriting and capital market activities;
 * Securities trading; and
 * Retail banking.

The Malaysian Experience

E-banking in Malaysia emerged in 1981 with the introduction of ATMs. This was followed by tele-banking in the early 1990s where telecommunications devices were connected to an automated system through the use of Automated Voice Response (AVR) technology. Then came PC banking or desktop banking using proprietary software, which was more popular among corporate customers than retail customers.

On June 1, 2000, the Malaysian Bank formally allowed local commercial banks to offer Internet banking services. On June 15, 2000, Maybank (www.maybank2U.com), one of the largest banks in Malaysia, launched the country’s first Internet banking services. The bank employs 128-bit encryption technology to secure its transactions. Other local banks in Malaysia offering e-banking services are Southern Bank, Hong Leong Bank, HSBC Bank, Multi-Purpose Bank, Phileo Allied Bank and RHB Bank. Banks that offer WAP or Mobile banking are OCBC Bank, Phileo Allied Bank and United Overseas Bank.

The most common e-banking services include banking inquiry functions, bill payments, credit card payments, fund transfers, share investing, insurance, travel, electronic shopping, and other basic banking services.37

What market factors, obstacles, problems and issues are affecting the growth of e-banking in developing countries?

Human tellers and automated teller machines continue to be the banking channels of choice in developing countries. Only a small number of banks employ Internet banking. Among the middle- and high-income people in Asia questioned in a McKinsey survey, only 2.6% reported banking over the Internet in 2000. In India, Indonesia, and Thailand, the figure was as low as 1%; in Singapore and South Korea, it ranged from 5% to 6%. In general, Internet banking accounted for less than 0.1% of these customers’ banking transactions, as it did in 1999. The Internet is more commonly used for opening new accounts but the numbers are negligible as less than 0.3% of respondents used it for that purpose, except in China and the Philippines where the figures climbed to 0.7 and 1.0%, respectively.

This slow uptake cannot be attributed to limited access to the Internet since 42% of respondents said they had access to computers and 7% said they had access to the Internet. The chief obstacle in Asia and throughout emerging markets is security. This is the main reason for not opening online banking or investment accounts. Apparently, there is also a preference for personal contact with banks.

Access to high-quality products is also a concern. Most Asian banks are in the early stages of Internet banking services, and many of the services are very basic.

What are the trends and prospects for e-banking in these countries?

There is a potential for increased uptake of e-banking in Asia. Respondents of the McKinsey survey gave the following indications:

1. Lead users: 38% of respondents indicated their intention to open an online account in the near future. These lead users undertake one-third more transactions a month than do other users, and they tend to employ all banking channels more often.

2. Followers: An additional 20% showed an inclination to eventually open an online account, if their primary institution were to offer it and if there would be no additional bank charges.

3. Rejecters: 42% (compared to the aggregate figure of 58% for lead users and followers) indicated no interest in or an aversion to Internet banking. It is important to note that these respondents also preferred consolidation and simplicity, i.e., owning fewer banking products and dealing with fewer financial institutions.

Less than 13% of the lead users and followers indicated some interest in conducting complex activities over the Internet, such as trading securities or applying for insurance, credit cards, and loans. About a third of lead users and followers showed an inclination to undertake only the basic banking functions, like ascertaining account balances and transferring money between accounts, over the Internet. 38

What is e-tailing?
E-tailing (or electronic retailing) is the selling of retail goods on the Internet. It is the most common form of business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction.

 * Box 8. E-Tailing: Pioneering Trends in E-Commerce

What are the trends and prospects for e-tailing?

Jupiter projects that e-tailing will grow to $37 billion by 2002. Another estimate is that the online market will grow 45% in 2001, reaching $65 billion. Profitability will vary sharply between Web-based, catalog-based and store-based retailers. There was also a marked reduction in customer acquisition costs for all online retailers from an average of $38 in 1999 to $29 in 2000.

An e-retail study conducted by Retail Forward showed that eight of its top 10 e-retailers 40 were multi-channel-that is, they do not rely on online selling alone. Figure 7 shows the top 10 e-tailers by revenues generated online for the year 2001.

'''Figure 7. Top 10 E-Retailers 41'''

This image is available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution License 2.5

In addition, a study by the Boston Consulting Group and Shop.org revealed that the multi-channel retail market in the U.S. expanded by 72% from 1999 to 2002, vis-àvis a compounded annual growth rate of 67.8% for the total online market for the years 1999-2002.

What is online publishing? What are its most common applications?
Online publishing is the process of using computer and specific types of software to combine text and graphics to produce Web-based documents such as newsletters, online magazines and databases, brochures and other promotional materials, books, and the like, with the Internet as a medium for publication.

What are the benefits and advantages of online publishing to business?

Among the benefits of using online media are low-cost universal access, the independence of time and place, and ease of distribution. These are the reasons why the Internet is regarded as an effective marketing outreach medium and is often used to enhance information service.

What are the problems and issues in online publishing?

The problems in online publishing can be grouped into two categories: management challenges and public policy issues.

There are two major management issues:

The profit question, which seeks to address how an online presence can be turned into a profitable one and what kind of business model would result in the most revenue; and

The measurement issue, which pertains to the effectiveness of a Web site and the fairness of charges to advertisers.

The most common public policy issues have to do with copyright protection and censorship. Many publishers are prevented from publishing online because of inadequate copyright protection. An important question to be addressed is: How can existing copyright protections in the print environment be mapped onto the online environment? Most of the solutions are technological rather than legal. The more common technological solutions include encryption for paid subscribers, and information usage meters on add-in circuit boards and sophisticated document headers that monitor the frequency and manner by which text is viewed and used.

In online marketing, there is the problem of unsolicited commercial e-mail or “spam mail.” Junk e-mail is not just annoying; it is also costly. Aside from displacing normal and useful e-mail, the major reason why spam mail is a big issue in online marketing is that significant costs are shifted from the sender of such mail to the recipient. Sending bulk junk e-mail is a lot cheaper compared to receiving the same. Junk e-mail consumes bandwidth (which an ISP purchases), making Internet access clients slower and thereby increasing the cost of Internet use.42


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MATLAB Programming/Arrays/Basic vector operations

A vector in MATLAB is defined as an array which has only one dimension with a size greater than one. For example, the array [1,2,3] counts as a vector. There are several operations you can perform with vectors which don't make a lot of sense with other arrays such as matrices. However, since a vector is a special case of a matrix, any matrix functions can also be performed on vectors as well provided that the operation makes sense mathematically (for instance, you can matrix-multiply a vertical and a horizontal vector). This section focuses on the operations that can only be performed with vectors.

Declaring a vector
Declare vectors as if they were normal arrays, all dimensions except for one must have length 1. It does not matter if the array is vertical or horizontal. For instance, both of the following are vectors:

>> Horiz = [1,2,3]; >> Vert = [4;5;6];

You can use the isvector function to determine in the midst of a program if a variable is a vector or not before attempting to use it for a vector operation. This is useful for error checking.

>> isvector(Horiz) ans = 1 >> isvector(Vert) ans = 1

Another way to create a vector is to assign a single row or column of a matrix to another variable:

>> A = [1,2,3;4,5,6]; >> Vec = A(1,:) Vec = 1  2   3

This is a useful way to store multiple vectors and then extract them when you need to use them. For example, gradients can be stored in the form of the Jacobian (which is how the symbolic math toolbox will return the derivative of a multiple variable function) and extracted as needed to find the magnitude of the derivative of a specific function in a system.

Declaring a vector with linear or logarithmic spacing
Suppose you wish to declare a vector which varies linearly between two endpoints. For example, the vector [1,2,3] varies linearly between 1 and 3, and the vector [1,1.1,1.2,1.3,...,2.9,3] also varies linearly between 1 and 3. To avoid having to type out all those terms, MATLAB comes with a convenient function called linspace to declare such vectors automatically:

>> LinVector = linspace(1,3,21) LinVector = Columns 1 through 9 1.0000   1.1000    1.2000    1.3000    1.4000    1.5000    1.6000    1.7000    1.8000  Columns 10 through 18 1.9000   2.0000    2.1000    2.2000    2.3000    2.4000    2.5000    2.6000    2.7000  Columns 19 through 21 2.8000   2.9000    3.0000

Note that linspace produces a row vector, not a column vector. To get a column vector use the transpose operator (') on LinVector.

The third argument to the function is the total size of the vector you want, which will include the first two arguments as endpoints and n - 2 other points in between. If you omit the third argument, MATLAB assumes you want the array to have 100 elements.

If, instead, you want the spacing to be logarithmic, use the logspace function. This function, unlike the linspace function, does not find n - 2 points between the first two arguments a and b. Instead it finds n-2 points between 10^a and 10^b as follows:

>> LogVector = logspace(1,3,21) LogVector = 1.0e+003 * Columns 1 through 9 0.0100   0.0126    0.0158    0.0200    0.0251    0.0316    0.0398    0.0501    0.0631  Columns 10 through 18 0.0794   0.1000    0.1259    0.1585    0.1995    0.2512    0.3162    0.3981    0.5012  Columns 19 through 21 0.6310   0.7943    1.0000

Both of these functions are useful for generating points that you wish to evaluate another function at, for plotting purposes on rectangular and logarithmic axes respectively.

Vector Magnitude
The magnitude of a vector can be found using the norm function:

>> Magnitude = norm(inputvector,2);

For example:

>> magHoriz = norm(Horiz) magHoriz = 3.7417 >> magVert = norm(Vert) magVert = 8.7750

The input vector can be either horizontal or vertical.

Dot product
The dot product of two vectors of the same size (vertical or horizontal, it doesn't matter as long as the long axis is the same length) is found using the dot function as follows:

>> DP = dot(Horiz, Vert) DP = 32

The dot product produces a scalar value, which can be used to find the angle if used in combination with the magnitudes of the two vectors as follows:

>> theta = acos(DP/(magHoriz*magVert)); >> theta = 0.2257

Note that this angle is in radians, not degrees.

Cross Product
The cross product of two vectors of size 3 is computed using the 'cross' function:

>> CP = cross(Horiz, Vert) CP = -3  6   -3

Note that the cross product is a vector. Analogous to the dot product, the angle between two vectors can also be found using the cross product's magnitude:

>> CPMag = norm(CP); >> theta = asin(CPMag/(magHoriz*magVert)) theta = 0.2257

The cross product itself is always perpendicular to both of the two initial vectors. If the cross product is zero then the two original vectors were parallel to each other.


text:
E-Commerce and E-Business/E-Commerce in Developing Countries

How important is e-commerce to SMEs in developing countries? How big is the SME e-business market?
For SMEs in developing countries e-commerce poses the advantages of reduced information search costs and transactions costs (i.e., improving efficiency of operations-reducing time for payment, credit processing, and the like). Surveys show that information on the following is most valuable to SMEs: customers and markets, product design, process technology, and financing source and terms. The Internet and other ICTs facilitate access to this information.43 In addition, the Internet allows automatic packaging and distribution of information (including customized information) to specific target groups.

However, there is doubt regarding whether there is enough information on the Web that is relevant and valuable for the average SME in a developing country that would make investment in Internet access feasible. Underlying this is the fact that most SMEs in developing countries cater to local markets and therefore rely heavily on local content and information. For this reason, there is a need to substantially increase the amount and quality of local content (including local language content) on the Internet to make it useful especially to low-income entrepreneurs.44

 * Box. 9. ICT-4-BUS: Helping SMEs Conquer the E-Business Challenge45

eMarketer estimates that SME e-business revenues will increase: from $6.53 billion to $28.53 billion in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East combined; $127.25 billion in 2003 to $502.69 billion by 2005 in the Asia-Pacific region; $23.51 billion in 2003 to $89.81 billion by 2005 in Latin America; from $340.41 billion in 2003 to $971.47 billion by 2005 in Western Europe; and from $384.36 billion in 2003 to $1.18 trillion by 2005 in Northern America.

How is e-commerce useful to developing country entrepreneurs?

There are at least five ways by which the Internet and e-commerce are useful for developing country entrepreneurs:

1. It facilitates the access of artisans47 and SMEs to world markets.

2. It facilitates the promotion and development of tourism of developing countries in a global scale.

3. It facilitates the marketing of agricultural and tropical products in the global market.

4. It provides avenues for firms in poorer countries to enter into B2B and B2G supply chains.

5. It assists service-providing enterprises in developing countries by allowing them to operate more efficiently and directly provide specific services to customers globally.

 * Box 10. IFAT: Empowering the Agricultural Sector through B2C E-Commerce

 * Box 11. Offshore Data Processing Centers: E-commerce at Work in the Service Sector

Developing country SMEs in the services sector have expanded their market with the increased ability to transact directly with overseas or international customers and to advertise their services. This is especially true for small operators of tourism-related services. Tourism boards lend assistance in compiling lists of service providers by category in their Web sites.

In addition, for SMEs in developing countries the Internet is a quick, easy, reliable and inexpensive means for acquiring online technical support and software tools and applications, lodging technical inquiries, requesting repairs, and ordering replacement parts or new tooling.49

The Internet is also instrumental in enabling SMEs in developing countries to join discussion groups with their peers across the globe who are engaged in the same business, and thereby share information, experiences and even solutions to specific technical problems. This is valuable especially to entrepreneurs who are geographically isolated from peers in the same business.50

What is the extent of ICT usage among SMEs in developing countries?

Currently the Internet is most commonly used by SME firms in developing countries for communication and research; the Internet is least used for e-commerce. E-mail is considered an important means of communication. However, the extent of use is limited by the SMEs’ recognition of the importance of face-to-face interaction with their buyers and suppliers. The level of confidence of using e-mail for communication with both suppliers and buyers increases only after an initial face-to-face interaction. E-mail, therefore, becomes a means for maintaining a business relationship. It is typically the first step in e-commerce, as it allows a firm to access information and maintain communications with its suppliers and buyers. This can then lead to more advanced e-commerce activities.

One of the key barriers to e-commerce development in the developing world is secure payment gateways. Even in Egypt, with a well-developed international tourism market, local SMEs are largely unable to take secure payments online. Payment gateway providers are still not operating in the developing world, and local banks are more likely to develop customised solutions rather than open source plug ins for web sites.

ICT usage patterns among SMEs in developing countries show a progression from the use of the Internet for communication (primarily e-mail) to use of the Internet for research and information search, to the development of Web sites with static information about a firm’s goods or services, and finally to use of the Internet for e-commerce.

 * Box 12. E-Mail and the Internet in Developing Countries

Many firms use the Internet to communicate with suppliers and customers only as a channel for maintaining business relationships. Once firms develop a certain level of confidence on the benefits of e-mail in the conduct of business transactions and the potential of creating sales from its use, they usually consider the option of developing their own Web site.

Studies commissioned by The Asia Foundation on the extent of ICT use among SMEs in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, show common use patterns, such as:

1. wide use of the Internet for e-mail because of the recognized cost and efficiency benefits;

2. use of Web sites more for promotion than for online sales or e-commerce, indicating that SMEs in these countries are still in the early stages of e-commerce;

3. common use of the Internet for basic research; and

4. inclination to engage more in offline transactions than in e-commerce because of security concerns.

SMEs go through different stages in adopting e-commerce. They start with creating a Web site primarily to advertise and promote the company and its products and services. When these firms begin generating traffic, inquiries and, eventually, sales through their Web sites, they are likely to engage in e-commerce.

 * Box 13. Women and Global Web-Based Marketing: The Case of the Guyanese Weavers’ Cooperative

In addition, many Web sites providing market and technical information, agronomic advice and risk management tools for SMEs (to coffee and tea farmers in developing countries, for example) have emerged.53

What are the obstacles, problems and issues faced by SMEs in their use of ICT in business or in engaging in e-commerce?

According to recent surveys conducted in select Southeast Asian countries, the perceived external barriers to e-commerce include the unfavorable economic environment, the high cost of ICT, and security concerns. The internal barriers are poor internal communications infrastructure within SME firms, lack of ICT awareness and knowledge as well as inadequacy of ICT-capable and literate managers and workers, insufficient financial resources, and the perceived lack of relevance or value-added of ICTs to their business.

In general, the main issues of concern that act as barriers to the increased uptake of information technology and e-commerce are the following:

 * Lack of awareness and understanding of the value of e-commerce. Most SMEs in developing countries have not taken up e-commerce or use the Internet because they fail to see the value of e-commerce to their businesses. Many think e-commerce is suited only to big companies and that it is an additional cost that will not bring any major returns on investment.
 * Lack of ICT knowledge and skills. People play a vital role in the development of e-commerce. However, technology literacy is still very limited in most developing countries. There is a shortage of skilled workers among SMEs, a key issue in moving forward with using information technology in business. There are also doubts about whether SMEs can indeed take advantage of the benefits of accessing the global market through the Internet, given their limited capabilities in design, distribution, marketing, and post-sale support. While the Internet can be useful in accessing international design expertise, SMEs are not confident that they can command a premium on the prices for their goods unless they offer product innovations. They can, however, capitalize on returns on the basis that they are the low cost providers.

Furthermore, more often than not, the premium in design has already been captured-for example, in the textile products industry-by the branded fashion houses. SMEs doubt whether Web presence will facilitate their own brand recognition on a global scale.54

 * Financial costs. Cost is a crucial issue. The initial investment for the adoption of a new technology is proportionately heavier for small than for large firms. The high cost of computers and Internet access is a barrier to the uptake of e-commerce. Faced with budgetary constraints, SMEs consider the additional costs of ICT spending as too big an investment without immediate returns.

Many SMEs find marketing on the Internet expensive. Having a Web site is not equivalent to having a well-visited Web site. One reason is that there may be no critical mass of users. Another reason is the challenge of anonymity for SMEs. Because of the presence of numerous entrepreneurs in the Internet, it seems that brand recognition matters in order to be competitive. Moreover, it is not enough that a Web site is informative and user-friendly; it should also be updated frequently. Search engines must direct queries to the Web site, and news about the site must be broadly disseminated. Significantly, the experience of many OECD countries attests to the fact that the best e-marketing strategies are not better substitutes for the conventional form of media.55 One solution may be to encourage several SMEs to aggregate their information on a common Web site, which in turn would have the responsibility of building recognition/branding by hyperlinking or updating, for example.

 * Infrastructure. The national network/physical infrastructure of many developing countries is characterized by relatively low teledensity, a major barrier to e-commerce. There are also relatively few main phone lines for business use among SMEs.
 * Security. Ensuring security of payments and privacy of online transactions is key to the widespread acceptance and adoption of e-commerce. While the appropriate policies are in place to facilitate e-commerce, lack of trust is still a barrier to using the Internet to make online transactions. Moreover, credit card usage in many developing countries is still relatively low.56

Also, consumers are reluctant to use the Internet for conducting transactions with SMEs due to the uncertainty of the SMEs’ return policy and use of data.

 * Other privacy- and security-related issues.57 While security is commonly used as the catch-all word for many different reasons why individuals and firms do not engage in extensive e-commerce and use of Internet-based technologies, there are other related reasons and unresolved issues, such as tax evasion, privacy and anonymity, fraud adjudication, and legal liability on credit cards. In many countries, cash is preferred not only for security reasons but also because of a desire for anonymity on the part of those engaged in tax evasion or those who simply do not want others to know where they are spending their money. Others worry that there is lack of legal protection against fraud (i.e., there is no provision for adjudicating fraud and there may be no legal limit on liability, say, for a lost or stolen credit card). It is necessary to distinguish these concerns from the general security concerns (i.e., transaction privacy, protection and security) since they may not be addressed by the employment of an effective encryption method (or other security measure).

Is e-commerce helpful to the women sector? How has it helped in empowering women?
In general, the Internet and e-commerce have empowered sectors previously discriminated against. The Guyanese experience can attest to this.

Women have gained a foothold in many e-commerce areas. In B2C e-commerce, most success stories of women-empowered enterprises have to do with marketing unique products to consumers with disposable income. The consumers are found largely in developed countries, implying that there is a need for sufficient infrastructure for the delivery of products for the business to prosper and establish credibility. For example, if an enterprise can venture into producing digital goods such as music or software that can be transmitted electronically or if such goods can be distributed and/or delivered locally, then this is the option that is more feasible and practicable.

Aside from the Guyanese experience, there are many more successful cases of e-commerce ventures that the women sector can emulate. Some concrete examples are: Tortasperu.com ( http://www.tortasperu.com.pe), a business involving the marketing cakes in Peru run by women in several Peruvian cities; Ethiogift ( http://www.ethiogift.com), involving Ethiopians buying sheep and other gifts over the Internet to deliver to their families in other parts of the country, thereby dispensing with the physical delivery of goods abroad; and the Rural Women’s Association of the Northern Province of South Africa, which uses the Web to advertise its chickens to rich clients in Pietersburg.58

While most of the examples involve B2C e-commerce, it must be noted that women are already engaged in wholesale distribution businesses in developing countries. Thus, they can begin to penetrate B2B or B2G markets.

 * Box 14. Women Empowerment in Bangladesh: The Case of the Grameen Village Phone Network

What is the role of government in the development of e-commerce in developing countries?
While it is generally agreed that the private sector should take the lead role in the development and use of e-commerce, the government plays an instrumental role in encouraging e-commerce growth through concrete practicable measures such as:

1. Creating a favorable policy environment for e-commerce; and

2. Becoming a leading-edge user of e-commerce and its applications in its operations, and a provider to citizens of e-government services, to encourage its mass use.

What is a favorable policy environment for e-commerce?

Among the public policy issues in electronic commerce that governments should take heed of are:

 * “bridging the digital divide” or promoting access to inexpensive and easy access to information networks;
 * legal recognition of e-commerce transactions;
 * consumer protection from fraud;
 * protection of consumers’ right to privacy;
 * legal protection against cracking (or unauthorized access to computer systems); and
 * protection of intellectual property.

Measures to address these issues must be included in any country’s policy and legal framework for e-commerce. It is important that government adopt policies, laws and incentives that focus on promoting trust and confidence among e-commerce participants and developing a national framework that is compatible with international norms on e-commerce (covering for instance, contract enforcement, consumer protection, liability assignment, privacy protection, intellectual property rights, cross-border trade, and improvement of delivery infrastructure, among others59).

How can government use e-commerce60?

Government can use e-commerce in the following ways:

 * E-procurement. Government agencies should be able to trade electronically with all suppliers using open standards-through ‘agency enablement’ programs, ‘supplier enablement’ programs, and e-procurement information systems.
 * Customs clearance. With the computerization of customs processes and operations (i.e., electronic submission, processing and electronic payment; and automated systems for data entry to integrate customs tables, codes and pre-assessment), one can expect more predictable and more precise information on clearing time and delivery shipments, and increased legitimate revenues.
 * Tax administration. This includes a system for electronic processing and transmission of tax return information, online issuances of tax clearances, permits, and licenses, and an electronic process registration of businesses and new taxpayers, among others.

More often than not, the e-commerce initiatives of government are a barometer indicating whether or not the infrastructure supports e-commerce use by private firms. This means that if government is unable to engage in e-procurement, secure records online, or have customs fees remitted electronically, then the private sector will also have difficulties in e-commerce uptake. Virtually, the benefits from e-commerce accrue to the government, as the experiences of some countries reflect.61

Are existing legal systems sufficient to protect those engaged in e-commerce?

Unfortunately, the existing legal systems in most developing countries are not sufficient to protect those engaged in e-commerce. For instance, with respect to contracts, existing laws were conceived at a time when the word “writing,” “document” and “signature” referred to things in paper form. On the other hand, in today’s electronic business transactions paper is not used for record-keeping or entering into contracts.

Another important and common legal issue faced by many developing countries is uncertainty regarding whether the courts will accept electronic contracts or documents and/or electronic signatures as evidence. One view is that the issue of admissibility of electronically generated evidence will not be resolved unless a law specifically referring to it is passed. This gap in existing legal systems has caused the emergence of at least two divergent views: one bordering on the conservative interpretation of the word “document” as to exclude non-paper-based ones; and the other involving a liberal construction, which allows electronic counterparts of documents.

In the ASEAN region, only three countries-Singapore (Singapore Electronic Transactions Act), Malaysia (Cyberlaws), and the Philippines (Philippine E-commerce Act)-have a legal framework for e-commerce. These frameworks provide for the legal recognition of electronic documents and signatures and penalize common crimes and offenses committed in cyberspace.

What other relevant policy issues should be addressed?

Other policy issues concern basic prerequisites of infrastructure for successful e-commerce, as follows:

1. Telecoms pricing and performance

One of the aims of telecommunications policy and legislation should be to ensure that the public has access to basic telecommunications services at a reasonable cost. The goal should ultimately be universal accessor widespread access to reliable information and communication services at a reasonable cost and its availability at a reasonable distance.

To enhance the quality of telecommunications services, policies should encourage:

 * open access, which refers to the absence of non-competitive practices by network providers;
 * open architecture, which pertains to the design of a system that facilitates interconnection among different systems and services currently and as they develop over time; and
 * flexible access, which pertains to interconnected and interoperable networks of telecommunications, broadcasting, and electronic publishing, where the format will be digital and the bandwidth will be adjusted according to the demands of the user and the character of communications.62

2. Quality and speed of distribution logistics (i.e., roads and bridges)

Roads and bridges, especially in developing countries, still form part of the e-commerce infrastructure. Very few goods are delivered over the information infrastructure or the Internet (the exceptions are music and software). Most of the goods purchased over the Internet are still delivered the conventional way (i.e., physical delivery). Hence, poor roads and bridges, inefficient transport systems, coupled with the high cost of international parcel services and bureaucratic customs clearance processes, are major obstacles in the uptake of e-commerce in developing countries.63 Government should therefore create a policy environment that will:

 * encourage investments in the national physical and transport infrastructure; and
 * provide for electronic customs clearance processing to streamline the bureaucracy and allow for more transparent, predictable and efficient customs operations.

Both of these will contribute to the reduction of distribution and logistics costs.

How can government intervene in the promotion and development of e-commerce among SMEs?

The following are the more relevant areas for government intervention with respect to SME uptake of e-commerce:64

E-SME Development. The market ultimately drives e-commerce development, but it is the private sector that fuels it. Government can provide incentives to encourage widespread e-commerce use by SMEs. An “e-SME development program” in which various sectors can provide technical assistance to SMEs to promote e-commerce uptake, can also be developed. Banks, financial lending and training institutions, and corporations should be encouraged to develop “SME desks” that will address the specific needs of SMEs. In particular, steps should be taken to:

 * provide incentives to individuals to become entrepreneurs by lowering borrowing rates;
 * provide incentives to SMEs that intend to use e-commerce in their business operations;
 * broaden credit extension facilities to SMEs in order for them to use ICT and e-commerce; and
 * offer discounts on business solution software packages and software licenses.

Moreover, big businesses and corporations should be encouraged to transfer technology to SMEs by offering them free training in ICT and e-commerce.

Awareness Campaign. Evidence suggests that SMEs have insufficient knowledge of information technology and e-commerce. Many SMEs have identified their lack of knowledge of technology as one of the main barriers to using e-commerce. Government and private sector partnerships can engage in a campaign to disseminate information to SMEs about e-commerce policies, best practices, success stories, and opportunities and obstacles relating to the use of ICTs and e-commerce. These awareness campaigns could include free training courses and workshops on e-commerce, security and privacy, awards programs, and information centers to assist SMEs. Ultimately, this information campaign should come in the form of an overall e-commerce development strategy for the economy, focusing on its various innovative applications for SMEs.

E-Government. Government should be the lead-user of e-commerce if various business and private-sector related activities are to be prompted to move online. In effect, government becomes a positive influence. E-government can take the form of various online transactions such as company registration, taxation, applications for a variety of employee- and business-related requirements, and the like.

Network Infrastructure and Localization of Content. A developed national information infrastructure is a necessary, though not a sufficient, condition for e-commerce uptake of SMEs. Without reliable and inexpensive telecommunications and other information services, SMEs will not be able to go online. An important strategy in this regard is the construction of “telecenters” or electronic community centers that would serve as a community-shared access and connectivity platform especially in the rural areas (e.g., an electronic agri-information center which provides market information to farmers in rural areas). These telecenters can also be a venue for capacity building, skills enhancement, training, communications and content development.65 Government can also adopt agglomerative approaches to Internet use to reduce costs (e.g., export aggregators, such as B2B or B2C portals/exchanges for SMEs, which will facilitate trading with fellow SMEs and with other companies in the international market).

Strengthening Consumer Protection. Among the more common trust-related issues that SMEs take note of in considering whether to engage in e-commerce are: where and how payment takes place (whether real or virtual); when settlement takes place (before, during or after the transaction); who settles; whether the transaction is B2B or B2C; and whether settlement can be traced. Generally, however, among e-commerce users in developing countries, including SMEs, there is very low willingness to provide sensitive financial information over the Internet.66 On the other hand, consumers have reservations about transacting with SMEs through the Internet due to the lack of a clear policy on returns and use of data. To address this concern, government can encourage companies/ SMEs to make their privacy policy explicit in their Web sites.

A more comprehensive measure that government can undertake to ensure security in e-commerce transactions is the establishment of a Certification Authority, which verifies seller and buyer identities, examines transactions and security procedures, and issues digital certificates to those who are able to meet the set security standards. A good example of this government effort is Singapore’s Certification Authority, Netrust. This suggestion does not to discount the importance of private-driven security solutions such as Web sites like Hypermart, which host and build storefronts for SMEs while providing them a common system for secure payments.68

 * Box. 15. Data Protection and Transaction Security

Government can also provide guidelines for SMEs in the development of a system of collaborative ratings, which these entrepreneurs can display on their Web sites not only to inform but also to assure their consumers of security. For instance, in electronic exchanges, customers should be able to rate suppliers in terms of quality of product or service and speed of delivery, among others. To minimize fraud, certain safeguards should be built into the rating system like imposing the requirement of presenting evidence of purchase before one’s rating can count, with ratings of regular customers having more weight. Trends in ratings and comments should be made readily available to all users. SMEs should also be encouraged through appropriate government incentive schemes to participate in internationally accredited Web-based online rating schemes.69

Government can also design and establish a legal and judiciary framework that provides for minimum standards of and requirements for transparency, impartiality and timeliness. While in many developing countries this may be a very ambitious goal, in the medium term SMEs may use self-regulated codes of conduct covering, for example, return policy, data protection, and acceptable forms of content, that are applicable within associations, cooperatives or their respective groups of peers and e-entrepreneurs.70 It is important to have not only a rating system but also an enforcement regime that people trust.

Human Resources Development. The government can initiate pilot projects and programs for capability-building, training and e-commerce support services, such as Web design. In Kenya, for instance, the youth from Nairobi’s slums are being trained in Web design skills.

In general, government initiatives should be in line with current efforts in the foregoing areas of concern. Coordination with development cooperation agencies is important to avoid any duplication of initiatives and efforts.


text:
E-Commerce and E-Business/For Further Reading

For Further Reading
Primers and Reports

Business Software Alliance. 2001. E-commerce and Developing Markets: Technology, Trade and Opportunity.

Coward, Chris. August 2002. Obstacles to Developing an Offshore IT-Enabled Services Industry in Asia: The View from the US. A report prepared for the Center for Internet Studies, University of Washington.

E-commerce/Internet: B2B:2B or Not 2B? Version 1.1, Goldman Sachs Investment Research (November 1999 and September 14, 1999 issues)

Japan External Trade Organization. February 2002. Electronic Commerce in APEC Economies: Focusing on Electric/Electronic Parts Procurements.

Lallana, Emmanuel C, Patricia J. Pascual, Zorayda Ruth B. Andam. April 2002. SMEs and eCommerce in Three Philippine Cities. A study/report prepared for the Asia Foundation by Digital Philippines.

________________. January 2002. SMEs and e-commerce. A study/report prepared for The Asia Foundation, Castle Asia.

Lallana, Emmanuel, Rudy S. Quimbo and Zorayda Ruth B. Andam. 2000. E-Primer: An Introduction to E-commerce. DAI-AGILE, a USAID-funded project.

Mann, Catherine with Sue E. Eckert and Sarah Cleeland Knight. 2000. Global Electronic Commerce: A Policy Primer. Washington DC: Institute for International Economics.

Books

Bonnett, Kendra. 2000. An IBM Guide to Doing Business on the Internet. U.S.A.: McGraw-Hill.

Cronin, Mary J. 2000. Unchained Value: The New Logic of Digital Business. U.S.A.: Harvard Business School Press.

Cronin, Mary J., ed. 1998. Banking and Finance on the Internet. U.S.A.: John Wiley & Sons.

Evans, Philip and Thomas S. Wurster. 2000. Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy. U.S.A.: Harvard Business School Press.

Kalakota, Ravi and Andrew B. Whinston. 1997. Electronic Commerce: A Manager’s Guide. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. 2001. e-Volve: Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow. U.S.A.: Harvard Business School Press.

Lamont, Douglas. 2001. Conquering the Wireless World: The Age of m-Commerce. United Kingdom: Capstone Publishing Inc.

Plant, Robert. 2000. eCommerce Formulation of Strategy. U.S.A.: Prentice Hall Inc.

Rosen, Anita. 2000. The E-commerce Question and Answer Book: A Survival Guide for Business Managers. American Management Association.

Smith, Dayle. 2001. The E-business Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to E-commerce and Beyond. Princeton: Bloomberg Press.

Tapscott, Don, David Ticoll and Alex Lowy. 2000. Digital Capital: Harnessing the Power of Business Webs. Great Britain: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Young, Patrick and Thomas Theys. 1999. Capital Market Revolution: The Future of Marlets in an Online World. Great Britain: Pearson Education Limited.

Publications by Catherine Mann

Mann, Catherine. Forthcoming. “Balance and Overlap in the Global Electronic Marketplace: The UCITA Example.” Washington University Journal of Law & Policy.

________________. 2002. “Electronic Commerce, Networked Readiness, and Trade Competitiveness.” In Geoffrey Kirkman et al. eds. Global IT Readiness Report. Harvard University and World Economic Forum.

________________. 2002. “Electronic Commerce, the WTO, and Developing Countries.” In Hoekman, Aaditya Mattoo, and Philip English, eds. Development, Trade, and the WTO: A Handbook. Washington DC: The World Bank.

________________. October 2000. “Transatlantic Issues in E-commerce.” In Isabella Falautano and Paolo Guerrieri, eds. “Beyond Seattle: A New Strategic Approach in the WTO 2000,” IAI Quaderni No. 11, Rome. An English version is available as IIE Working Paper no. 007, October 2000.

________________. August 2000. “Global Electronic Commerce: Challenge and Opportunity for Government Policy.” In Company Secretary. Hong Kong Institute of Company Secretaries.

________________. July 17, 2000. “Global Electronic Commerce: Macroeconomic Benefits and Policy Choices.” Invited Op-Ed, Nikkei Journal (Tokyo).

________________. 2000. “Electronic Commerce in Developing Countries: Issues for Domestic Policy and WTO Negotiations.” In Robert Stern, ed. Services

in the International Economy: Measurement, Modeling, Sectoral and Country Studies, and Issues in the World Services Negotiations. University of Michigan Press.

________________. October 21, 1999. “Liberalizing Services: Key to Faster Global Growth and the Sustainability of the US Trade Deficit.” Testimony before the Subcommittee on International Trade of the Senate Finance Committee.

________________ with Sarah Cleeland Knight. July 2000. “Electronic Commerce in the World Trade Organization.” In Jeffrey Schott, ed. The WTO After Seattle. Institute for International Economics.

Articles

From The McKinsey Quarterly 2000 (The New World of Personal Financial Services). No. 3:

- “Will the Banks Control Online Banking?” by Sandra Boss, Devin McGranahan, and Asheet Mehta, p. 70

- “The Future for Bricks and Mortar” by Matthias M. Bekier, Dorlisa K. Flur, and Seelan J. Singham, p. 78

- “Banking on the Device” by David Maude, Raghunath R, Anupan Sahay, and Peter Sands, p. 86

- “How E-tailing Can Rise from the Ashes” by Joanna Barsh, Blair Crawford, and Chris Grosso, p. 98

- “Building Retail Brands” by Terilyn A. Henderson and Elizabeth A. Mihas, p. 110

- “M-Commerce: An Operator’s Manual” by Nick Barnett, Stephen Hodges, and Michael J. Wilshire, p. 162

- “The Real Business of B2B” by Glenn Ramsdell, p. 174

From The McKinsey Quarterly 2000 (What Mergers Miss). No. 4:

- “Marketing Lessons from E-failures” by Vittoria Varianini and Diana Vaturi, p. 86

- “From Products to Ecosystems: Retail 2010,” p. 108

From The McKinsey Quarterly 2000 (e-performance). No. 1:

- “E-performance: The Path to Rational Exuberance” by Vikas Agrawal, Luis D. Arjona and Ron Lemmens, p. 30

- “B2Basics” by Ryan Kerrigan, Eric V. Roegner, Dennis D. Swinford and Craig C. Zawada, p. 44

- “Beyond the Business Unit” by Russell Eisenstat, Nathaniel Footye, Jay Galbraith, and Danny Miller, p. 54

CD-ROM

Digital Economy for Communities and SMEs Development, 19–21 June 2002, Siam Intercontinental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand by APEC Electronic Commerce Training Center (Workshop on Electronic Commerce Policy and Regional Cooperation).

Links

APEC Task Force on Electronic Commerce homepage. http://www.apecsec.org.sg/apec/apec_groups/som_special_task_groups/electronic_commerce.html

Business Software Alliance homepage. http://www.bsa.org

E-ASEAN Task Force homepage. http://www.aseansec.org/14467.htm

Electronic Commerce World Journal homepage. http://crec.mccombs.utexas.edu/

International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO homepage. http://www.intracen.org

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development homepage. http://www.unctad.org

United Nations International Computing Centre homepage. http://www.unicc.org

World Customs Organization homepage. http://www.wcoomd.org

Varian, Hal R. Markets for Information Goods (University of California, Berkeley: April 1998, revised October 16, 1998). Available from http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hal/people/hal/papers.html


text: E-Commerce and E-Business/Notes

title: E-Commerce and E-Business/Notes


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text:
Internet Governance/Foreword

Foreword
Since its origins over 30 years ago, the Internet has become a major new global telecommunications infrastructure. It is no wonder, then, that it has become a central topic in the more general discussion being held under the auspices of the Information Society. A World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was first held in December 2003 in Geneva. At that Summit, a number of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were discussed, focused on harnessing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for the benefit of the world’s population. The Internet, seen as a prototype for the technologies that would underlie the Information Society, understandably became a focal point (and a flashpoint) of discussions. Ultimately, in response to debates over the concept of “Internet governance”, a Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) was established, with the objective of defining the term and providing input to the second phase of the World Summit, planned for Tunis in November 2005. The Working Group released its report on 18 July 2005 and offered a definition of Internet governance as well as some options for approaches to it. The primer you have before you is intended to provide background on the Internet and its operation as a contribution to the dialogue underway in preparation for the next Summit.

The Internet is a global, distributed system of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of independently operated and interconnected computer communication networks. All of these networks use a standard set of protocols, sometimes referred to as the TCP/IP protocol suite. TCP and IP are the core protocols of the Internet and had their origins in research sponsored by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1973. It is a system that, by design, is relatively insensitive to national boundaries.

For most of its existence, the Internet has been developed in the private sector with very light oversight on the part of the U.S. Government. The official roll-out of the system occurred on 1 January 1983 in the U.S. and at locations in the UK and Norway. By 1994, the Internet was becoming available to the public through commercial networks, and by 1995, a collection of commercial, interconnected public Internet backbones had replaced the private, U.S. Government-sponsored backbone. The scene was set for the so-called “dot-com boom” of the late 1990s. During this period, massive amounts of capital went into “Internet” companies, many of them bereft of serious business models other than a plan to go public. By April 2000, the bubble had burst. But the Internet continued to grow, even during the financial winter following the madness. Amidst the hyperbole, some very successful Internet businesses thrived or were born (e.g., Amazon, eBay, Google). Not counting early research in the 1970s, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) arrived in 1993 but did not really take off until 10 years later, threatening to disrupt the century-old business model of the local and inter-exchange carriers. As the network and its applications became more widespread, and as the global economy began to rely upon its operation, governments began to realize that this new infrastructure, and what was done with it, might be tactically and strategically important to the well-being of their citizens.

The Government of Tunisia called for the second phase of WSIS, not focused solely on the Internet, but on the more general notion of a global economy interlinked in a web of information and the ability to process it with powerful, programmable and often portable tools. As the discussions unfolded in Geneva in 2003 and in regional fora, debates ensued as to the meaning of “governance” in this online environment. Particular focus was placed on Internet governance and the role that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) plays in that arena.

In the course of the WSIS debates, there have been calls for increased governmental oversight and even regulation of the Internet. It is important to recall that this is a network of hundreds of thousands of networks, not a single entity run by a single organization. It has operating components around the world. It has over a billion users. It is, by design, distributed and its components operated by a vast range of government, private sector and academic organizations. Few would dispute the importance of the Internet and its content to a wide swath of modern society. It is therefore vital that in the debates surrounding the perceived abuses of the Internet, we do not destroy all that is so beneficial in this system of systems.

One of the central reasons for the Internet’s success thus far has been its largely apolitical management. It seems important that any modifications to the general oversight and operation of the Internet avoid unnecessary and disruptive politicization. The Internet should remain a key infrastructure and not become a political football, subject to disputes between or among countries. We should build on the existing systems and bodies that have thus far served the Internet community with reasonable success. With few exceptions, most of the public policy issues associated with the Internet lie outside the purview of ICANN and can and should be addressed in different venues. For example, ‘spam’ and its instant messaging and Internet telephony relatives, ‘spim’ and ‘spit’, are pernicious practices that may only be successfully addressed through legal means, although there are some technical measures that can be undertaken by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and end users to filter out the unwanted messages. Similarly fraudulent practices such as ‘phishing’ and ‘pharming’ may best be addressed through legal means. Intellectual property protection may, in part, be addressed through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and business disputes through the World Trade Organization (WTO) or through alternative dispute resolution methods such as mediation and arbitration.

As these examples suggest, there can be little doubt that the development of a global Information Society will require extraordinary cooperation, collaboration and coordination. The Internet and its many players illustrate this observation and draw attention to what is possible when a spirit of cooperation can be fostered in the long term.

Only through understanding the full range of players in the Internet arena, their roles, responsibilities, authorities and limits of capabilities can we fashion reasonable outcomes for Internet governance and, more generally, an agenda for the development of an Information Society. This primer represents contributions towards the dialogue that is needed to frame Information Society goals and the methods to achieve them. The participants in these dialogues have an opportunity to help shape a constructive approach to the opportunities before us. We can but hope that they will take up the challenge and pursue the MDGs in a positive and successful fashion.

Vinton G. Cerf (India)

Chairman of the Board, ICANN

title: Internet Governance/Foreword


text:
Internet Governance/Preface

Preface to the First Edition
At the start of 2005, there were an estimated 750 million Internet users worldwide. This figure is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, home to over half the world’s population. In fact, the Asia-Pacific region already contributes a larger share of users (about one-third of the total) than either North America or Europe.

Inevitably, such numbers will have a profound impact on the structure and use of the Internet. In turn, this impact will have a transformative effect on development around the world. Making the Internet work for sustainable human development, therefore, requires policies and interventions that are responsive to the needs of all countries. It requires a strong voice from different stakeholders and their constructive engagement in the policy-making processes related to Internet governance.

Achieving these goals is a challenge, especially for developing countries who participate in the governance process at a disadvantage. Most of the foundational rules of the Internet are already well-established, or under long-term negotiation. Newcomers to the Internet have had little opportunity to generate awareness among stakeholder groups, mobilize the required policy expertise and coordinate strategies for effective engagement.

Developing countries are further challenged by the global nature of the Internet, which means that many areas of governance require cooperation at the global level, often in fora dominated by the developed world. Furthermore, participating in conferences and meetings at these fora is often expensive, or otherwise difficult for stakeholders from developing countries.

In sum, the continuing march of Internet governance threatens to leave behind developing countries. Fortunately, such an outcome is not inevitable. The Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance (ORDIG) is a response to this threat, and an attempt to transform the challenges of governance into an opportunity. Since October 2004, ORDIG has gathered and analyzed perspectives and priorities through an extensive multi-stakeholder and participatory process that has involved more than 3,000 people in the Asia-Pacific region. This represents the first step in greater involvement by the region, and particularly by traditionally under-represented nations.

ORDIG activities thus far have included a regional online discussion forum involving more than 180 participants; a multilingual survey on Internet governance that collected 1,243 responses from 37 countries; a series of sub-regional consultations; and a variety of research on various topics and issues such as access costs, voice over Internet protocol, root servers, country code top-level domains, internationalized domain names, IP address management, content pollution, and cybercrime.

Based on these activities and research, ORDIG has produced a report entitled, “Voices from Asia-Pacific: Internet Governance Priorities and Recommendations”, which was considered by the High Level Asia-Pacific Conference for WSIS in Tehran, 31 May–2 June 2005, and was tabled at the Fourth Meeting of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance in Geneva in June 2005.

This primer is another important output. It is designed to help all stakeholders (government, private sector and civil society) gain quick access to basic facts, concepts and priority issues, laying the foundation for a comprehensive understanding of Internet governance issues from a distinctively Asia-Pacific perspective.

We welcome and encourage feedback from any constituency in the Asia-Pacific region. For more information on ORDIG, please visit the online knowledge portal at www.igov.apdip.net or contact

Shahid Akhtar

Programme Coordinator, UNDP-APDIP

title: Internet Governance/Preface


text: Internet Governance/Notes

title: Internet Governance/Notes


text:
TI-Basic Z80 Programming/Errors

When programming on the TI-84, the calculator will assume the written code is valid. If, as it executes the code, finds an unexpected token, or encounters an otherwise invalid statement, the TI-84 will throw an error. The calculator will stop executing the code in the program and display the type of error on the screen. There are two types of errors: syntax errors and runtime errors.

For example, consider the following example:

The syntax for the Output( command expects two integers, then a string. In this example, the second argument is a string, which the calculator does not know how to interpret. In this case, the calculator throws an error:

Code execution halts and a menu is displayed. The first option quits the program and returns to the home screen. The second option will open the code editor and scroll to the line in the code where the error occurred.

The second type of error is a runtime error. These errors can't necessarily be detected by the appearance of code. Consider the following example that displays the reciprocal of the entered value:

The code works fine in most scenarios:

However, consider when the user inputs :

This behavior can be unwanted, since the code halts and does not continue executing if an error occurs. Therefore, it is important to consider all edge cases for calculations and statements. In this case, the line  before Disp would prevent an error.

Runtime errors do not necessary have to display an error to be an error. For example, a program that is expected to display the even letters of the alphabet, but instead displays the odd letters of the alphabet, would have a runtime error since the program does not function as expected. These can be the hardest and easiest errors to fix!

You try it!
Examine the following examples, identify which kind of error is presented, and a fix to resolve the error(s).

The following program should store 10 random numbers in L 1 , but contains an error. Find, identify, and fix the error.

The error is on line 3. The given program uses square brackets ([ and ]) instead of parenthesis. The same program with the error fixed:

In this example, the program should output the largest number in L 1  (this program assumes there is at least one value in L 1 ).

The error is on line 4. The given program stores the index of the largest number to L, where it should store the value itself. The fixed program:

In the future, just use <tt>max(</tt>.

title: TI-Basic Z80 Programming/Errors


text:
Cookbook:Hazelnut Torte

| Dessert

Ingredients

 * 10 egg whites
 * 1 cup caster sugar
 * 200 g (7 oz) hazelnut meal
 * 250 ml (8 fl oz) cream
 * ½ tsp instant coffee powder
 * ½ tsp cocoa powder

Procedure

 * 1) Preheat oven to very hot—about 230°C (450°F).
 * 2) Whip egg whites with electric mixer to soft peaks. While whipping, very gradually add the caster sugar, and continue whipping to stiff peaks.
 * 3) Gently fold hazelnut meal into the beaten egg whites.
 * 4) Line a 40 x 25 cm (16 x 10-inch) baking pan with foil. Spread mixture evenly into tray. Do not bang the tray—it is important to keep as much air in the cake as possible.
 * 5) Once cake is in oven, immediately turn temperature down to 180°C (350°F). Bake for 20 minutes, or until cake is sealed and springs back when touched lightly with finger.
 * 6) Allow cake to cool in the tray. It should only be about 1 inch high.
 * 7) Once cooled, cut cake into 3 equal sections to be stacked on top of each other.
 * 8) In a bowl, dissolve coffee and cocoa into cream. Once dissolved, whip cream to stiff peaks.
 * 9) Layer cream between the sections of cake to make a log. Decorate top with extra cream.

Notes, tips, and variations

 * The cake is best made the day before serving to allow the flavors to mature.

title: Cookbook:Hazelnut Torte