Title: IS5600 Seminar 3
1IS5600 Seminar 3
- Electronic Commerce in China
2E-Commerce in China
- A HK workshop seeking to apply U.S. experience to
China was characterised as the blind leading the
bemused. - Experienced Chinese business people dismiss
proponents of the Internet as crazy and/or out
of touch with reality. - A Fortune 500 CEO asserts that e-commerce in
China is hopeless. - Are expectations realistic?
These slides are based on work undertaken by
Martinsons since 2001, as well as more recent
research.
3No Shortage of Teachers Learners
- PRC enterprises hope to benefit from e-commerce.
- Chinese managers are eager to learn from dot-coms
and Internet-enhanced businesses in the West. - Wise men and women from the West, many touting
themselves as e-business consultants, have been
eager to advise Chinese clients. - But it is difficult to transfer/apply e-commerce
models prescriptions from market economies to
China and make them work.
4What are the Issues?
- What are the salient characteristics of the
business environment in China? - Are e-commerce models and prescriptions
transferable from the West to China? - Which e-commerce revenue models are likely to be
suitable for China?
5Challenges Facing E-Commerce in China
- Historically, Internet access has been limited
and relatively expensive - Limited of vendors buyers online
- With few vendors, who would buy?
- With few buyers, who would try to sell?
- Credit cards are relatively rare and rarely used
- Online security is perceived to be unreliable
- Transportation logistics networks
- are limited in scope and reliability
- often exhibit poor supply chain integration
- Informal processes/data are widespread
- Lack of consistent, comprehensive or enforceable
set of rules for commerce
6What is the Fundamental Basis for Commerce? Rules
or Relationships?
- China
- Lack of rules
- Transactions between people who know and trust
each other - Informal and contextual information
- Implicit agreements rather than formal contracts
- Market Economy
- Full set of rational and impersonal rules
- Transactions between independent parties
- Generous amounts of public information
- Transactions can be adjudicated by 3rd party due
to formal contract (transparent)
7THEORY OF RELATIONSHIP-BASED COMMERCE
Lack of consistent, comprehensive, and
enforceable Rules
Personal trust
Private and contextual information
Lack of separation between economic political
actors
8RELATIONSHIP-BASED E-COMMERCE
Personal trust
Private and contextual information
Lack of separation between economic
political actors
Limits of business partners
Information is not formalized or
disseminated
Distorts market by adding political criteria
Restricts market scale
Limits transparency of business activity
Encourages special favours (guanxi)
Discourages business services development
Privileged interests oppose or restrict
e-commerce
Few existing business services to leverage
Difficult to achieve profitable scale or scope of
e-commerce
9RELATIONSHIP-BASED COMMERCEONLINE CONSEQUENCES
- Fragmented markets for most goods and services
limits advantage of online reach - Online ventures can not leverage existing
business services - Scope of an online business determined more by
what is necessary and possible not by the most
efficient way of doing things - Limited potential to coordinate/integrate supply
chain why go online? - Powerful opposition to e-commerce??
10E-COMMERCE IN CHINAEMERGING SUCCESS STORIES
- Mecox Lane (B2C)
- From mail order sales to online retailing
- Li Fung (B2B)
- Traditional B2B intermediary goes online
- Asia Aluminum Holdings (B2B)
- Builds a B2B marketspace
- cTrip.com eLong.com (B2C)
- Online travel, bookings, reservations,
- Alibaba (B2B C2C)
- Online marketspace China and Global
11Mecox Lane
- Established in 1996 as mail order pioneer
- Based in Shanghai large affluent market and
good infrastructure - Gradually gained consumer trust word of mouth
advertising to highlight its guanxi - Alliance with post office for distribution
- Persuaded local banks to provide facilities for
credit card purchases - Online in April 2000 after cultivating government
officials for approval competitors closed down
http//www.m18.com/
12- Set up in 1906 to export porcelain silk from
China - Supplies garments, fashion accessories,
electronics, toys to The Gap, J.C. Penney, - Manages supply chain product design, quality
control, shipment warehousing, letters of
credit - Capitalises on fragmented manufacturing industry
- Trust-based relationships with 6,000 suppliers
- Most value added by guanxi specific knowledge
http//www.lifung.com/
13Asia Aluminum Holdings
- AAH founded in 2000 by Chinas largest aluminium
extrusion and fabrication firm - Created on-line trading platform with many
bundled services - Overcame limitations through alliances
- Payment - prodded domestic banks
- to enable EFT and create Internet Debit Card
- to provide collateral loans for commodity trading
- Distribution - logistic warehouse mgmt firms
- Security - digital certification with China
Telecom - Starting to capture benefits of a network effect
http//www.i-metal.com/
14cTrip eLong
- 680B China travel market
- cTrip eLong emerging online players
- cTrip - 240M sales revenue in 2004
- 80 of revenue from hotel bookings
- 25 of payments made by CC (rising slowly)
- Online booking, but offline payment
- Call centres needed
- Bike courier delivery of tickets
- Few e-tickets
- May change with 2008 Olympics
http//www.cTrip.com http//www.eLong.com
15 - Alibaba founded in 1999 by Jack Ma in Hangzhou
now global in reach. - Now 15 million registered users in 200
countries/territories - US4B of trade through Alibaba in 2004.
- Both China domestic and Int-China trade.
- B2B and C2C conversations and payments
- Yahoo! Buys 40 of Alibaba shares for 1B
- strategic partnership Yahoo! focus on China
16Lessons for China?
- Overcoming infrastructure limitations
- Getting Government approval
- Leveraging relationships
- Developing partnerships
- Developing trust
- Provide value-added intermediary services in
fragmented industries - Gain (or enhance) competitive advantage by
building upon existing strengths and buying in
new ones.
17E-Commerce Questions Discussion
- Will the Internet be
- a catalyst for transition to rule-based
commerce? - used to improve relationship-based commerce?
- Will Chinese people trust the system?
- Will privileged interests risk losing power?
- Which relationship factors will prove most
influential? - Is the Yahoo-Alibaba partnership a) long term, b)
secure, c) a one-off or a sign of changes to come?
18E-Commerce Questions Discussion
- Which revenue models do you feel are most
appropriate for the China EC market? - Merchant?
- Intermediary?
- Bricks n clicks or pure digital?
- Will EC remain a niche industry in China or move
to the mainstream?