Which of the following is a limitation of e-business?

A) Low personal touch
B) Convenience
C) People resistance
D) Movement towards a paperless society
E) Need for technology capability and competence of parties to e-business

Choose the correct answer from the options below.

(A), (C) and (E) only

The correct answer is option 2- (A), (C) and (E) only.

A) Low personal touch- LIMITATION
B) Convenience- BENEFIT
C) People resistance-LIMITATION
D) Movement towards a paperless society-BENEFIT
E) Need for technology capability and competence of parties to e-business-LIMITATION

Thus, B & D are benefit not limitation.

Electronic mode of doing business, or e-business as it is referred to, presents the firm with promising opportunities for anything, anywhere and anytime to its customers, thereby, dismantling the time and space/locational constraints on its performance. e-business is not all that rosy. Doing business in the electronic mode suffers from certain limitations. It is advisable to be aware of these limitations as well.

(i) Low personal touch: High-tech it may be, e-business, however, lacks warmth of interpersonal interactions. To this extent, it is relatively less suitable mode of business in respect of product categories requiring high personal touch such as garments, toiletries, etc.

(ii) Incongruence between order taking/giving and order fulfilment speed: Information can flow at the click of a mouse, but the physical delivery of the product takes time. This incongruence may play on the patience of the customers. At times, due to technical reasons, web sites take unusually long time to open. This may further frustrate the user.

(iii) Need for technology capability and competence of parties to e-business: Apart from the traditional 3R’s (Reading, WRiting, and ARithmetic), e-business requires a fairly high degree of familiarity of the parties with the world of computers. And, this requirement is responsible for what is known as digital divide, that is the division of society on the basis of familiarity and non-familiarity with digital technology.

(iv) Increased risk due to anonymity and non-traceability of parties: Internet transactions occur between cyber personalities. As such, it becomes difficult to establish the identity of the parties. Moreover, one does not know even the location from where the parties may be operating. It is riskier, therefore, transacting through internet. e-business is riskier also in the sense that there are additional hazards of impersonation (someone else may transact in your name) and leakage of confidential information such as credit card details. Then, there also are problems of ‘virus,’ and ‘hacking,’ that you must have heard of. If not, we will be dealing with security and safety concerns of online business.

(v) People resistance: The process of adjustment to new technology and new way of doing things causes stress and a sense of insecurity. As a result, people may resist an organisation’s plans of entry into e-business.

(vi) Ethical fallouts: “So, you are planning to quit, you may as well quit right now”, said the HR manager showing her a copy of the e-mail that she had written to her friend. Sabeena was both shocked and stunned as to how her boss got through to her e-mail account. Nowadays, companies use an ‘electronic eye’ to keep track of the computer files you use, your e-mail account, the websites you visit etc. Is it ethical?