1、实用电子商务英语,学习指导 电子商务在现代生活中的位置越来越重要，它的出现不仅为企业提供了创造效益的平台，而且也极大的方便了用户的使用，逐渐成为商务活动中占主导位置的形式。随着计算机及通信技术的发展，为电子商务发展提供了更加广阔的空间。,Unit 1 Introduction to Electronic Commerce,本章主要介绍了以下内容：什么是电子商务电子商务的类型电子商务的发展com的繁荣、破灭和重生电子商务的优势电子商务的劣势,1.1 Electronic Commerce and Electronic Business,To many people, the term elect
2、ronic commerce means shopping on the part of the Internet. However, electronic commerce (or e-commerce) also includes many other activities, such as businesses trading with other businesses and internal processes that companies use to support their buying, selling, hiring, planning, and other activi
3、ties.,Some people use the term electronic business (or e-business) when they are,talking about electronic commerce in this broader sense. For example, IBM defines electronic business as the transformation of key business processes through the use of Internet technologies.,Most people use the terms e
4、lectronic commerce and electronic business interchangeably. In this book, the term electronic commerce (or e-commerce) is used in its broadest sense and includes all,business activities conducted using electronic data transmission technologies.,The most common technology used is the Internet, but ot
5、her technologies, such as wireless transmissions on mobile telephone and personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, are also included.,1.2 Categories of Electronic Commerce,Some people find it useful to categorize electronic commerce by the types of entities participating in the transactions or busin
6、ess processes. The five general electronic commerce categories are business-to-consumer, business-to-business, business processes, consumer-to-consumer, and business-to-government.,The three categories that are most commonly used are:Consumer shopping on the Web, often called business-to-consumer (o
7、r B2C),Transactions conducted between businesses on the Web, often called business-to-business(or B2B)Transactions and business processes that companies, governments, and other organizations undertake on the Internet to support selling and purchasing activities.,To understand these categories better
8、, consider a company that manufactures stereo speakers. The company,might sell its finished product to consumers on the Web, which would be B2C electronic commerce.,It might also purchase the materials it uses to make the speakers from other companies on the Web, which would be B2B electronic commer
9、ce. Businesses often have entire departments devoted to negotiating purchase transactions with their suppliers. These departments are usually named supply management or procurement. Thus, B2B electronic commerce is sometimes called e-procurement.,In addition to buying materials and selling speakers,
10、 the company must also undertake many other activities to convert the purchased materials into speakers.,These activities might include hiring and managing the people who make the speakers, renting or buying the facilities in which the speakers are made and stored, shipping the speakers, maintaining
11、 accounting records, purchasing insurance, developing advertising campaigns, and designing new versions of the speakers.,An increasing number of these transactions and business processes can be done on the Web. Manufacturing processes (such as the fabrication of the speakers) can be controlled using
12、 Internet technologies within the business.,All of these communication, control, and transaction-related activities have become important parts of electronic commerce. Some people include these activities in the B2B category; others refer to them as underlying or supporting business processes.,figur
13、e 1-1 Elements of Electronic Commerce,Figure 1-1 shows the three main elements of electronic commerce. The figure presents a rough approximation of the relative sizes of these elements. In terms of dollar volume and number of transactions, B2B electronic commerce is much greater than B2C electronic
14、commerce.,However, the number of supporting business processes is greater than that of B2C and B2B transactions combined.The large oval in Figure 1-1 that represents the business processes that support selling and purchasing activities is the largest element of electronic commerce.,Some researchers
15、define a fourth category of electronic commerce, called consumer- to-consumer (or C2C), which includes individuals who buy and sell items among themselves.,For example, C2C electronic commerce occurs when a person sells an item through a Web auction site to another person. In this book, C2C sales ar
16、e included in the B2C category because the person selling the item acts much as a business would for purposes of the transaction.,Finally, some researchers also define a category of electronic commerce as business-to-government (or B2G). This category includes business,transactions with government a
17、gencies, such as paying taxes and filing required reports.,An increasing number of states have Web sites that help companies do business with state government agencies. For example, the CAL-Buy site makes it easy for businesses to conduct online transactions with the State of California. In this boo
18、k, B2G transactions are included in our discussions of B2B electronic commerce.,Over the thousands of years that people have engaged in commerce with one another, they have adopted the tools and technologies that became available. For example,1.3 The Development and Growth of Electronic Commerce,The
19、 Internet has changed the way people buy, sell, hire, and organize business activities in more ways and more rapidly than any other technology has in the history of business.,Although the Web has made online shopping possible for many businesses and individuals in a broader sense, electronic commerc
20、e has existed for many years. For more than 30 years, banks have been employing electronic funds transfers (EFTs, also called wire transfers), which are electronic transmissions of account exchange information over private communication networks.,Businesses also have been engaging in a type of elect
21、ronic commerce, known as electronic data interchange, for many,years. Electronic data interchange (EDI) occurs when one business transmits computer-readable data in a standard format to another business.,In the 1960s, businesses realized that many of the documents they exchanged were related to the
22、shipping of goods, for example, invoices, purchase orders, and bills of lading. These documents included the same set of information for almost every transaction.,Businesses also realized that they were spending a good deal of time and money entering this data into their computers, printing paper fo
23、rms, and then reentering the data on the other side of the transaction. Although the purchase order, invoice, and bill of lading for each transaction contained much of the same information-such as item numbers, descriptions, prices, and quantities-each paper form usually had its own unique format fo
24、r presenting that information.,By creating a set of standard formats for transmitting that information electronically, businesses were able to reduce errors, avoid,printing and mailing costs, and eliminate the need to reenter the data.,Businesses that engage in EDI with each other are called trading
25、 partners. The U.S. government, which is one of the largest EDI trading partners in the world, also was instrumental in bringing businesses into EDI. For nine years, ending in 2001, the Defense Logistics Agency operated a number of Electronic Commerce Resource Centers (ECRCs) throughout the country.
26、,The ECRCs provided free assistance to many businesses, especially smaller businesses, so they could do EDI with the U.S. Defense Department and other federal agencies.,The Georgia Institute of Technology continues to operate one of these centers as the Georgia Tech Electronic Commerce Resource Cent
27、er, which serves businesses in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.,Between 1997 and 2000 more than 12,000 Internet-related businesses were started with more than $100 billion of investors money. In an extended burst of optimism and what many came to describe as irrational exuberance, investors feared t
28、hat they might miss the money-making opportunity of a lifetime.,1.4 The Dot-Com Boom, Bust, and Rebirth,As more investors competed for a fixed number of good ideas, the price of those ideas increased. Worse, a number of bad ideas were proposed and funded. More than 5000 of these companies went out o
29、f business or were acquired in the downturn that began in 2000.,The media coverage of the dot-com bust was extensive. However, between 2000 and 2003, more than $200 billion was invested in purchasing electronic commerce businesses that were in trouble and starting new online ventures, according to i
30、ndustry research firm Web Mergers.,This second wave of financial investment has not been reported extensively in either the general or business media, but it is fueling a rebirth of growth in online business activity.,After seeing so many new stories during the period from 2000 through 2002 proclaim
31、ing the death of electronic commerce, many people are surprised to find that the growth in online B2C sales had continued through that period, although at a slower pace than during the boom years of the late 1990s.,hus, the bust that was so widely reported in the media was really more of a slowdown
32、than a true collapse. After four years of doubling or tripling every year, growth in online sales slowed to an annual rate of 20 to 30 percent starting in 2001.,Most experts expect this growth rate to continue over the next several years.,One force driving the growth in online sales to consumers is
33、the ever increasing number of people who have access to the Internet. The Pew Internet & American Life Project (funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts) began conducting several long-term research projects in 2000 to study the growth of the Internet and its effects on society.,You can consult its Web si
34、te for the latest reports on these projects. In 2004, a Pew research project found that two-thirds of Internet users have purchased at least one item online.,Firms are interested in electronic commerce because, quite simply, it can help increase profits. Just as electronic commerce increases sales o
35、pportunities for the seller, it increases purchasing opportunities for the buyer.,1.5 Advantages of Electronic Commerce,Businesses can use electronic commerce to identify new suppliers and business partners. Negotiating price and delivery terms is easier in electronic commerce because the Internet c
36、an help companies efficiently obtain competitive bid information.,Electronic commerce increases the speed and accuracy with which businesses can exchange information,which reduces costs on both sides of transactions.,Many companies are reducing their costs of handling sales inquiries, providing pric
37、e quotes, and determining product availability by using electronic commerce in their sales support and order-taking processes.,The benefits of electronic commerce extend to the general welfare of society. Electronic payments of tax refunds, public retirement, and welfare support cost less to issue a
38、nd arrive securely and quickly when transmitted over the Internet.,Furthermore, electronic payments can be easier to audit and monitor than payments made by check, providing protection against fraud and theft losses.,othe extent that electronic commerce enables people to telecommute, everyone benefi
39、ts from the reduction in commuter-caused traffic jam and pollution. Electronic commerce can also make products and services available in remote areas.,For example, distance education is making it possible for people,to learn skills and earn degrees no matter where they live or which hours they are a
40、vailable for study.,Some business processes may never lend themselves to electronic commerce. For example, perishable foods and high-cost, unique items, such as custom-designed jewelry, might be impossible to inspect adequately from a remote location, regardless of any technologies that might be dev
41、ised in the future.,1.6 Disadvantages of Electronic Commerce,Most of the disadvantages of electronic commerce today, however, stem from the newness and rapidly developing pace of the underlying technologies. These disadvantages will disappear as electronic commerce matures and becomes more available
42、 to and accepted by the general population.,internal / int:nl / a. 内在的, 国内的 （反external 外部的）hire / hai / n. 租金, 工钱, 租用, 雇用; vt. 雇请, 出租; vi. 受雇interchange / intteind / vt. (指两人等)交换; v. 相互交换categorize / ktigraiz / v. 加以类别, 分类,Vocabulary,participate / p:tisipeit / vi. 参与, 参加, 分享, 分担stero - prefix 表示“立体”
43、的意思procurement / prkjumnt / n. 获得, 取得rent /rent/ v. 租, 租借, 出租; n. 租金fabrication / fbrikein / n. 制作, 构成, 伪造物, 装配工approximation / prksmein / n. 接近, 走近, /数/近似值,engage / ingeid / vt. 使忙碌, 雇佣, 预定, 使从事于, 使参加; vi. 答应, 从事, 交战, /机/接合, advent / dvnt/ n. (尤指不寻常的人或事) 出现, 到来auction / :kn / n. 拍卖; vt. 拍卖avenue /
44、vinju:/ n. 林荫道, 大街, 方法, 途径, 路innovation / inuvein / n. 改革, 创新invoice / invis / n. 发票, 发货单, 货物; v. 开发票, 记清单,instrumental / instrumentl / a.仪器的,器械的, 乐器的boom /bu:m/ n. 繁荣, 隆隆声; v. 发隆隆声, 兴隆, 迅速发展bust / bst / v. 破灭investor / invest / n. 投资者optimism / ptimizm / n. 乐观, 乐观主义 （反 pessimism 悲观主义）irrational / i
45、rnl / a. 无理性的,失去理性的exuberance / igzju:brns / n.茂盛,丰富,健康,downturn / daunt:n / n. 低迷时期 venture /vent/ n. 冒险, 投机, 风险; v.冒险,冒昧,斗胆,胆敢(谦语)triple / tripl / n. 三倍数, 三个一组; a. 三倍的;v.成三倍,增至三倍access / kses / n. 通路, 访问, 入门; vt. 存取, 接近bid /bid/ vt. 出价,投标,祝愿,命令,吩咐; n. 出价, 投标; v. 支付 quote / kwut / vt.引用,引证,提供,提出,报(
46、价),audit / :dit / n. 审计, 稽核, 查帐; vt. 稽核, 旁听; vi. 查账fraud / fr:d / n. 欺骗, 欺诈行为, 诡计, 骗子, 假货;telecommute / telikmju:t / vi. (在家里通过使用与工作单位连接的计算机终端)远距离工作; vt. 通讯perishable / peribl / adj. 容易腐烂的mature / mtju / adj. 成熟的, 到期的, 充分考虑的, (票据等)到期的; vt. 使成熟; vi. 成熟, 到期,integrate / intigreit / vt. 使成整体, 使一 体化, 求.的积分 v. 结合conduct / kndkt / n. 行为, 操行; v. 引导, 管理, 为人, 传导Oval / uvl / a.卵形的，椭圆形的 n.卵形,椭圆形,
