E-Business Theory Case Study Analysis



 Alibaba.com: The world’s largest B2B Marketplace

Alibaba. the company started as a portal for connecting Chinese manufacturers with buyers from other countries. Alibaba Group became the world’s largest e-commerce enterprise by 2014. The Alibaba Group was started in 1999 by Jack Ma and his partners.

The initial business was Alibaba. In 2004, Alibaba added the «Alipay Cross-Border E-Payment Service». In 2007, the Alibaba Group founded Internet-based business management software company Alisoft, followed by Tmall. The company established a cloud computing platform and restructured over time.

In 2014 Alibaba Group planned to possess an IPO within the USA to spice up $15 billion. In 2014, Alibaba.Com may be a web marketplace composed of a platform for buyers, a platform for sellers, a community, and B2B services. The company’s mission is to provide all the specified support for buyers, suppliers, and traders.

·         Alibaba .Com helps to achieve international buyers.

·         Suppliers can get free online training.

·         Buyers can verify the suppliers’ worthiness.

·         Alibaba.Com provides inspection services with reliable experts.

·         Buyers can compare prices and terms of service also.

The company is committed to supporting the expansion of Alibaba Group companies and providing a comprehensive suite of Internet-based EC-oriented computing services, which include e-commerce processing, high-speed massive e-commerce processing capabilities, and data customization.

Alipay could also be a cross-border online payment platform, mainly employed by buyers and sellers engaging in e-commerce transactions. Mobile Alipay is now the foremost important mobile platform within the planet. Alibaba. Com Escrow Service could also be a service that holds the payment to the seller until both parties have confirmed that the transaction is complete. Alibaba Escrow Service also features a Dispute and Refund process if the customer doesn't receive the products or is unhappy with the delivery.

 

Alipay also offers an internet global payment solution to help buyers or sellers outside China to undertake business to business in China. By 2014, Alibaba. the company conducts business in over 240 countries and regions and it employs quite 25,000 people

·        Boeing`s Global Supply Chain for the Dreamliner 787

 

Designing and manufacturing an aircraft is an immensely complex undertaking the 787 Dreamliner project is said to be one of the largest, most complexes, and challenging engineering projects being undertaken in the world. The supply chain involved in the design and production of this aircraft involves millions of different parts components and materials, and thousands of different suppliers, partners, contractors, and outsourcing vendors scattered across 24 countries working from 135 different sites. Absolute precision and meticulous attention to detail are required, and safety and quality are paramount. In addition to designing and producing new aircraft, the new production processes had to be designed, tested, and implemented. Close collaboration and communication among thousands of employees, information and knowledge management, and sound management of this complex global supply chain were essential to the project's success. In addition, competitive pressures, rising oil prices, and enhanced security requirements forced Boeing to significantly improve the old methods.

Boeing had been increasingly relying on sophisticated information technology and EC solutions to support its operations. For &le, it had been a user of CAD/CAM technologies since the early 1980s. The Dreamliner, however, was to be a "paperless with EC being employed to support many critical activities. Boeing teamed with Dassault Systane’s to create a Global Collaboration Environment, a product management life cycle solution, to support the virtual rollout of the new aircraft. The GCE enabled Boeing to digitally monitor the design, production, and testing of every aspect of the aircraft before the actual production started. The GCE included the following components: CAM. A collaborative 3D-design platform that enabled engineers worldwide to collaborate on the design of every part of the 787. MOVIE. A system that supported the accessing, sharing, and managing of all information related to the 787 design in a secure environment. DELMIA. An environment for defining, simulating, and validating manufacturing and maintenance processes and establishing and managing, workflows before building tools and production facilities. SMARTEAM. A Web-based system to facilitate collaboration, which included predefined and auditable processes and procedures, project templates, and best-practice methodologies all geared toward ensuring compliance with corporate and industry standards.

In addition, Boeing decided to integrate all databases associated with the Dreamliner, teaming up with IBM to employ a 082 Universal Database for this purpose and ensuring partners access to Dassault's suite of systems. As the Dreamliner moved toward physical production using the new manufacturing processes, excellent supply chain management was required to carefully coordinate the movement of components and systems across multiple-tier partners around the world. Boeing teamed with Exostar to provide software to support its supply chain coordination challenges. The Exostar supply chain management solution enables all suppliers to access to real-time demand, supply, and logistics information so that crucial components and systems arrive at Boeing's production facilities just in time for assembly over a 3-day period. The Exostar solution includes the following functionalities: planning and scheduling; order placement and tracking purchase order changes; exchanging shipping information; managing inventory consumption across suppliers; managing returns and providing a consolidated view of all activities in the manufacturing process. Business process exceptions can also be monitored across partners, allowing for an informed evaluation of the impacts of these exceptions to take place across affected parties. Finally, radio frequency identification technologies were deployed in the aircraft to support finding Pans and materials and for the maintenance activities. By tagging parts, Boeing significantly reduced the costs.

The goal of the Dreamliner project was to produce a fuel-efficient, cost-effective. quiet, and comfortable midsize aircraft that could travel long distances without stopping. It is a critical innovation for Boeing, which has in recent years struggled in the face of rising competition from Airbus. EC has played a critical role in supporting collaboration throughout this massive project, reducing the need for physical prototyping and testing, and making substantial impacts on the supply chain. EC has enabled faster decision making, better management of critical information and knowledge assets. increased sharing and exchange of product-related information and processes, reduced time-to-market, less rework, and reduced costs of manufacturing by reducing the final assembly time for the aircraft from 13 to 17 days to just 3 days. Boeing had received !party 900 orders for the plane by the end of 2007 and commitments in excess of S120 billion. Dreamliner was not completed on schedule. mainly due to communication problems between different countries and the use of several languages. The new collaboration methods were just too new.

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