The connotation of electronic commerce:
1, the broad definition of e-commerce
E-commerce refers to all kinds of business activities carried out by trading parties or participants by using modern information technology such as computer technology and network technology, including all kinds of business activities carried out by using modern information technology and computer network according to certain standards between goods trade, service trade and intellectual property trade (mainly B to B between enterprises and B to C between enterprises and consumers).
The above definition of generalized e-commerce can be analyzed and understood from the following aspects:
First of all, e-commerce is a way of business that adopts the most advanced information technology. Both parties to the transaction input their respective supply and demand wishes into the e-commerce network according to a certain format, and the e-commerce network looks for relevant information according to the requirements of users, providing users with a variety of trading options. Once the user determines the transaction object, the e-commerce network will assist in completing the full set of services such as contract signing, classification, transmission and payment, and carry-over. Provide a "win-win" best choice for both parties to the transaction.
Secondly, the essence of e-commerce is business. The goal of e-commerce is to conduct business activities through the Internet, the most advanced information technology, so it should serve business and meet the requirements of business activities, and business activities are the eternal theme of e-commerce. From another point of view, business is also developing constantly, and the wide application of e-commerce will bring great influence to business itself. Fundamentally change the original business model of human society and inject new ideas into business activities.
Third, a comprehensive understanding of e-commerce should be considered from two aspects: "modern information technology" and "commerce". On the one hand, the "modern information technology" contained in e-commerce should cover all kinds of modern communication methods based on electronic technology; On the other hand, the word "business" should be understood in a broad sense, which refers to matters caused by various contractual and non-contractual relationships of a commercial nature. From the point of view of set theory, e-commerce is the intersection of two subsets of modern information technology and commerce.
2. The narrow definition of e-commerce.
The narrow definition of e-commerce is that only e-commerce activities conducted through the Internet are classified as e-commerce. From the perspective of development, when considering the concept of e-commerce, it is not enough to only use the Internet for business activities. It is more in line with the development reality to bring all trade activities such as advertising, design, development, promotion, procurement and settlement carried out by various electronic information networks into the scope of e-commerce. As American scholars Revere Carata and Andrew B. Whiston pointed out: E-commerce is a modern business way, which is used to meet the needs of enterprises, businessmen and customers, and the above goals can be achieved by improving service delivery speed, improving service quality and reducing transaction costs. Today's e-commerce trades information, products and services through a few computer networks, while the future e-commerce can trade through any of the countless networks that constitute the information superhighway. In other words, taking the Internet as the main carrier of e-commerce now does not mean that it can only be used forever. In the future, e-commerce will adopt other network carriers much more advanced than the Internet, which is the carrier with the widest coverage.
3. The definition of e-commerce in 3.IT industry
IT (information technology) industry is the direct designer of e-commerce and the manufacturer of e-commerce software and hardware equipment. Many companies have given the definition of e-commerce according to their own technical characteristics. Although there are great differences, everyone agrees that e-commerce is a way to use existing computer software, hardware equipment and network infrastructure to connect them through certain agreements and conduct various business activities.
(1) HP defines e-commerce as a way to complete business and trade activities by electronic means. E-commerce enables us to exchange products and services through electronic means, which is the link between merchants and customers. It includes two basic forms: e-commerce between merchants and e-commerce between merchants and final consumers. HP's e-commerce solutions include all trading partners, users, goods and services providers, operators, banks, insurance companies and beneficiaries of all other external information sources. E-commerce ensures the security of the whole e-commerce transaction process by establishing different systems and databases with partners and users, using customer authorization and information flow authorization, and applying electronic transaction payment means and mechanisms.
(2) Sun Company's definition of e-commerce is: in simple terms, e-commerce is a business transaction conducted by using the Internet, which can be technically defined as:
① On the basis of the existing Web information publishing, Java online application software is added to complete online public transactions.
(2) On the basis of the existing intranet, develop the online enterprise application of Java, so as to realize the enterprise application intranet, and then extend it to the external extranet, so that external customers can use the enterprise application software for business transactions.
(3) Corporate customers will conduct transactions through Java devices such as computers, Internet TV set-top boxes, telephones, mobile phones and personal digital assistants.
The development of these three aspects will eventually lead to the enterprise and cross-enterprise application of Java e-commerce.
(3) IBM defines e-commerce: e-commerce refers to the activities of exchanging business data and developing business services by digital electronic means. It is an interrelated dynamic business activity under the background of the combination of the extensive connection of the Internet and the rich resources of the traditional information system. This activity is conducted on the Internet, which is the basis of e-commerce. Internet, intranet and extranet are three basic modes of e-commerce. These three modes are hierarchical. Only on the basis of the Internet, by establishing a good internal network, establishing relatively perfect standards and various information infrastructures, can we smoothly extend to the external network and finally to e-commerce.
4. The concept of electronic commerce in the World Electronic Commerce Conference.
1997165438+1On 6-7 October, the International Chamber of Commerce held an e-commerce World Business Agenda in Paris, France, and put forward the concept of e-commerce from a commercial perspective: e-commerce refers to the realization of the electronization of the whole trade activities. In terms of coverage, it can be defined as: any form of commercial transaction conducted by electronic transaction in all aspects of the transaction rather than face-to-face communication or direct interview; Technically, it can be defined as: E-commerce is a multi-technology aggregation, including data exchange (such as electronic data exchange and e-mail), data acquisition (such as * * * shared database and bulletin board system) and automatic data capture (such as bar code).
The businesses covered by e-commerce include: information exchange, pre-sale and after-sale services (such as providing detailed information of products and services, technical guidelines for product use, and answering customers' opinions), sales, electronic payment (such as using electronic fund transfer, credit cards, electronic checks and electronic cash), transportation (including delivery management and transportation tracking of commodities, and actual delivery of products that can be transmitted electronically), and establishment of virtual enterprises (establishing a non-existent enterprise) Concentrate the authority of a group of independent small and medium-sized companies to provide much more products and services than any single company), companies and trading partners can * * * share and operate * * * business methods.
5. Comments of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
Although the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce mentions "electronic commerce" in its title and provides a definition of "electronic data interchange" in article 2, the Model Law on Electronic Commerce does not specify what "electronic commerce" refers to. In drafting the Model Law on Electronic Commerce, the United Nations Commission on Trade Law decided to take into account the broad meaning of EDI when dealing with this topic, that is, the various uses of EDI in trade, which may be widely included under the heading of "Electronic Commerce", although other descriptive terms may also be used. The concept of "electronic commerce" includes the following communication means based on electronic technology: communication through electronic data exchange is narrowly defined as data transmission between computers in a standard format; Message transmission using open standards or proprietary standards; Free-form text transmission through electronic means (such as the Internet).
On the other hand, the "Model Law on Electronic Commerce" gives a broad interpretation of the word "commerce" in "electronic commerce": it includes all kinds of matters arising from business relations, whether contractual or non-contractual. Relationships of a commercial nature include, but are not limited to, the following transactions: any trade transaction that provides or exchanges goods or services; Distribution agreement; Business representative office; Customer account agent; Lease; Factory construction; Consultation; Engineering design; License trade; Investment; Financing; Banking business; Insurance; Development agreement concession; Joint ventures or other forms of industrial or commercial cooperation.
The relationship between modern commerce and e-commerce, as well as the role of e-commerce in commerce, will generally be reflected in many aspects. The business activities conducted by electronic means based on the network (I personally think the significance of e-commerce is the same) can also be said as follows: it is to move the original traditional sales and shopping channels to the Internet by electronic means, break the tangible and intangible barriers of countries and regions, and make the production enterprises global, networked, intangible and personalized! Someone once said: if you want to fish, you must know where there are fish, and if you want to create wealth, you must know where wealth is concentrated; Mastering knowledge is not as good as mastering the trend, and mastering the trend must master the biggest trend. What is the biggest trend in 2 1 century? E-commerce! Why? Because e-commerce will promote a country's economic development, change the mode of social production, adjust the economic structure, and become a new economic growth point of a country. . .