A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE USING SERVICE

IN E-COMMERCE BETWEEN E- BAY AND AMAZON

Abstract

The proposal gives the introduction, research questions, the aim and the objectives of the
project that is to be done, the literature review and the research methods that are to be used in
the research that is done. The study will be made on the critical evaluation of the competitive
advantage using service in e – commerce between e- bay and Amazon. The study describes
about the e- commerce and changing the economy and the ways in which the business is
conducted. The e – commerce companies helps in finding new ways so that they can make
market expansion and this helps them to attract and retain the customer and also they can
tailor the products and the services based on the requirements. This will also help in the
restructuring of the business and the process of service delivery in the more efficient and
effective way.

It also describes about the list of the methods that is available for doing the research and the
best ones are selected out of the available ones so that they help in the achievement of the
objectives of the organisation. The research design consists of the philosophy, strategy and
the approach that is used in the research. There are many methods that are available under
each category for doing the research and the best ones are chosen so that they achieve the
objectives.

Introduction:

The study makes a critical evaluation of the competitive advantage using service in e –
commerce between e- bay and Amazon. The e – commerce has been integrated in all aspects
of the business and also in the personal lives of the people. The behaviour of the consumers
is also ever changing and this must be realised in the business. [ CITATION Nam11 \l 16393 ]
There are increasing number of customers especially those below the age of the 35 browsing
and buying online and this rate has been increasing. The reality is that to be successful in the
online business is not as simple as that. The consumers are becoming savvier and they make
money online which will involve the better understanding of the technology and also the
changing behaviour of the consumer. [ CITATION You10 \l 16393 ]

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Aim:

To make the critical evaluation competitive advantage using service in e-commerce between
e- bay and Amazon

Objectives:

 To have an understanding of competitive advantage in e- commerce. 

 To make an understanding of competitive advantage strategies in e – commerce
 To understand how effectively the e- commerce business is used to obtain
competitive advantage and see which company performs better
 To suggest suitable recommendations for further research

Research questions:

 How does e – commerce business gain advantage over the traditional business?
 How does e – commerce service provide competitive advantage?
 Which company provides the best service e – bay or Amazon?

Literature review:

The competitive advantage is the ability of the company to outdo their competitors and
improving on what the competitors are doing or to do something different from them so that
they are successful. The ability of the company to implement the e- commerce plan will
make an improvement in the sales and they also cut costs which will give the retailer
competitive advantage with the others. [ CITATION Dav11 \l 16393 ]The company if they come
up with the business model then there will be unique twist with the model that is exists and
this will also allow them to start and gain more competitive advantage. [ CITATION You10 \l
16393 ]

The strongest of the competitive advantage can be said as the one that cannot be imitated by
the competitors and this can also be viewed as the activity which will create superior value
over their rivals. The e- commerce is changing the economy and the ways in which the
business is conducted. [ CITATION Nam11 \l 16393 ] The e – commerce companies helps in
finding new ways so that they can make market expansion and this helps them to attract and
retain the customer and also they can tailor the products and the services based on the
requirements. This will also help in the restructuring of the business and the process of

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service delivery in the more efficient and effective way. There is more rapid and the more
sustained development in the e – commerce and the companies who are into the e – business
are in investment mode and they build the brand phase and they are to make profit. The e-
businesses will be focusing more on the visual attractiveness and ease in using their website
which is the basic method for the increase in the customer base. [ CITATION Dav11 \l 16393 ]

The internet is the base for the competition so that they make the alteration in the products
and the service offerings that is made and also in the structure of the firms. The e –
commerce will also make changes in the balancing power of the relationships that is with the
buyers and the suppliers so that they either increase or make the decrease in the cost of the
buyers and the suppliers. [ CITATION Nam11 \l 16393 ]The reduction of the customers search
cost will make the comparison of the price which is easy for the customers and this will
increase the price competition also. The IT will also make the reduction in the cost of menu,
but they will increase the rivalry with the existing customers and will reduce the switching
cost of the customers and thus they will shift the bargaining power for the customers.
[ CITATION You10 \l 16393 ]

There are many types of e – commerce and they are [ CITATION Dav11 \l 16393 ]

Collaborative commerce (c – commerce): This is where the partners of the business

collaborate each other in the electronic way. This is normally with the business partners
along the supply chain. Example: Wal mart and unilever

Business – to – consumers: (B2C): in this case the sellers are the company and the buyers
will be the individuals. Example: e – bay

Consumers to business: (C2B) This is where the consumers will know the requirements for
certain products and they compete to provide that.

Consumer to Consumer: This is where the products are sold from the consumers to the
consumers. Example: Olx.com

Government to citizens: (G2C) and also to others. In this case the government will provide
the service for the citizens with the EC technologies.

Mobile commerce: (m – commerce). This is where the business is done with the wireless
environment and also using the cell phones for the access that they make for the internet.

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Method:

The research methods gives the list of the methods that is available for doing the research
and the best ones are selected out of the available ones so that they help in the achievement of
the objectives of the organisation. (Blythe, 2010)

Research Design:

The research design consists of the philosophy, strategy and the approach that is used in the
research. There are many methods that are available under each category for doing the
research and the best ones are chosen so that they achieve the objectives.

The philosophy will explain the way in which the entire research is formulated. In the
research design the positivism, realism and the Interpretivism is there. The positivism and
the realism will be used based on their suitability in the research. The positivism is used in
the more theoretical way to express the ideas lying behind the research and the realism will
analyse more depth details of the research with the analysis of the primary data. This
combination will help to reveal the result in the research. (Mc Burney and White, 2009)

The strategy will show the way in which the research is assessed. They are into two types
and they are qualitative and the quantitative data. The qualitative data will explain the theory
of the research which is very vital. They are normally in the form of the secondary data but
have their significance since they will give the opinions of the different authors and how the
research is furnished. This helps in understanding how the present research varies from the
past researches that are held. The quantitative is also used. This is by the collection of the
required information with the help of questionnaire further they are tabulated and the
statistical tools are used and this shows the accuracy of the research. (Donald and David,
2009)

In the approach they are classified into induction and the deduction methods. The deduction
will be used in research since they are more suitable as it starts with the reviewing of the
literature which gives the opinion of the different authors and later it moves to the data
analysis that is done with the primary data and the results are compared and found out thus
the induction is avoided and the deduction is used. (Mc Burney and White, 2009)

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Data collection:

The data can be collected in the form of the primary and the secondary data. The primary
and the secondary data are used in the research. The secondary data is applied in the review
as they mention the data that is collected from the various secondary sources. The primary
data for the research could be collected with the various sources like the questionnaire,
observation, survey and interview. The present research will be using the questionnaire as it
serves the cost and the time that is allocated for the completion of the research. (Blythe,
2010)

Time Table:

The time table is made so that the dissertation and the time that is required for their
completion is mentioned in this. This will help in the future work to be done in a systematic
manner.

Chapter Week 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1
Introduction
Review
Research Methods
Results
Analysis and Discussion
Conclusions/Recommendations
References/Bibliography

Conclusion:

The proposal thus gives the gist of how the research will be done and the sources that will be
used for their completion. This is done with the various methods that are selected in the
research methodology and by using the primary and also the secondary sources. The literature
will be secondary source and the data analysis will be done with the primary source. This
will help in achieving the objectives of the research.

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References:

 Barkley, D. L. (2011). E-commerce as a business strategy: lessons learned from case

studies of rural and small town businesses . Journal of Clemson University , 33 - 45.

 Beam, Y. (2010). Creating Comparitive Advantages in the E - commerce Industry.

Journal of Information Technology , 12 - 34.

 Shin, N. (2011). Strategies for competitive advantage in electronic commerce. Journal

of Electronic Commerce Research , 21 - 34.

 Blythe.J., (2010), “Principles of research”, published by C & C offset, Newyork, Pp.

37 – 45

 Donald. D.B., David. J.K., (2009), “Research Methodology in Strategy and

Management”, Emerald group publishing ltd, 2nd edition, pp 133 - 145
 Mc Burney. D.H., and White. T.L., (2009), “Research Methods”, published by
cengage learning Inc, 8th edition, pp. 25 – 34