E-Commerce

Corporate blogging is commonly published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. It become one of the most cost-effective Internet marketing tools due to companies’ growing need to interact with potential and existing customers. One of the earliest and the most influential company blogs was Fastlane which is a company blog in General Motors (GM) managed by Bob Lutz, the vice president of the company. It was created in January 2005 to listen customers’ complains about one of GM’s car brands, Pontiac.


Corporate blog enable that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads. Currently, there are some major browsers (including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 7) support RSS technology, which enables readers to easily read recent posts without actually visiting the blog and it is very useful for low-volume blogs. However, certain corporate blogs might have a very high number of subscribers. Marketers might expect to have product evangelists or influencers among the audience of an external blog. Once they find their audience, they may treat them like VIPs and asking them for their feedback on exclusive previews, product testing, marketing plans, customer services audits and etc.




One of the successful blogs is Dell. Though Dell’s corporate blog, the company posts with a great conversational voice which often breaks news on their blog (which keeps people coming back) and listens and responds to customers. Dell also updates their posts regularly (at least 1-2 posts per day) which keeps content fresh and encourages repeat visits. Another successful blog is Adobe as they offers a huge collection of employee blogs and many of it is great to reads. By allowing employees to blog, Adobe has empowered them to evangelize their products for them as many post tutorials, advice and reviews in promoting Adobe products



Pros of corporate blogging

Corporate blogging is a way of promoting anything that may be public relations, marketing a new product, improving their brand image and also for research. It can be mean that corporate blog is a great tool for promoting a business as it can help in interacting with users easily and display their feedback. And when other people view the testimonials made by the customers, they may be satisfied that the company is listened to their opinion. Besides that, corporate blogging also able to achieve the goal of organization because the company expands as it caters the online customers who come across it and deal with them in a less formal environment, providing feedback and comments. The blog become a new less time consuming and less expensive way to reach potential and current customers. It also breaks down the wall between the business and the customer, creating a stronger relationship and greater responsiveness.

Furthermore, corporate blogging can provide additional value by adding a level of credibility that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate site. And as a result, the informality and increased in timeliness of information posted to blogs will assists with increasing transparency and accessibility in the corporate image. It also can interact with a target market on a more personal level while building link credibility that can ultimately be tied back to the corporate site. Further it also will enable company to do public speaking, build trustworthiness for them and also boost up the company credentials.

Moreover, instant feedback and communication can be reaching by using corporate blogging. As it can be see that if a customer has something to say or ask, it is easy to do it in the comments of the blog. Besides that, it is also a good way for a company to deal with criticism and other crises in order for the blogger to respond instantly. It can prove that they are genuinely interested in communicating with customers and bettering their services or products. And as a result, it can change overall perceptions of a brand.

Next is new content can be made ready available at a fair regular rate. This is because with RSS readers, it is easy to stay on top of their favorite blogs. And with a corporate blog, it is the best way to reach a lot of readers quickly so that their brand can stay fresh in their customer’s mind. It is also an easy way for them to update their content regularly without having to fuss with HTML or the actual webpage itself.



Cons of Corporate Blogging

The most common risk is that negative comments may arise and companies are often very sensitive to the criticism. This is because negative comments can be offset somewhat with a consistent and clear comment and also moderation policy. Further, readers tend to more trust on a site that includes both positive and negative information.

Besides that, corporate blog may lead to misunderstanding the audience. This is because blog audience is not same as the company typical customer base and properly they are universally more tech-savvy and up-to-date on industry news. They also may be more passionate about the company products and the organization itself and also likely to be highly critical of dishonesty or insincerity.

Furthermore, the strengths of corporate blog may be considered as the roadblock to starting the blog itself. 'Costs in terms of man hours' was seen as the biggest potential roadblock to starting a blog. This is because in the nature of blogs, the requirement to post a lot of comments will requires a lot of discipline to post those comments on a regular basis. Therefore, before starting a blog, it is important to develop good solid content strategies such as conducting interviews, reading other blogs, surveying your audience and employees on a regular basis and also keeping current on industry trends.

Moreover, 'Legal liability' was the next most important factor that arise the corporate blogging risk. Companies are thinking about and seeking advice from colleagues or industry bloggers that will help them to mitigate any posts that might cause liability. They are now developing corporate blogging policies based on blogger experience and legal advice. They are also tending to review the other company blogging policies which can help them to develop their own policy in order to mitigate any liability.

http://www.scoutblogging.com/2006/04/what_are_the_benefits_of_corpo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog
http://www.proceedings2008.imcsit.org/pliks/127.pdf
http://blog.precedent.co.uk/unprecedented/2008/06/16/br-blog-relation-a-new-way-of-marketing-communication/
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/28/news/companies/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm
http://www.corporateblogging.info/2006/04/this-is-now-archive.asp

Electronic Commerce, commonly known as (electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer network.

In today's global economy, more businesses sell products online, in more markets and in more languages, than ever before. One of the local e-commerce sites is MAS Airlines. Malaysian Airline System (MAS) brings the world to Malaysia and vice versa through its main subsidiary, Malaysia Airlines, the nation's primary international carrier. From its hub in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines serves about 100 destinations on six continents, some via code-sharing. In fact, MAS has incorporated online booking system to its website www.malaysiaairlines.com. In other words, people can purchase flight tickets or select Holiday Packages through Malaysiaairlines.com at anytime from anywhere.





As we could see from the home page, MAS Airlines has designed its background in such a way that it makes people feel warm and friendly when first entering into the website as there are two stewardesses smiling and an attractive colorful background. In addition, customers are served with care because MAS Airlines provides different selections of languages and countries to enable customers to select their country of residence and preferred language. The page loading speed is considered very fast which about 12 milli-seconds on average. MAS Airlines has chosen Times New Roman as its text font with the font size of 12 which comforts the readers. The website is simple yet customers can easily identify the important information as MAS Airlines has highlighted them with different colors to draw customers’ attentions.



When entering into the main page, customers can easily get to know the current promotion offered by MAS Airlines as well as the highlights. Besides that, there is a search engine available for customers to search for additional information. Furthermore, it provides a section on the main page which allows customers to book a flight, holiday packages and web check-in. customers can always check the availability of flight ticket by entering some information such as the origin and desired destination, the date of departure and arrival of the flight, flexibility date, the number of flight tickets and the flight classes.

Once customers have entered the flight information, customers will be linked to another page which shows the availability of flight ticket and the total price of the ticket including tax. Before purchasing the ticket, customers could review their purchases to avoid any misunderstanding. MAS Airlines provides several ways of online payment, for example, credit cards (MasterCard or Visa), CIMBClick and MayBank2U when customers have made their final decisions. All the private information and payments made are secured using a VeriSign SSL Certificate. Later, customers will get a confirmation letter from MAS Airlines through e-mail.

On the other hand, MAS Airlines has a good navigation as it provides other related links that enable customers to check on the information for hotels, car for hire, sightseeing locations and others. Additionally, it contains information for flight e-timetable, flight status, the route map, holiday packages in Malaysia and more.




Overall, MAS Airlines’ website has delivered a clean and clear interface to its readers. The easy navigations allow customers to get the information they need about the prices of flights tickets, holiday packages or other related facts. Hence, making flight ticket reservation through MAS Airlines is easy and simple.


Related Links:

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/home.aspx

Many countries, including Malaysia, are implementing electronic government. It generally known as ‘e-government’. The implementation of electronic government started since the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysian Government.

E-government will improve the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility, and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses. Simultaneously, it will improve information flow and processes within the government, improve the speed and quality of policy development, and improve coordination and enforcement. This enabled the government to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

The objectives of these applications are:
• Jump start development of MSC
• Make MSC global test bed for innovative solutions
• Increase Malaysian productivity and competitiveness
• Reduce Digital Divide

Under the e-government flagship, seven main projects are identified to be the core of the e-government applications as follow:

1. Project Monitoring System (PMS)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah

However, they are four main barriers could affect Malaysia’s e-government implementation.

1. Legislative and Regulatory Barriers – in order for e-government services to gain widespread acceptance, they must have the same standing as the equivalent paper processes and ensuring the privacy and security before advancing the online e-government services.

2. Budgetary Framework – to finance seamless government services and shred infrastructure, budgetary regulations should facilitate co-operative funding mechanisms such as coordinated bids for new funds and the pooling of funds.

3. Lag Behind Technological Change – since technological developments are moving very fast, it is very difficult to anticipate future impact in detail.

4. Digital Divide Impedes the Benefits of E-Government – generally, the most disadvantaged have the lowest level of access, yet they also often have high levels of interactions with the government. If these individuals cannot access e-government services, they will lose the benefits of e-government.

Current application of E-government in Malaysia

One of the e-government projects is Electronic Services Delivery or known as e-Services. The e-Services is accessed through multi channel service delivery such as the Internet and kiosk machines.

As of now, Malaysia citizen can renew their driving license and pay their summons, or even settle their utility bill payment online. There are several websites and kiosks that have offered e-Services application. For example, Rilek services allows members of the public to access general information and information on their outstanding summons through specially touch screen infokiosks or www.rilek.com.my website. These website and kiosk allow the public to make online payment to RTD or the Police by credit card. The government also allows the public to take their driving theory tests at approved Rilek centre.

Another e-government application launched by the Internal Revenue Department (IRD) is companies online tax. By using MyKey digital signature, which was offered by MSC Trustgate, these companies are able to digitally sign their C form and submit their document electronically to IRD. MyKey is a digital signature embedded into an individual’s MyKad. It identifies and authenticates MyKad holders over the Internet, providing the ability to sign digitally a document or transaction.

Other than that, the electronic procurement system, better known as ePerolehan, streamlines government procurement activities and improves the quality of service it provides. It converts traditional procurement processes in the Government machinery to electronic procurement on the Internet and can be accessed at www.eperolehan.com.my. With ePerolehan, all suppliers can obtain tender documents and submit bids through the Internet. The suppliers are equipped with smartcards that enable them to transact with the ePerolehan system. Modules in ePerolehan system include suppliers’ registration, central contract, direct purchase, tenders and contract and have been fully functional and used by the government in its procurement exercise. With the introduction of the ePerolehan system, it is hoped that the system could streamline the processes and procedures as well as improve efficiency and productivity, while lowering the government's operational cost over time. For the suppliers, it could translate into new markets, additional revenues and higher margins. Besides that, ePerolehan also allows suppliers to present their products on the Internet, receive, manage and process purchase orders and receive payment from government agencies via the Internet.

Common problems encountered by consumers:
1. Many consumers do not know how to use the services provided or thinking that it is hard to be used as there is no manual guide which could assist them to transact over internet.

2. Many citizens in Malaysia are reluctant to transact or utilize the applications of e-Government through internet as there is risk of inaccurate data transferred, potential fraudulent, phishing, stolen of privacy data and etc

3. Do not have the accessibility over internet due to the factors such as those in rural area or poor families do not possess internet access at home.

4. Public are not aware of the e-Government services provided as there is lack of advertisements, notice and promotions regarding the services. Most of them, especially those computer illiterate still using the traditional method.

Citizen’s adoption strategies

E-government allows citizens to interact with computers to achieve objectives at any time and any location, and eliminates the necessity for physical travel to government agents sitting behind desks and windows. Hence, citizens expect and demand governmental services with a high degree of quality, quantity, and availability in a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, and year-round fashion.

The government should increase the awareness and gain more attention from citizens in its existing services that provided in e-government. Then, e-government adoption requires that citizens show higher levels of satisfaction and security with the online services provided by the government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-Government adoption because the citizens are comfortable of the protected privacy and confidentiality of the user's information. Moreover, the service quality should be competitive with the other developed countries in terms of speed, problem serving approach, and ease of use of the website. This is important as it provides and encourages long-term users to use the website frequently and cut-off paper work when the payment process can be made through online. Lastly, the government should do more advertising through radio and television, and organizing workshop in a strategic location in order to create awareness and convenience for problem solving as they are fully focus in providing the best services to its citizens.


Related links:
• http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/articles/Article1%20-%20Full.pdf
• http://www.american.edu/initeb/ym6974a/egovernment.htm#E-Government
•http://www.mait.com/admin/enews_images/MAIT%20Country%20Intelligence%20eNews96_37.pdf
• http://www.archives.go.jp/news/pdf/MrShaidin2.pdf