e-avatar

Almost all the companies around the world today have their own websites developed in sophisticated and attractive designs for higher sale and promotion of their goods and services across a wider spectrum of customers through internet (Vrontis, Ktoridou, and Melanthiou 2006). Website represents the identity of a company or individual engaged in e-commerce. Vrontis, Ktoridou, and Melanthiou have profound that website is considered to be the core component of online-marketing communication program and an efficient well-designed website can contribute to a very powerful promotional tool of the organization (2006). There are many free online tools to develop websites available at freewebs, weebly, jimdo, webs and so on.

Various studies content that key factors in web design constitute website usability (navigation and loading), website accessibility (search engine), content (relevant information), color factor, links, trustworthiness, privacy and security and accessibility. The top three factors which we are going to discuss are usability, content and accessibility which Hernandez, B., Jimenez, J., and Martin, M. J. have profound to be the most significant for the success of a quality website (2009).


Usability: Ease of Navigation is one of the most important factors in terms of usability for the success of the website. Navigation means choosing a path through a website (Vrontis, Ktoridou, and Melanthiou 2006) and it should be able to help users to have an easy going, enjoyable and secured visit through the website. Study suggests that usually on website if users can not find what they are looking for in 3 clicks then they are gone (HFI 1996). Hence an efficient navigation system should cater a simple, clear, consistent and an intuitive understanding of the website path to its users along with site search function which would enable users to know easily where they are and where want to go all the time (Vrontis, Ktoridou, and Melanthiou 2006).


Loading time is another significant component of web design. Research have profound that users are impatient in most cases hence website should be designed in such a way that its load time is as minimum as possible allowing users quick access to every page even on a very slow internet connection (Vrontis, Ktoridou, and Melanthiou 2006). Users can tolerate maximum 2-10 seconds download time therefore unnecessary videos, flashes and other elements should be strictly avoided as they will slow down the loading speed (Naseer 2010). IA defines simplicity and speed as important factors and gives few guidelines (2009).



Content: When users visit a website their basic objective is to find the information they are looking for. That information is the content of the website and “content is the king” (McCarthy 1995 cited in Hernandez, B., Jimenez, J., and Martin, M. J. 2009). The company or individual should therefore present all the information that it wants it users to know about in a most appropriate way. Hernandez, B., Jimenez, J., and Martin, M. J. have profound that content can mainly comprise of informative, transactional and communicative (2009). The study suggest that informative constitute data regarding the firm or individual’s background and activity including product and service information which should be precise, relevant and up to date, transactional would encompass transactions to complete the online dealings and this should be easy, simple and less number of clicks and lastly, communicative includes user support and interactivity which can be delivered via emails, telephone and live chat functions which will add a competitive advantage for the firm and enhance the web quality.


Accessibility: Users should easily identify and access the website so that it enjoys a higher traffic. This can be achieved by increasing the website’s visibility through SEO - search engine optimization (Vrontis, D., Ktoridou, D., and Melanthiou, Y. 2006). Where SEO tool is a free resource available to increase the website popularity (Hernandez, B., Jimenez, J., and Martin, M. J. 2009), there are many tips for how to use this tool in most efficient manner to enhance your website accessibility (Mughal 2009). Also Google’s SEO guideline is useful to achieve maximum visibility and accessibility for the website (Mughal 2009).

However overly literal search engines reduce usability because they are unable to ‘read’ certain variants of the query term e.g. hyphens. Also, this possess a problem where search engines prioritise results on other basis e.g. how many query terms they contain, rather than on the importance of each document. ‘Search is the user's lifeline when navigation fails’ (Nielson 2009) so it is important than the search engine should be as simple as possible even though advanced search can sometimes helps.


To conclude with, online businesses lack face to face interaction with its customers so the only window available is through its website therefore the firms and individuals who design their websites keeping in mind the user’s needs and preferences and offering them with high value product and services will succeed and prosper.




References


Hernandez, B., Jimenez, J., and Martin, M. J. (2009) ‘Key website factors in e-business strategy’. International Journal of Information Management [online] 29 (5), 362 – 371. Available from < http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/wzgw?so=reverse+date%2F-date&fs=+30+&tag=30&tag=43&tag=49&rsn=4&esn=b&rn=26&nr=25&settags=1&id=23563422 > [3 April 2010]

HFI (1996) 10 Usability Principles to guide you through the Web Design Maze [online] available from < http://www.humanfactors.com/about/10tips.asp > [1 April 2010]

IA (2009) What’s next in web design [online] available from < http://informationarchitects.jp/whats-next-in-web-design/> [29 March 2010]

Mughal, N.A. (2009) 10 Critical web design factors while designing and developing your website. [19 December 2009] available from [2 April 2010]

Mughal, N.A. (2009) The shortest tutorial ever on search engine optimization. [25 December 2009] available from < http://www.naseerahmad.com/2009/12/25/the-shortest-tutorial-ever-on-seo.html > [3 April 2010]

Mughal, N.A. (2008) Google’s SEO guide for webmasters. [26 November 2008] available from < http://www.naseerahmad.com/2008/11/26/googles-search-engine-optimization-guide-for-webmasters.html > [3 April 2010]

Nielson, J. (2009) Top 10 mistakes in web design [online] available from [29 March 2010]

Vrontis, D., Ktoridou, D., and Melanthiou, Y. (2006) ‘Website Design and Development as An Effective and Efficient Promotional Tool: A Case Study in the Hotel Industry in Cyprus’. Journal of Website Promotion [online] 2 (3/4), 125 – 139. available from < http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=101&sid=a650cc17-72d9-44ea-9573-0f3b0c5ca46e%40sessionmgr114 > [29 March 2010]

Internet marketing has become a pivotal tool to sell products and services (Allbusiness 2010). Maintaining good relationships with stakeholders is believed to play a key role in successful business strategy (Mayer and Tomilson 2009). Hence, with the growth of internet marketing, the mechanism to achieve success and surpassing competitors for long term success is to build consumer “Trust” (Angriawan and Thakur 2008, Keitch 2009). Angriawan and Thakur (2008) weighted that, website usability, expected performance of the product, online security and privacy constitute 70% of the online trust. According to Kim and Bensabat (2010), the most important goal of internet marketing is to create customer “trust” A survey conducted on the online buyers found that consumers consider online trust as one of the top factors when they select their online vendors (Jiang, Jones and Javie 2008). Hence online trust is one of the most important inevitable concerns in the e-commerce.

According to Kim and Bensabat (2010) trust is defined as “beliefs regarding the ability, integrity, and benevolence of the online merchant”. Morgan and Hunt (1994) believe trust is developed when a party gains confidence in an exchanging party believing in its reliability and integrity. Culture differences influence the degree of trust sort e.g. Americans are more inclined towards risk taking and trust than Japan.

There are several reasons why trust online is not easily acquired. Hanai and Oguchi's (2009) definition of ‘perceived risk,’ explains how it is the risk that consumers subjectively perceive of products; classifying it into financial risk, functional risk, physical risks, psychological risks and social risks.


Explaining how customers tend to search for more information when price is relatively high and how under high levels of trust, customers are willing to pay a higher price premium to a store for an expensive product than for an inexpensive product (Kim and Benrasat 2010). Consequently consumers are fearful of online shopping for branded products (a product belonging to a high-class) of its uncertainty and unreliability (Hanai and Oguchi 2009).

Several online shops are currently confronted with the difficulty of transmitting trust warranting properties; properties that induce trust, to the consumers. Unlike online shops, real shops win trust by responding to consumers’ problems and worries immediately and properly, whereas time and spatial discrepancies are encountered on online transaction (Hanai and Oguchi 2009). These limitations include the inability for customers to feel the product and the ease of immediate customer service.

Martin and Camerero’s (2008) study suggests that security amongst all has the strongest influence on consumer trust. They believe that service quality, refund and warranty directly influence consumers’ trust where as the website characteristics have an indirect influence. Moreover they found out that past online shopping experience is the main determinant of online trust. Research reveals that consumer satisfaction with an online shop is by how it enhances purchasing and browsing behaviour and selection, web design and maintenance are also important factors.

Trust formation in a mediated transaction is important and it occurs when the customer’s intention to buy a product matches the shops intention to sell. This is reflected by the information transmitted by the shop whereby reliability is expected and which could initiate purchase (Hanai and Oguchi 2009). There is a lot of criticism on the Trust-assuring arguments that are displayed or provided on a store’s Web site arguing that these may come from different sources, as non objective viewpoints.

The research results suggest that a third party’s assurance was more effective in increasing the likelihood of a purchase than a store’s self-proclaimed assurance, on the other hand, a store’s self-proclaimed assurance were more effective than having no assurance (Nöteberg, Christiaanse and Wallage 2003).

There is the exception of those individuals who do not have to rely only on an independent third-party source to form high trust beliefs about the store. When customers purchase a high-price product, they seem to form trusting beliefs by scrutinizing argument content rather than by depending on heuristic cues (e.g., an independent party’s opinion) (Kim and Benbasat 2010). Although recent researchers emphasising the role of word of mouth in trust formation (Hanai and Oguchi 2009), Mayer et al.’s model for the feedback circle suggests that the outcomes of trusting the trustee will determine if a positive relationship or if a negative the relationship will formed (Mayer and Tomilson 2009).

One of the ways to increase consumer trust online is to provide trust-assuring arguments, which are “statements of a claim and its supporting statements used in an Internet store to address trust-related concerns” (Kim and Benbasat 2006). As proposed by Keitch (2009), in order to overcome these challenges, marketers will have to build two essential components into their campaign, which are charm (“the deployment of novelty”) and reassurance. Trust assurance can be provided by self proclamation e.g. ‘safe shopping our security guarantee’ or assurance, e.g. Hacker Safe. Examples of internet marketers who provide such assurances are Ebay.com and Amazon.com (Kim and Bensabat 2010). Third party assurances also referred to as Trustmarks such as TRUSTe and BBBOnLine create a positive influence and have more credibility than a consumers report magazine (Kim and Bensabat 2010)

Utilising Toulmin’s model of argumentation to make online trust-assuring arguments persuasive could be useful for online businesses.


It was found that trust-assuring arguments that included claim plus data and backing (hereafter claim-data-backing) effectively increased consumers’ trusting beliefs, while trust-assuring arguments that consisted of claim only (hereafter claim-only) did not increase consumers’ trusting beliefs. Claim is a conclusion of an argument, data are grounds of a claim, and backings are reasons one should accept (Kim and Benbasat 2010).

There are several ways of reducing distrust online. Consumers engage in information search; seek, collect and examine this information, because of products perceived risks. Thus online businesses are encouraged to supply specific and useful information e.g. payment and return information, in order to heighten reliability (Hanai and Oguchi 2009). Indeed, shops have attempted to convey clear and trustworthy information like revealing affiliations with reliable organisations.

In light of these justifications digital marketers will have to restore their consumer trust as they have to face the challenge of competing in an increasingly crowded media space (Keitch 2010). Internet tracking is useful in addressing shortcomings and are especially important for any industry especially online business (Keitch 2009)

Researchers have suggested that trust forms a strong basis for building a prolonged close, supportive and industrious relationship (Mayer and Tomilson 2009). Researchers have suggested that third party certification logos should be displayed on websites because it has a direct positive impact of safe shopping in the consumers’ mind and builds up consumer trust towards the organization (Jiang, Jones and Javie 2008). Also, business organizations should deliver on quality online and offline in order to generate the consumers’ online trust.

As internet marketing continues to grow, trust also has to evolve because the predominant factor in internet marketing is trust (Kim and Bensabat 2010). Therefore, online marketers should increase the trust levels among customers to gain a competitive advantage.


REFERENCES

Allbusiness (2010) The impact of internet marketing [online] available from [15 March 2010]

Angriawan, A. and Thakur, R. (2008) ‘A Parsimonious Model of the Antecedents and Consequence of Online Trust: An Uncertainty Perspective’. Journal of Internet Commerce 7 (1), 74 – 94.

Ba, S. and Pavlou, P. A. (2002) 'Evidence of the effect of trust building technology in electronic markets: Price premiums and buyer behavior'. MIS Quarterly 26(3), 243–268

Hanain, T. and Oguchi, T (2009) ‘How Do Consumers Perceive The Reliability of Online Shops?’. Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 3(2), article 6

Jiang, P., Jones, D. B. and Javie, S.(2008) ‘How Third-Party Certification Programs Relate to Consumer Trust in Online Transactions: An Exploratory Study’. Psychology and Marketing 25 (9), 839 – 858.

Keitch, R. (2009) ‘Digital marketers need to reassure consumers to regain their trust’ New Media Age 1/3, 15.

Kim, D. and Benbasat, I. (2010) ‘Designs for Effective Implementation of Trust Assurances in Internet Stores’. Communications of ACM 53 (2), 121 – 126.

Kim, D. and Benbasat, I.(2006) 'The effects of trust-assuring arguments on consumer trust in Internet stores: Application of Toulmin’s model of argumentation'. Information Systems Research 17(3), 286–300.

Nöteberg, A., Christiaanse, E. and Wallage, P. (2003) 'Consumer trust in electronic channels'. e‑Service Journal 2(2) 46–67

Martín, S. S. and Camarero, C.(2008) ‘Consumer Trust to a Web Site: Moderating Effect of Attitudes toward Online Shopping’. Cyber Psychology and Behavior 11 (5), 549 – 554

Mayer, R. C. and Tomilson, E. C.(2009) ‘The Role of Casual Attribution Dimensions In Trust Repair’. Academy of Management Review 34 (1), 85 – 104.

Morgan, R. M. and Hunt, S. D.(1994) ‘The Commitment – Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing’. Journal of Marketing 58 (3), 20-38.

The internet since its birth has impacted the whole world especially the peoples’ lives at such an unprecedented level that some might believe that this online revolution is even more profound than the Industrial Revolution (Xiaolei 2007). This speedy revolution has raised so many unanswered questions on if a new species of humans are developing; from homosapien to homointerneticus? Thus, we completely agree with Dr. Krostoski’s report on Virtual Revolution: Homointerneticus. (documentary film on BBC) and would like to present our views in support of it.

Internet possesses enormous power and provides access to vast amount of information and facilitates like networking between people around the world. This technology can be compared to the electricity, telephone and the automobile inventions that have made a mark within society, transforming society, affecting culture, politics and businesses (Gates 2000).


The younger generation today is considered to be grown and brought up within a digital world since their birth and internet has become an indispensable for them (Cheon and John 2005). As shown in the documentary, 62% of South Korean 3-5 years old kids use internet for over 7 hours per week regularly. Also in the US , 9.5% of the total active online users (16 million approx.) were children aged 2-11 as on May 2009 (Nielsenwire 2009). Not only the developed but the developing nations are also not left behind in this revolutionary race. Chinese online user number surpassed that of US with its largest proportion (39%) comprising of the school children (NWCCW 2009) hence internet addiction is becoming a serious problem amongst the Chinese younger generation (Cao and Su 2006).


One key point is the impact of the internet on the web generation which has been clearly shown like a double edge sword effects (both positive and negative) in the documentary. It is very true considering the numerous growth opportunities which the web offers to the children with benefits like socialization and communication across culture and boundaries; interpersonal and creativity development; and educational and academic support through vast information access (Gross 2004, Jackson et al., 2006, Valkenburg and Peter 2007 cited in Mishna, Saini and Solomon 2009). On the other hand, the negative effects include physical and mental impact (due to information fatigue); cognitive (inability to differentiate real and virtual world); and social development (less interaction with real people and identity confusion) (Cordes and Miller 2000 cited in Cheon and John 2005).


An important revelation is the extent to which virtual interaction reflects who we are. Social networks are a growing phenomenon with individuals and companies investing enormous time and money online (Gates 2000). Theodore V. outlined the network effect as a beneficial system; a self sustaining and self fulfilling system (Krostoski 2010); a system present within the www (Gates 2000). Social bonding is defined as a personal relationship usually between 2 individuals (Krostoski 2010) but the internet is merely a gateway for bonding and it is becoming less important in peoples’ lives (Farmery 2010). Skeptics like neuroscientists say a child’s sense of reality is distorted as senses triumph over meaning (Krostoski 2010). The study of a linear and associative mindset reveals how the internet has made us lazy with the presence of ‘hyperlinks’ and readily available information, supported by David Nicholas views on the importance of reading books because they explore vast information than just reading an extract (Krostoski 2010). These views are in contrast to those of Gates (2000) who believes the internet amplifies human potential.

Like predicted during the 1960’s, the technological age did indeed bring in a massive change and like stated by Bill Gates in the year 2000, there has been profound effects of the internet on the way we work live and learn.
The internet is described as a positive development creating collaboration and is expected to develop further. However, being better informed doesn’t necessarily mean better decisions. More so, the dangers of the internet like security issues make the web appear less mind controlling and more of a reflection of the real world. Hence, internet may or may not isolate people from the real world depending upon how they use it.


Reference

Cao, F., and Su, L. (2006) ‘Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: prevalence and psychological features’. Child: Care, Health and Development [online] 33 (3), 275-281. Available from < http://www.encognitive.com/files/Internet%20addiction%20among%20Chinese%20adolescents--%20prevalence%20and%20psychological%20features.pdf> [1 March 2010]

Cheon and John, H. (2005) ‘Children’s exposure to negative internet content: effects of family context’. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic media [online] available from < http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/internet-technology/867440-1.html > [3 March 2010]

Farmery, A. (2010) Internet social bonding 5 February 2009 [online] available from [03 March 2010]

Gates, B. (2000) Shaping the internet age [online] available from [03 March 2010]

Gov (2010) Internet dangers for teenagers [online] available from [03 March 2010]

Krostoski, (2010) ‘The virtual revolution: homointerneticus’. BBC [online] available from < http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r3qhg/The_Virtual_Revolution_Homo_Interneticus/ > [28 March 2010]

Mishna, F., Saini, M., and Solomon, S. (2009) ‘Ongoing and Online: Children and youth’s perceptions of cyber bullying’. Children and Youth Services Review [online] 31, 1222-1228. Available from < http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V98-4W91PR7-2&_user=2563821&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000057807&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=2563821&md5=be6b948477c27951a6b63eb8fcf7e2a0 > [3 March 2010]

Nielsen Wire (2009) Growing up and growing fast: kids 2-11 spending more time online [online] available from < http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/growing-up-and-growing-fast-kids-2-11-spending-more-time-online/ > [3 March 2010]

NWCCW (2009) Gender ratio of netizens becomes more balanced [online] available from [3 March 2010]

Xiaolei, J. (2007) ‘Caught in Net: Looking back on the internet revolution’. Beijing Review [online] 50 (37), 18-20. Available from < http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=5&sid=528f2547-ec95-4f94-b23a-3c25311053c1%40sessionmgr4 > [1 March 2010]

Importance of Marketing Research through E-marketing for SMEs

Importance of Marketing Research in E-marketing
There are a number of success stories of marketing decisions taken on the basis of insights but it is always suggested that decisions based on market research and marketing research analysis are of huge importance for the overall success of the business. Market research is done to identify problems which already exist or which are likely to surface in the near future (Susan and Nikolas 1999), especially for the SMEs it has been found that there exists a positive relationship between environmental information and small firm financial performance. In general, marketing research in e-marketing accounts for an organization's competitive advantage since consumer interaction nowadays differs from how it used to be in the traditional marketing methods. Consumers are exposed to a wide range of brands and brand loyalty can be easily lost or e-viral marketing can be generated in case of customer dissatisfaction (Mossinson 2010). Hence marketing research plays a vital role in the success of the SME’s (Dolinger 1984).

Importance of E-marketing - SME's
E-marketing is defined by Chaffey as the application of digital technologies including web, e-mails, mobile and other digital media in order to meet the marketing objectives (2008).E-marketing gives business of any size the benefits of global reach, lower cost, trackable and measurable results, 24 hours marketing, personalization, one-to-one marketing, creation of interactive campaigns and ease of purchase, which adds value to the customer and therefore improves the organization’s marketing effectiveness (Business Link 2010). Hence it has given an aspiration for millions of SMEs to perform as efficiently as the large businesses in the global market (Mc Cue 1999 cited in Gilmore, Gallagher and Henry 2007).
One of the SMEs e-marketing adoption theories is Social Network Theory (SNT)(Parker and Castleman, 2009), which gives SMEs economic value in terms of competitive advantage, lowering marketing cost and an emotional support (BarNir and Smith 2002 cited in Parker and Castleman, 2009).

Success stories of the E-marketing implementation
Small or big, numerous companies have adopted e-marketing (Business dictionary 2010). Big companies such as Tesco, the world’s third largest food retailer (Howker 2009), enjoys majority share of online grocery shoppers, with 41% of UK supermarket online sales in 2009 (Utalkmarketing 2010). Easyjet (low budget airline) operates ticketless services (reinforcing environmental friendliness campaign) as it has successfully integrated its services into its e-marketing strategy (Easyjet 2006).
The SNT theory has been truly depicted in the real life success story of Pink Cake Box , a small business pancake shop in New Jersey, which adopted internet marketing through blogs, YouTube and Flicker videos in their business strategy gainning a massive online customer base and media attentions (searchengineland 2008).
Where as companies like Advance Track Outsourcing and Lasan Restaurant have been able to turn great ideas into reality through e-collaboration and mobile sms based ordering system to enhance their way of working (nb2bc 2008).
E-Marketing has a great influence on the sales of SME’S. For instance a French based SME Paysen Fr's case study has shown how an online Farmers Market predominantly used internet to sell their products and is now enjoying a customer base of 2000 (ebusiness watch 2005).
Internet marketing has proven as a successful lifeline tool for the AEC SMEs (architecture, construction and engineering sector) in UK to survive through recession heat (extranet evolution 2009).
Not only in the developed nations but e-marketing is essential for SMEs across the world today. Mr. Vaid, CEO of NGA Consultancy Service Ltd., India has asserted that SMEs in India must take the advantages of e-marketing (smetimes 2009). Also Taiwan’s SMEA (SME Administration, ministry of economic affairs) has realized the need and gained benefits of e-business for their SMEs through the e-Enabled Service Teams (YouTube 2008).

Therefore, with the growing need and importance of e-marketing in all the markets and sectors across the world, one should not be left behind to grab the opportunity.. Hence we strongly recommend you to implement e-marketing in your business.



References
Business dictionary (2010) Integrated marketing communications [online] available from< http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/integrated-marketing-communications-IMC.html> [22 February 2010]

Business Link (2010) Develop an e-marketing plan [online] available from [23 February 2010]

Chaffey, D. (2008) E-marketing and Internet marketing definition [online] available from < http://www.davechaffey.com/Internet-Marketing/C1-Introduction/E-marketing-Internet-markeitng-%20definition > [22 February 2010]

Dolinger, M.J, (1984), ‘Environmental Boundary Spanning and Information Processing Effects on Organizational Performance’. Academy of Management Review 21, 351-368

Easyjet (2006) Easyjet plc [online] available from [22 February 2010]

Ebusiness watch (2005) Case study: E-logistic and E-marketing for Paysen.Fr [online] available from [22 February 2010]

Extranet Evolution (2009) The Internet as a lifeline for AEC SMEs [online] available from < http://www.extranetevolution.com/extranet_evolution/2009/04/the-internet-as-a-lifeline-for-aec-smes.html > [22 February 2010]

Gilmore, A., Gallagher, D., and Henry, S. (2007) ‘E-marketing and SMEs: Operational lessons for the future’. European Business Review [online] 19 (3), 234-247. Available from < http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=Article&Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0540190303.pdf > [22 February 2010]

Howker, E. (2009) The Big Question: Is Tesco now too powerful in Britain, and can its growth ever be checked? [online] available from [22 February 2010]

Mossinson, O. (2010) E marketing vs traditional marketing - research results. [n.d.] available from [24 February 2010]

Parker, C.M., and Castleman, T. (2009) ‘Small firm e-business adoption: Critical analysis of theory’. Journal of Enterprise Information Management [online] 22 (1/2), 167-182. Available from [22 February 2010]

The National B2B Centre (2008) How can SMEs create future advantage [online] available from < http://www.nb2bc.co.uk/marketing_online/articles/?id=107 > [22 February 2010]

Search Engine Land (2008) A small business marketing success story [online] available from [23 February 2010]

Small and Medium-sized Business e-Enablement Service Teams (2008) [online] available from < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cOwvfeAiPA&feature=related > [23 February 2010]

SME Times (2009) SMEs must take the advantage of e-marketing [online] available from < http://smetimes.tradeindia.com/smetimes/face-to-face/2009/Nov/09/smes-must-take-advantages-of-e-marketing.html > [22 February 2010]

Susan, H and Nikolaos, T (1999), “The Impact of Marketing Research Activity on SME Export Performance: Evidence from the UK” Journal of Small Business Management 37 (3), 63-75.

utalkmarketing (2010) [online] available from [22 February 2010]

This topic takes us back to the early 1980’s when computers migrated into the corporate world and further migrated towards being a requisite amongst the general public (Goodman 2000). Technology has rapidly changed in the last decade such that from a functional standpoint, laptops are more compact, faster, as well as more economical (Ward 2009).

The internet has become an integral part of today’s society that it is growing to become the ‘3rd hand’ of every individual in the forth coming generations (Videojug 2010). Nowadays people carry internet with them in laptops, mobiles, notebooks and mp3 players (. The forecast could make someone think even broader as one can take it to such an extent of using internet in the pens and why not even in the nails. As the device gets smaller, the usage and the mobility become easier. But the question arises here. How about the efficiency and the performance?

Mobile phones can very well replace a landline phone since it has all the features of the landline phone, but can a mobile phone replace a laptop in the same way???
Firstly, the availability of Wi-Fi everywhere nowadays may enhance the utility of mobile phones. But this usage is restricted towards just surfing and very few added advantages. With many businesses happening online these days, video conferencing has become quite essential to working class professionals. As a matter of fact, laptops already act as a helping hand to all such applications and of course moving towards increased efficiency and performance.

Secondly, one should agree with the statement ‘size matters’. To enhance mobility, tiny versions are growing at a vast rate, but these have restricted usage. The mobile phones are limited towards surfing, maps and so on and so forth, but laptops serve a wider purpose. With the emerging new editions like smaller notebooks and very recently I-pads, the laptops have become much smaller with comparable performance.

Thirdly, there are many disadvantages with the features a mobile phone could hold. Multi tasking could always reduce the performance speed in a mobile and when it comes to viewing many websites at a stretch could be a predicament. As an added token, with the storage media migrating from CDs to DVDs and further towards Blue ray discs, at least a disc insertion space is necessitated. With networking in computers becoming highly essential in a business environment with facilities like LAN and system sharing, mobile phones which are literally restricted in a working atmosphere could not dole out many purposes. Moreover live streaming, gaming could not be satisfactory with its performance in a mobile phone. The storage space and public folder sharing has become highly essential and a mobile phone could think of a maximum of 100 GB storage space, where as only the RAM speed has increased to 1TB in Japan.

Fourthly, with a lot of new viruses and hacking happening these days, security issues will be a big question mark with mobile phones where it only has a security lock which could be enabled.

Fifthly, as the mobile phone usage has increased in the last decade, even mobile phone thefts and misplacements have increased simultaneously.

Finally, there are wide varieties of applications which have become a part of the routine work style such as presentations, working on documents, spread sheets, movies, webinars, educational episodes and many more. Readability is quite essential to perform these tasks. The technology could improve, the versions may become smaller and the weight may be reduced, but ultimately humans are going to use it. Even after ages, the human eye might not have a larger diameter with increased reading power. Ultimately clarity and performance is always expected in a human environment and WILL LAPTOPS BE REPLACED BY MOBILE PHONES?

References

Goodman, D.J. (2000) ‘The Wireless Internet: Promises and Challenges’. Computer-Los Alamitos 33 (7), 36-41.

Videojug (2010) The future of the internet [online] available from [15 february 2010]

Ward, M. (2009) 'Technology changes 'outstrip' netbooks'. BBC [online] 28 December. available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8421491.st> [15 February 2010]

We are a group of international postgraduate marketing students at Coventry University and we have only one thing in common which is 'marketing'. We are a multi-coloured group and we each have something creative or special which you will get to know as you keep in touch with us.

Maureen: I think life should be a fairytale but it's a shame theres a lot of sadness in this world. I still insist that we should all enjoy the simple things in life like laughing at the silliest things. That's why I enjoy doing all those little things that make me happy, like sports, dance, arts and experiencing new cultures.

Joli: I am a great worrier and I worry that every inch of our land we stand on is becoming a rubbish dump site and that the planet will explode one day. I worry that I will get shot one day on the streets for no reason although I don't have any enemies. So give me something positive.

Jamphel: I am a music and movie passionate person. My family is the most precious asset of my life. I follow peace and compassionate; the biggest dream is to return to my homeland ''Tibet'', which I have never been to till date.

Shreesh: I am a person who believes in the statement ‘take life as it comes’ and hence I don’t worry about many things in life. I am loveable and a debatable person and hence you can have a debate with me on any topic (I will know the topic if I don’t know… because I should win the debate).

Bharath: I am a happy go lucky and fun loving person. I live life to the fullest and this attitude of mine keeps me going. I have a lot of aspirations in life and I’m confident to achieve them.

As you see, we are a mix of a fairytale, a worrier, a music lover and an easy going personality. Hence let us get squeezed with debates, thoughts and of course fun through this blog. To put it in a nut shell….LET’S ROCK !!!