E-Business Environment: Economic, Ethical, Legal and Security Issues

These two words can be used  interchangeably. But e-business includes more practices  than the e-commerce which focuses just on purchases and sales.  
E-business includes  many IT-enabled elements of the value chain, such as marketing and advertising, customer relationship, enterprise resource planning, training, and human resource management.

E-economy refers to  an economic system based on information technology, where people do business with brain power rather than body power, and where global competition is experienced with the opportunities provided by information
technologies.

There have been two important development processes that made progress in e-business. The first is the developments in the information and communication sectors.This factor expanded the scope of e-business by making the
interactive multimedia services and computer communication and media industry an integral whole.

The second development  is the globalization process in the markets and the
acceleration of liberalization.  This factor interacted with e-business, globalization of the markets accelerated the development of e-business.

The economics of electronic platforms is dominated by two intertwined features. One of them is  economies of scale and the other is network effects. 

1. For the business owners, e-business activities enable products or services to find new markets in international markets, making the marketing of products easier.

2. E-business is a  new tool for the purchase and sale of non-physical products
with the e-business activities of the enterprises.

3.  The internet, which initially emerged as an information network and eventually enables all business transactions to be made online.

 New customer insights according to Philip Kotler can be listed as the folloxings: 
• The customer becomes selective with the increase of the conscious customer
• Increasing customer expectations regarding goods and services
• Decreased tendency to shop due to the importance of time
• The spread of e-commerce
• Decreasing loyalty to the brand and also to the product
• The formation of group markets with market classification
• International shopping

Followings are the list of activities  that businesses affect in economic life, especially e-commerce and   as e-business activities:  

• Faster, effective marketing for more people with digital marketing, sales and promotion,
• Pre-sale, subcontracting, procurement,
• Financing and insurance,
• Commercial transactions (order, delivery and payment),
• Service and maintenance,
• Joint product development and work,
• Using public and private services,
• Public transactions (tax, customs, etc.),
• Delivery and logistics,
• Public procurements and tenders,
• Accounting,
• Automated trading of products in electronic
environment,
• Disputes solution

Small businesses face some opportunities provided by  e-business: 

• Relatively low costs when entering the market
• Customer potential and customer diversity at the global market scale
• Customizable products 

E-commerce is the most important factor increasing the efficiency and keeping the costs at the minimum level in the commercial activities of the enterprises.

E-business increased efficiency in resource use and  accelerated stable and
efficient growth.The processes like  stock control and barcoding can be provided electronically in the process where the products are in operation, and products can be ordered by monitoring the sales trends of all kinds of products with the help of automation. E-business processes enhanced the collaborative efficiencies in the supply chain, and created significant economic payoffs by improving electronic connectivity across boundaries and integrating different organizational resources and capabilities.  Internet have created a   more effective market  by making it possible to report the prices of products and services transparently. Providing unlimited access to all kinds of information has ensured  information symmetry. 

Like in the other areas of economy  inter-regional income and development balances are in favor of the developed countries. The added value obtained from e-business is concentrated in the developed countries that are the developers of high technology  and knowledge.  E-business based activities are developing especially in experienced and developed countries such as the USA, Germany, England and in countries such as India, Israel, Estonia.  
While this situation makes  developed economies richer, it causes the income gap to become more evident. Developed countries that produce and market products related to e-business activities and information and communication technologies gain income advantage.

A cookie is a  small software on the internet. Cookies  can easily access to individuals’ information and what activities they perform on the internet.
The use of cookies that make it easier for businesses to access their websites many times may not always be ethical.  It is an ethical issue if the  personal information of internet users are  used by the companies without their  knowledge or consent.

There are different types of unauthorized e-mails. We can classify them like the following: 
• Junk e-mail (Junk mail): Unauthorized commercial e-mails that do not cause harm to the user or the user’s computer.
• Non-commercial spam: Unauthorized e-mail without commercial purpose.
• Aggressive spam: Unauthorized emails with pornographic and similar offensive content.
• Fraudulent e-mail: Emails that are sent to violate personal privacy and access personal information.
• Harmful e-mail: E-mails containing harmful codes such as viruses and trojans that will prevent the computer from working properly.

The rules   to minimize ethical problems on the  confidentiality of personal information are listed below:  
• Informing: The consumer should be informed that their information is collected
and for what purpose this information will be used.
• Choice: The consumer must have the right to decide whether the information
collected from him or her will be used for the specified purposes.
• Access: The consumer should be able to see all the information collected from him or her at any time.
• Security: Businesses are responsible for the security of the information they collect. To prevent this information from being obtained by unauthorized persons, it should take the necessary precautions and otherwise they put up with some sanctions.
• Regulations: To ensure compliance with the above rules, legal regulations and self regulatory rules of the business are required.

Children may have more difficulty in e-business activities compared to adults.Some of the difficulties faced by the childer are like the followings: 
• Determining the accuracy and validity of the information they encounter,
• Determining whether the information collected from them is private / personal,
• Understand that the cartoon characters representing the product are a marketing tool,
• Understand whether an activity is entertainment or marketing,
• Understanding the harm that foreigners can cause on the web,
• They may have difficulty in distinguishing interactive games and interactive ads.

During the internet usage of children, the following situations can be considered so that a more ethical situation will occur for online sales to children: 
• It should be clearly stated to the children that they want to sell to them.
• The need to get permission from their families should be clearly stated in the order rules.
• A system infrastructure should be created that allows families to cancel orders without their consent.

The legal rules regulating the field of e-business are:

• The Law on Regulation of Electronic Commerce No 6563,
• Electronic Communication Law No 5809,
• Law on regulation of publications on the
  internet and suppression of crimes committed
  by means of such publications No 5651
• Electronic Signature Law No 5070
• Consumer Protection Law No 4077 

In addition, in the Law No. 6502 on the Protection of Consumers, both the obligation to inform before the establishment of the contract, new regulations regarding distant contracts, and the issues that are required in the publication of the communication title; defect, fulfillment, accordment, general transaction conditions, assertion and responsibilities in the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098.  The obligation of companies to open a website in the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102

Electronic State” or “e-state” for short, can be defined as the state of connecting the state with its institutions and private sector through electronic networks.

 E-state ((e-government) has provided many benefits and positive effects like the followings:  

• Individuals who want to make transactions can do their transactions via computer without having to wait in line,
• Tansformation in the number and structure of public employees
• Reduced stationery expenditures and making transactions more transparent  preventing corruption in this way.
•  With the conveniences it creates, it enables public institutions and organizations to play an active role in individuals and businesses.   
• All necessary information and document sharing between public
  institutions can be realized.
•  It reduces bureaucratic procedures in most works. Fees, taxes etc. electronic services are easily applied through the e-government gateway.  The purpose of the gateway is to provide citizens with public services that are intended to be provided in a reliable order through authentication systems such as passwords, e-signatures, and mobile signatures given at determined a single address. 

Credit cards have  standard payment infrastructure all over the world since credit cards are  the most used payment method for online shopping. SSL and SET protocols based on encryption of this information are used in order to prevent the capture of credit card information by third parties during shopping, so shopping security is easily provided.

Based on the International E-Commerce Survey conducted in 2000,  obstacles to e-business are found as the followings: 
• Lack of confidence in e-commerce 
• Lack of knowledge about e-commerce and couldn’t comprehend of subject 
• Transition to e-commerce and implementation costs
• Unsuitableness of existing operating procedures to e-commerce 
• The inadequacy and ineligibility of employees’ hardware and information in
e-commerce 
• Regulations on issues such as taxes 
• Institution budgets 
• Technological limitations