Defining E-commerce
...he ability to integrate electronic network solution elements into a particular problem resolution . - According to Professors Watson, Berthon, Pitt and Zinkham, E-commerce involves the use of information technology to enhance communications and transactions with all of an organization’s stakeholders . There are many more definitions like the two mentioned above, but I believe that those kinds of definitions do not cover the actual meaning of e-commerce, they only focus mainly on unravelling the steps or stages in or connected with e-commerce transactions and that is what I was looking for as a basis for my research definition. Definitions that come a lot closer to the actual meaning of the term, and that cover a broader area of e-commerce, are: - According to the OECD, Electronic commerce refers generally to all forms of transactions relating to commercial activities, involving both organizations and individuals, which are based upon the processing and transmission of digitized data, including text, sound and visual images. It also refers to the effects that the electronic exchange of commercial information may have on the institutions and processes that support and govern commercial activities . - According to the United Nations, E-commerce is simply doing business electronically, this includes the sharing of various forms of business information by any electronic means among suppliers, customers, governmental agencies, and othe...