SENECA COLLEGE, TORONTO
As Taught by Tim Richardson School of Marketing and e-Business, Faculty of Business
DETAILED OUTLINE -  SECTION   A ©
E-commerce Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions
In this section, we'll use the following texts
main link for the books web site Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective
by Turban et al

Chapter 9

e-Business: Roadmap for Success
by Kalakota and Robinson

Chapter 11

http://www.course.com/downloads/sites/ecommerce/index.html Electronic Commerce
by
Schneider and Perry

Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10


 
 
. IEC 812 is intended to note the key things you'll require in e-business activities that involve marketing. For those people that do not have a marketing background, we'll review basic marketing concepts. Additionally, we'll go further and discuss these concepts in the context of the online environment.

WTGR

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Class
1

Jan
9th

.
What is Marketing, the classical definition
 

and again,

Why study marketing
- Product Orientation
- Sales Orientation
- Marketing Orientation
The Market - what is it

. So, the key thing to understand and appreciate is that marketing begins with good planning - which has been a weakness of dot.com companies in 1999 and 2000.

Therefore in the following material, we'll look at the fundamentals of planning.

WTGR

.
 
Class
 
 

 

The 
"BIG PICTURE"
within which
internet
strategies
and
e-business 
models and 
e-marketing 
and brand 
development 
are taking 
place

by David Crane, Economics Editor, The Toronto Star
Jan. 27, 2001
Mr. Crane is a senior editor and writer with many years experience as a journalist, particularly in business and economic matters on an international level.
"Bigger is better in Internet's second wave"
  http://www.thestar.com/cgi-bin/......

Writing this article while attending the annual conference in Davos, Mr. Crane begins,
"If the first wave of the Internet was identified with the world of overnight billion-dollar dot-com companies, the second wave  would appear to be one in which major corporations with established brands, customer loyalty and real assets push aside the brash dot-coms. Indeed, many of the dot-coms have already disappeared. Others will fade away  as they run out of cash. As a panel of company executives indicated at a session of the World  Economic Forum here, the big names of the corporate world are now starting  to see that the Internet will become a significant tool in deepening relations  with existing customers and expanding customer bases.   So the major corporations, with their much deeper pockets, are moving in.

This shift has important implications for Canadian companies. They have to  figure out their Internet strategies soon, because they could be facing tough competition from much bigger multinationals."

Crane concludes by saying "The future of the Internet, however, appears to be to a large degree as a tool  for big players. This means Canadian companies will face a special challenge in developing their own competitive position, which is why doing so should be a  top priority"

There are a number of other good points in this article which you chould definitely read in its entirety

The Star maintains a list of previous articles by the main journalists
David Crane's list is at http://www.thestar.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/.......

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Class
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Jan
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Class
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Jan
9th



Chapter 11
Chapter 11 in Kalakota's book "e-Business:Roadmap for Success"

"The business strategy questions confounding managers are how to transform the old company to the new company design and how to bridge the capability gap between the "needs of physical today" and the "needs of digital tomorrow"

Kalakota says the needs of physical today are related to cost-cutting back-office software that assists in process reengineering and streamlining operations

He suggests that the needs of the digital tomorrow are tied to revenue enhancing front-office software that helps spur profit growth by makingit easier for businesses to sell products via the Web, to get the most out of customer data, and to manage relationships with suppliers and consumers.

"e-Business strategy is about the uncertain future and therefore tends to be based on assumptions, premises and beliefs about customer priorities, technology evolution, competition, and the core competencies that will be needed to compete"

In Kalakota's book, chapter 11, (page 301) he proposes that there are two types of e-business strategy planning

  • top-down analytic planning
  • bottom-up "just do it" tactical planning
Kalakota says top-down planning "take a broad view of the environment, identifies options, and then defines the organization's mission and direction"
Bottom-up planning, which has a more tactical approach (meaning actions based on reaction to circumstances) has a "more focused or narrow view of the environment" and is focused on the short term results.
 
. In reality, the experience of many companies is in fact a combination of both types. Most companies make an effort to have top-down planning since this will result in, theoretically, wise decisions based on well thought out points. However, the fast pace of the competitive and technological environments often force companies to also incorporate bottom-up planning - example: Microsoft in 1995 quickly adding a browser into Windows 95 because Netscape's "Navigator" has taken off so quickly and was gaining total market dominance.

WTGR

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Class
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Jan
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Class
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Jan
9th

http://www.course.com/downloads/sites/ecommerce/index.html Schneider and Perry's book Electronic Commerce uses the word "Strategy" freely to describe three critical chapters in their book, namely
Chpt 8 Strategiesfor Marketing, Sales and Promotion
including
Identifying Web Presence Goals
Creating and Maintaining Brands on the Web
Business Models for Selling on the Web
Chpt 9 Strategies for Purchasing and Support Activities
including 
EDI Electronic Data Interchange
Supply Chain Management
Chpt 10 Strategies for Web Auctions, Virtual Communities and Web Portals
including
Auction Basics
Web Auction Strategies
Virtual Community Strategies

Just because Schneider and Perry's book Electronic Commerce uses the word "Strategy" frequently in these particular chapters does not mean we will discuss all the content in this section of the course on Strategy.

We'll talk about Brands on the Web (re: Chpt 8) in Section F of this course: Section on Traffic and Brand Building
 http://ilearn....homepage/Tim.Richardson/online/outline802f.htm

We'll talk about Auctions on the Web (re: Chpt 10) in Section G of this course: Section on Pricing Issues
 http://ilearn....homepage/Tim.Richardson/online/outline802g.htm

.

Article about Alliances being more effective than mergers.

"Merger Mania Gives Way to Alliance Fever"

Sandra Mingail wrote an article which was based on the premise that before the e-commerce mania, many companies that lacked capabilities would simply look for opportunities to buy smaller companies that had those capabilities - however Sandra makes the point in her article that with the hectic pace of e-business, many companies are taking the option of developing alliances. While alliances can be tricky to develop, you are not taking such a big risk compared to when you lay out a lot of money to buy a smaller company. Another postive aspect of alliances is that they "... can be structured to reflect varying degress of commitment".

"One of the biggest benefits of alliances is speed". It is a lot quicker for some key executives to agree on developing an alliance for a limited situation than it is to go through all the "due diligence" and financing required to buy a company.

Sandra Mingail writing in the July 4th, 2000 Financial Post section of the National Post Online

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Class
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Jan
9th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Class
1

Jan
9th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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9th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Class
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Jan
9th

E-commerce
Strategy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

E-commerce
Strategy
 
 
 
 
 

E-commerce
Strategy
before you

merge, takeover etc.
 
 







E-commerce
Strategy
 
 
 
 
 

E-commerce
Strategy

. Mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, joint-ventures and strategic alliances are all tactics that you employ to achieve various corporate strategies which will in turn fulfill particular corporate objectives.
It is interesting to note the great number of companies developing E-commerce solutions without any "strategic" considerations. Many of them seem to be doing it just because others are and it seems self-evident to have a web site.

WTGR

Rob Spiegel wrote story in the Jan 26th E-Commerce Times titled
"Report: 70 Percent of Retailers Lack  E-Commerce Strategy"

Rob's story was based on a new study by Deloitte and Touche that shows that while roughly one third of retailers with a Web presence consider their online store to be  "strategic," a majority have set up  Web operations with no clearly articulated strategy and are merely "testing the waters  to gauge Internet demand." 
 http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/000126-1.shtml
 

. Many people clearly misunderstand the corporate meaning of the word strategic and confuse it with the related terms "tactics" or "plans".

Clearly, Rob's story, and other points we will discuss in this class, strongly suggests there is indeed a market for people to advise and consult to companies as "E-commerce Strategists". That is to say, they may already have a web site up and running, your job is to massage it and see it fits the company's objectives.

WTGR

A search in Yahoo using phrases such as "developing+e-commerce+strategy", and "e-commerce+strategy+development" yielded a snapshot of many companies. Only a small number had content discussing the fundamentals of what strategy is - some of these more interesting hits are listed below. By looking at sections from each of these web sites, we can glean a good understanding of what is the best way to express the basics of an e-commerce strategy and what are all the "ingredients" involved.
 http://www.siteshapers.com/  http://www.siteshapers.com/problems.html
includes a list of problems people have with their sites
 http://www.xt3.com.au/  http://www.xt3.com.au/StrategicServices
/intrntstrtgy.asp
Includes a good point about what is strategic planning and what are mistakes people make
http://www.direkk.com/  http://www.direkk.com/contents.html
This company explains how they develop the strategy, then they explain their implementation plan

Components of a good e-commerce strategy
First, understand how Strategy fits into the overall corporate planning framework

  • Goal
  • Objective(s)
  • Plan(s)
  • Strategy(ies)
  • Tactics
GOPST defined
 http://www.sob.cencol.on.ca/faculty/trichard/GNED119/Chpt8/sld010.htm


see also
 http://www.occc.com/marketing/m-4.htm
the following explanations on GOPST comes partly from www.occc.com/marketing/m-4.htm and partly from WTGR

Goals-- Goals are the ultimate thing you want to achieve. They are the statements that a company uses to motivate employees and statements used to judge and measure challenges that you face. Excellently worded goals should include measurable statements.
WTGR

Examples: 

  • To be the largest on-line cosmetics retail site on the planet

  • .
Objectives--"Every successful online campaign starts with clear objectives. Each objective should be attainable and tie-in to offline marketing activities. These objectives will drive the overall direction of any plans, and will always help you judge whether a plan is working or not by how it can achieve the objectives.

Examples: 

  • To have the largest on-line product offering of cosmetics

  • (theoretically if you have the largest product offering, you have the potential to make the largest sales, which helps fulfill the goal)
  • To have the most competitive prices for cosmetics sold on-line
  • To carry  the largest brand selection of cosmetics sold on-line
Plans--Plans are the ordered sequences of several strategies with a time element and additional information identifying supporting resources (human resources, technical resources, inventory, etc.). 
Plans can include such concepts as 
  • generating leads, 
  • increasing sales, 
  • increasing store traffic, 
  • reducing customer service costs or 
  • improving brand awareness.


Strategies--Strategies are the collection of various tactics (organized and structured sequences of actions).

Examples: 

  • Develop online giveaways to drive consumers to our product.
  • By having on-line contests with prizes given away by other companies, you associate your brand with other circumstances, thereby increasing your brand depth
  • Build links from the web sites of famous cosmetics brands and have reciprocal links.


Tactics--"Tactics are the specifics of strategies". These are the specific ways and options you do things in order to carry out various strategies. Depending on which tactics you are able to employ (based on your access to resources) some strategies will work, some will fail. "Tactics are the who, what, when and how of the broad-stroke strategy."

Examples: 

  • Establish ongoing monthly contests giving away sample product to 10 lucky winners. 
  • To enter, consumers must complete a data sheet, providing demographic information.
  • Winners will be announced in the product category of the Web site to ensure consumers see our product line.
.
Before we begin this section looking at chapters as an example of past mergers, and future mergers, we will review Terence Corcoran's rant on the Canadian corporate model in the Financial Post

the full text was at
 www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/fpcomment/story.html?f=/stories/20001130/387805.html
"The story of the Chapters-Indigo flame out goes back to the 1980s when some of the other brand names in book retailing   -- Coles, W.H. Smith -- also destroyed millions of investor money. What all these corporate disasters have in common, however, is that they were nurtured by government policy and ultimately destroyed by government policy, supported by a nationalist corporate culture."
 

. Corcoran's rant is based on his complaint that the government is using tax payer money to support some of this situation and in fact it is not a true competition cause regulations shut out american companies from ownership positions - which would allow true competition.

WTGR


"A country that keeps burning up its investment capital in futile protectionist schemes and nationalist investment programs inevitably earns lower  returns on its savings. The result is less wealth accumulation, perpetual inefficiencies, creeping economic decline relative to our competitors south of the border. Even the investments that seem to make money behind protectionist walls -- a Purolator, for example -- hurt the economy if they block efficiency and genuine competition."

"Then, as now, there will be no chance of allowing foreign control. Borders and the other major U.S. book retailers, such as Barnes & Noble or Amazon .com, have already spent billions developing the business concepts, computer systems and management expertise of modern book retailing, but they will be blocked at the Canadian border. Why? So a handful of Canadian "entrepreneurs" can try to duplicate the model, free of the real competition that gave rise to the concept in the first place."

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Class
2

Jan
10th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Class
2

Jan
10th

Case Study
E-Commerce
Strategy

chapters.ca

and

cyberplex.com

 We will look at one of the high profile users of e-Commerce solutions as well as looking at the service company that put the solution together. In order to "Conduct E-commerce Successfully" you must attend to the fundamental aspects of business and marketing - in the case of Chapters - the challenge was filling orders after sales had been made.
 
"The Chapters story is a mixed bag of good and bad news. Since 1995, when Stevenson merged Canada's two largest bookstore chains, SmithBooks and Coles, to create Chapters' 70 outlets,  many quaint neighbourhood bookstores have indeed gone under. And yet the Canadian book industry has grown. In 1995, the retail book market was a $1.5-billion business. Now it is a  $2.1-billion business, of which Chapters represents about 25%. "
Linda From, National Post
http://www.chapters.ca/ www.chapters.ca, was originally designed by Toronto-based Cyberplex Corp.- that is to say Chapters did not build their web site using expertise from within, but instead sub-contracted.
Mark Evans wrote an article 24Jan2000 in the Globe and Mail about  Chapters Online Inc.'s performance during the 1999 holidays - sales reached more than $12-million. The article is good to read since it explains how Chapters tried to deal with the problem of filling those sales orders.
their main page with corporate info about them
 http://www.Cyberplex.com/Home.asp
Established in 1994, Cyberplex is now Canada's largest Internet professional services firm. Its clients include Labatt, Chapters, Sprint Canada, The Loyalty Group (Air  Miles), Chrysler, and Eaton's.
In Nov. 1999 Cyberplex announced that revenue for the nine months ending September 30, 1999 was $13 million, which is an increase of 118 percent over the same period last year.
 www.Cyberplex.com/Content/
PressReleases/Quarterly/Releases

March 26, 1998 story about the launch of Chapters Online Bookstore for Canadians 
"Established in 1994, Cyberplex became a public company in 1996 and has grown to a team of over 160 professionals."
Cyberplex is listed on the TSE

http://www.chapters.ca/
So many times in "e" things we forget the power of the individual and presume technology and market forces are responsible for everything - this is not so - many companies have a focus that is determined by the personality of the top executive so in looking at Chapters, it would be wise to also take a bit of time and look at the background of Mr. Larry Stevenson, Chapter's Chief Executive Officer during the time of the critical developments of Chapters.ca. The National Post did a story on Larry Stevenson May27th, 2000. The link to the online version was not available Nov 2000 onwards.

online story about Larry Stevenson by Linda Frum
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/000527/299086.html
photo by Tobi Asmoucha
. Rick Segal, former President and C.O.O. of Chapters Online Inc. quit and left to work for Microforum Inc. as their President and C.O.O. Microforum is a Mississauga based e-commerce and marketing services company.

Larry Stephenson, Chief Executive Officer of Chapter Online said in June 2000 that Segal's leaving was not a sign of fleeing a sinking ship.

Segal was replaced by David Hainline who was already a sr. exec with Chapters.

The  www.ChaptersGlobe.com 's website was launched in Sept 1998
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Class
2

Jan
10th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Class
2

Jan
10th

Case Study
"acquisition"

BCE Inc.
buying
CTV Inc.

a telephone and internet provider buying a content producer
(a TV network)

. The purpose for understanding the BCE acquisition of CTV network in April 2000 is that it relates to the internet trend of internet portals acquiring content to make their portal more valuable. In early 2000 the internet community was interested in the AOL/Netscape purchase of Time Warner - the purpose of mentioning BCE buying CTV is to make the point that such strategic positioning is also going on in Canada. It is also (as Jean Monty says) the first time in the western world a telephone company has acquired a mainstream TV broadcaster.

WTGR


Read Michael Lewis' article in the April 7th, 2000 Financial Post 
 http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost.asp?s2=
canadianbusiness&s3=news&f=000407/252895.html
Lewis writes "BCE sought CTV in order to channel the network's news, sports and
entertainment programming on to BCE's Internet portal, and across its pay-for-view TV service"
 
http://www.bce.ca/en/ main corporate web site
Monty speech a March 2000 speech by Jean C. Monty, CEO of BCE Inc. Parts of this speech are good commentary on the state of the telecom industry and the internet
press release BCE's press release on the CTV deal
CTV press release CTV press release by their president, Ivan Fecun saying the deal was good for CTV
.
Many of the IEC program participants and faculty attended Internet World 2000 in Feb 2000.
We will participate in the "e"-Seneca booth in Feb 2001- which has been confirmed by Prof. Zigras

http://www.pentonevents.com/canada/ www.pentonevents.com/canada
In Feb 2001, we will be at Booth 944
Exhibitor list  www.eventshome.com/Participant/ExhibitorList.asp?eventId=7043&event=1

http://events.internet.com/canada2000/

exhibitor list for Feb 2000 was at  http://events.internet.com/canada2000/exhibits.html

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Class
2

Jan
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Class
2

Jan
10th
 

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

..................

 

Lecture on the fundamental structure of 
  • mergers, 
  • acquisitions, 
  • alliances,
  • takeovers, 
  • joint-ventures 
  • strategic alliances
http://www.buckinvestor.com/basics/mergers.shtml
 http://www.buckinvestor.com/basics/mergers.shtml
Sometimes a good source of information about a business topic is from the web sites of people that sell products in that area. Buckinvestor.com is one company that sells investment services. As part of its web page, it includes a section that describes various terminology related to investing - including the terms used in mergers and acquisitions.

They have also put together a helpful list of reasons why companies get involved in this type of activity. Please review the list.
 http://www.buckinvestor.com/basics/mergers2.shtml

As a result of the many corporate "movements" in the Internet industry, it is not surprising that some consulting companies have been created which specialize in advising on mergers and acquisitions specifically in the internet community.http://www.Webmergers.com/
webmergers.com notes 
 http://www.Webmergers.com/overview99.htm
America Online's $160 billion merger with Time Warner on Jan. 10 is equal to three times total web M&A  spending for the past two years and twelve times the entire amount spent in the first quarter of 1999. AOL has itself been one of the most active acquirers in the past. Counting its recent acquisition of Mapquest.com, Inc., the company has spent nearly $7 billion buying more than 10 companies since the first of 1998. AOL purchases included Netscape, Inc., Moviephone, Inc. and chat software provider Mirabilis, Ltd. Yahoo!, Inc, now moves to second place in total spending, with more than $10 billion in acquisitions  to date."
 
Class
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Jan
10th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Class
2

Jan
10th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Class
2

Jan
10th


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

.
 

A study of the AOL / Netscape buyout
and then the  AOL / Time Warner merger
Acquisitions: example
The Nov 1998 press release from Netscape's point of view, of AOL buying them out. At the time, Netscape stock was valued at just over $4 billion.
Home Page of "Consumer Project on Technology"
 http://www.cptech.org/
Acquisitions: example
CPT's web page on the AOL purchase of Netscape
 http://www.essential.org
/antitrust/mergers/aol-ns/
link to full text of the Corcoran article Terence Corcoran's Jan 13th article about the AOL - Time Warner merger.

Corcoran argues that AOL Time Warner, is the birth of an America keiretsu - whereas over in Japan, the birth of the giant corporate conglomerates, keiretsu are being broken up.

text of AOL original press release announcing the merger Jan 10 What is being merged
- this list from AOL's web site
the AOL member companies the Time Warner Inc. member companies
America Online 
CompuServe    Netscape
ICQ 
AOL
MovieFone
AOL Instant Messenger
Digital City
Spinner                        Winamp
HBO
CNN
TNT
Cartoon Network
Time magazine
People magazine
Sports Illustrated
Warner Music
Warner Bros.
The WB Looney Tunes
Time Warner Cable
Road Runner
 
text of AOL original press release announcing the merger Jan 10
and
link to AOL press release about strategic alliance with GM
Strategic Alliances: example
On AOL's web site
Read announcement that AOL and GM will work together to develop new products and services to empower consumers to use the Internet and interact with dealers to buy automobiles and assist them throughout the entire ownership lifecycle online.
Strategic Alliances: example
At the same time AOL was taking over Netscape in late 1998, they were also entering into a strategic alliance with  Sun Microsystems, Inc. "to enhance its delivery of e-commerce solutions that will help build revenues across America Online and Netscape brands, and offer added value to both America Online and Netscape business partners"
read more
National Post article on effect of the merger for other companies Spinoff Effects: example
If AOL and Time Warner succeed with their merger plan, they are expected to proceed with a massive investment to increase access and bandwidth.
Nortel is clearly a beneficiary of any merger that boost spending on the Internet, analysts say. The company has concentrated its efforts on creating products for the dial-up Internet, cable and fibreoptic markets. 
The other Canadian company that will almost surely benefit from the spending boom created by the merger is JDS Uniphase Inc., which makes fibre-optic components for data communications. 
http://ilearn.senecac.on.ca/homepage/Tim.Richardson/articles/cb~aol.htm Lessons to learn:
Canadian Business ran an interesting article about how the CRTC should look at Canadian circumstances in light of the Time Warner / AOL situation.

The author's point is that "Canada’s cable barons, Ted Rogers and J.R. Shaw, have spent the past decade building vertically integrated companies that create content and deliver it. They own extensive broadcasting and media assets, and they pump vast amounts of information into homes via traditional cable service and high-speed Internet access. The pity of it is the smaller, Canadian versions of AOL-Time could be a lot further down the road of vertical  integration were it not for the restrictive policies of regulators in Ottawa."

 
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Class
2

Jan
10th

Mergers
Acquisitions
Takeovers
Partial-Investments
Joint-Ventures
Strategic Alliances

click here to go direct to mergers article
check article on mergers

 "handout" article on Royal Bank's investment in 20% of AOL Canada
- see the new Mergers & Acquisitions section  created in our "articles" directory. Please read the new articles posted there.

- one American company, Silicon Peak, is using Joint Venture relationships to obtain clients. They solicit wary clients by offering to hold stake in the client company - thereby ensuring the Client that they will try hard to provide a workable e-commerce solution. 
 http://www.siliconpeak.com/

- with so many mergers and acquisitions in the internet community, especially among ISPs, an American company now does, as its core business, consulting to merger partners. That is to say they advise clients who are merging as to the benefits and also do research on prospective partners for investors.
 New Commerce CommunicationsISP merger & acquisition services page

- relationships between financial institutions and search engines / ISPs also include this week's story of Yahoo announcing a deal with online bank Telebank. This deal will allow Telebank customers to  view their account information on Yahoo details. This is a good example of a Strategic Alliance. In the same article, note that Telebank has signed a merger agreement with online broker E*Trade .

.
Class
2

Jan
10th

http://www.corel.com
the story in 
Corel's 
own words
 Recent Canadian examples of Internet M&A activity
- Monday, Feb 7th, 2000, announcement that Corel of Ottawa to buy  California software firm Inprise/Borland Corp.  for $1 billion
 http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000207/tc/corel_inprise_3.html
the strategic purpose for the acquisitio was to  allow Corel a better position to push Linux
 http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000207/bhz.html
"Corel, best known for its office and graphics software products, has been aggressively pushing into the Linux market with four recent investments in Linux start-ups."
 http://www.corel.com/news/2000/february/february_7_2000.htm
.
Class Collaborations

C-commerce
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Collaborations

C-commerce
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Collaborations

C-commerce

. It could be debated whether this section on collaboration belongs in the supply chain section of IEC - which is IEC 702, section D
www.witiger.com/senecacollege/IEC702/outline702d.htm .
of the section in IEC which discusses all the different types of collaboration - that being mergers, acquisitions, alliances, etc. - for the sake of continuity, we'll discuss collaborations in the IEC 812 course.

WTGR

March 09, 2001 article by William M. Ulrich 
"Collaboration counts in c-commerce"

"During the past two years, collaborative commerce, or "c-commerce," has become a major focus for many organizations. C-commerce optimizes supply and distribution channels to make an organization more competitive and more profitable. Deploying  c-commerce systems and related infrastructures helps companies collaborate up and down the supply chain. Collaboration for the common good must be the prime motivating factor in getting demonstrable value from a c-commerce initiative."

Ulrich says "C-commerce is the next evolutionary step beyond the simple process of selling goods  or services to customers over the Internet. It has emerged as a priority because the Internet has made high-speed widespread buying and selling possible — and necessary.  For example, if companies within your industry establish an electronic marketplace to attract buyers and if you don't participate, your market share could shrink. Similar risks  arise when companies refuse to collaborate in distribution, software development or  standards initiatives. With c-commerce becoming a necessity, executives should emphasize ways in which people and institutions can cooperate to reach common  goals."

In conclusion, Ulrich says "For c-commerce to truly succeed on a grand scale, companies may need to rethink  how they view their business partners, customers and competitors. Past reluctance to collaborate with competitors could stymie e-commerce efforts. In this new landscape, everyone is your partner. Formalizing these relationships takes time and commitment, but they will benefit entire industries beyond what any one company could accomplish. "

The full article was on ComputerWorld's site in March 2001
 http://www.ITworldcanada.com/cw/displayArticle.............. 

Ulrich is a management consultant and president of Tactical Strategy Group Inc.
Contact him via www.systemtransformation.com.

.
Explanation 
of
Project #1, 

worth 15 %

This project will be completed by producing a web page - specifically a page linking to your existing web site. On this page you will provide:
1 example each of
  1. Buyout / Acquisition

  2.  
  3. Merger

  4.  
  5. Strategic Alliance
For each example you will provide the reasons 
    • why the situation took place, 
    • what business conditions brought this about
        • competitive environment
        • political / legal environment
        • social / cultural environment
        • technological environment
    • what are the anticipated results of the buyout/merger/alliance

    • - from your point of view
    • what effects might there be on the "e"-community
    • is there anything that you learned from studying these situations which you could apply yourself in a future situation you might be involved in
You will be marked on your ability to find good examples, and explain your reasons clearly and succintly