Effect of Electronic Commerce on Business Cost and Productivity in Plateau State Nigeria
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The main objective of the study is to investigate the effect of electronic commerce on business cost and productivity in Plateau state, Nigeria. The specific objectives are;
- To find out the effect of electronic commerce on business cost
- To find out the effect of electronic commerce on business productivity
- To find out the challenges of electronic commerce in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
REVBIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
E-commerce is referred to as electronic commerce. It means the electronic media and the internet for dealing with goods and services. E-Commerce entails a company accessing the internet as well as IT, such as the electronic data interchange (EDI). E-commerce concerns an internet vendor’s website, trading goods or services to the user directly from the platform. The gateway uses a wireless purchase cart or a purchase basket to pay by credit card, debit card or Electronic fund transfer (EFT). A further description is as follows: Electronic communications and digital information processes in business transactions are used to create, modify and redefine value generation relations between, and between, organizations and individuals
E-Commerce or Electronics Commerce is a methodology of modern business which addresses the need of business organizations, vendors and customers to reduce cost and improve the quality of goods and services while increasing the speed of delivery. E-commerce refers to paperless exchange of business information using following ways.
- Electronic Data Exchange (EDI)
- Electronic Mail (e-mail)
- Electronic Bulletin Boards
- Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)
- Other Network-based technologies
The concept of e-commerce is all about using the internet to do business better and faster. E-commerce is the process of buying and selling over the Internet, or conducting any transaction involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods or services through a computer-mediated network without using any paper document. Electronic commerce or e-commerce refers to a wide range of online business activities for products and services. It also pertains to “any form of business transaction in which the parties interact electronically rather than by physical exchanges or direct physical contact.” Business transacted through the use of computers, telephones, fax machines, barcode readers, credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) or other electronic appliances without the exchange of paper-based documents. It includes procurement, order entry, transaction processing, payment authentication, inventory control, and customer support. E-commerce is subdivided into three categories: business to business or B2B (Cisco), business to consumer or B2C (Amazon), and consumer to consumer or C2C (eBay) also called electronic commerce. E-commerce the phrase is used to describe business that is conducted over the Internet using any of the applications that rely on the Internet, such as e-mail, instant messaging, shopping carts, Web services, UDDI, FTP, and EDI, among others. A type of business model, or segment of a larger business model, that enables a firm or individual to conduct business over an electronic network, typically the internet. Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major market segments: business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business. Ecommerce has allowed firms to establish a market presence, or to enhance an existing market position, by providing a cheaper and more efficient distribution chain for their products or services.
COST
A cost is an expenditure incurred by a firm to produce goods and services for sale in the market. In other words, a cost is the outflow of money from the business to gain inflow of money after sale of the commodity. A producer has to incur various costs in order to produce goods and services
PRODUCTIVITY
Productivity is probably the most widely discussed yet least understood concept of the present management era (see Brynjolfsson, 1993; Lahti et al., 2002). The term “productivity” has several viewpoints. Productivity has been considered as a ratio of output to input by a large number of professionals drawn from different disciplines (Mohanty and Rastogi, 1986). Accountants and financial analysts emphasize that productivity is representative of financial performance based on return on investment, profitability, growth, turnover, rate of turnover, cash inflow, and the like. Many researchers believe that productivity means quality as well as quantity of output (see e.g. Amusan Lekan et al., 2013). Many researchers also refer to productivity as the output per man-hour in an organization (see e.g. Hanley, 2014).
Chapter Three
Research methodology
Research Design
The research design adopted in this research work is the survey research design which involves the usage of self-designed questionnaire in the collection of data. Under the survey research design, primary data of this study will be collected from staff of Konga and Jumia in Plateau state in order to determine effect of electronic commerce on business cost and productivity in Plateau state Nigeria. The design was chosen because it enables the researcher to collect data without manipulation of any variables of interest in the study. The design also provides opportunity for equal chance of participation in the study for respondents.
Population of Study
The population of study is the census of all items or a subject that possess the characteristics or that have the knowledge of the phenomenon that is being studied (Asiaka, 1991). It also means the aggregate people from which the sample is to be drawn.
Population is sometimes referred to as the universe. The population of this research study will be Seventy-five (75) selected staffs of Konga and Jumia in Plateau state
Sample Size and Sampling Techniques
The researcher made use of stratified sampling technique because all the members have the same probability of occurrence. The researcher narrowed down the samples to selected staff of Konga and Jumia in Plateau state in order to determine effect of electronic commerce on business cost and productivity in Plateau state Nigeria.
In this study, the researcher used the [TARO YAMANE FORMULA] to determine the sample size.
Yamane (1967:886) provides a simplified formula to calculate sample sizes.
ASSUMPTION:
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter is about the analysis and presentation of data collected from the field through questionnaire. The analysis of the data with particular question immediately followed by the presentation of findings.
As mentioned in chapter three, 63 questionnaires were administered and 50 were retrieved and necessary analysis was carried out on them and presented as follows:
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain effect of electronic commerce on business cost and productivity. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of effect of electronic commerce on business cost and productivity.
Summary
This study was on effect of electronic commerce on business cost and productivity. Three objectives were raised which included: To find out the effect of electronic commerce on business cost, to find out the effect of electronic commerce on business productivity and to find out the challenges of electronic commerce in Nigeria. The total population for the study is 75 selected staffs of Konga and Jumia. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, it’s an expansion time for ECommerce Industry. E-Commerce players are banking on the Nigerian internet growth story. The fact that an average online user is spending more time online gives these players the opportunity to draw more users to their websites through innovative marketing strategies such as those revolving around social media. Furthermore, to fully utilize the opportunity, players need to leverage the growing number of mobile devices in the country. They should focus on developing mobile-compatible websites and applications. This would allow customers to log on to easy-to-access platforms and browse e-Commerce websites on their mobile devices. They also need to focus on innovation to tackle challenges arising from low credit and debit card penetration. They could consider working with financial intermediaries to develop payment systems, such as escrow services, for resolving issues around security and product delivery
Recommendation
Electronic commerce organizations should focus on developing mobile-compatible websites and applications. This would allow customers to log on to easy-to-access platforms and browse e-Commerce websites on their mobile devices. They also need to focus on innovation to tackle challenges arising from low credit and debit card penetration
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