Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.1

Chapter 3The Internet macro-environment

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.2

Learning objectives

• Identify the different elements of the Internet macro-environment that impact on an organisation’s Internet marketing strategy and execution;

• assess the impact of legal, moral and ethical constraints and opportunities on an organisation and devise solutions to accommodate them;

• evaluate the significance of other macro-economic factors such as economics, taxation and legal constraints.

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.3

Questions for marketers

• Which factors affect the environment for online trading in a country?

• How do I make sure my online marketing is consistent with evolving online culture and ethics?

• How do I assess new technological innovations?

• Which laws am I subject to when trading online?

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.4

What is the macro-environment?

Figure 2.1 The Internet marketing environment

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.5

Ethical issuesEthical issues concerned with personal information

ownership have been usefully summarised by Mason (1986) into four areas:

• Privacy – what information is held about the individual?

• Accuracy – is it correct?• Property – who owns it and how can ownership

be transferred?• Accessibility – who is allowed to access this

information, and under which conditions?

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.6

Ethics – Fletcher’s view Fletcher (2001) provides an alternative

perspective, raising these issues of concern for both the individual and the marketer:

• Transparency – who is collecting what information?

• Security – how is information protected once collected by a company?

• Liability – who is responsible if data is abused?

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.7

For the customer’s sake…

1. Reassure customers by providing clear and effective privacy statements and explaining the purpose of data collection

2. Follow privacy and consumer protection guidelines and laws in all local markets

3. Make security of customer data a priority4. Use independent certification bodies5. Emphasize the excellence of service

quality in all marketing communications

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.8

Technology “wears the pants!”

• Think of new mobile technologies introduced in past 2-3 years.

• Examples:– WAP– 3G– MMS (multimedia messaging)

• What issues do these raise for managers?

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.9

Diffusion of innovation curve

Figure: Diffusion–adoption curve

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.10

Mobile/wireless proposition

In the future mobile may become a form of wallet, but thefts of mobile make this a source of concern.

Security

As with PC access personal information and services can be requested by the user, although these often need to be set up via PC access.

Personalization

Mobiles are more private than desktop access, making them more suitable for social use or for certain activities such as an alert service for looking for a new job.

Privacy

The latest GPRS and 3G services are always on, avoiding the need for lengthy connection.

Instant access / convenience

Mobiles can be used to give geographically-based services, e.g. an offer in a particular shopping centre. Future mobiles will have global positioning services integrated.

Location-based services

The user is freed from the need to access via the desktop making access possible when commuting, for example.

Not fixed location

EvaluationElement of proposition

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.11

Example 3G device

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.12

Security requirements

• Authentication – are parties to the transaction who they claim to be?

• Privacy and confidentiality – is transaction data protected? The consumer may want to make an anonymous purchase. Are all non-essential traces of a transaction removed from the public network and all intermediary records eliminated?

• Integrity – checks that the message sent is complete i.e. that it isn’t corrupted.

• Non-repudiability – ensures sender cannot deny sending message.

• Availability – how can threats to the continuity and performance of the system be eliminated?

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.13

Encryption

Figure: Public-key or asymmetric encryption

Chaffey: Internet Marketing, 2nd edition © Pearson Education Limited 2003OHT 3.14

Leaders and Contenders

Figure 3.16 Leaders and contenders in e-commerceSource: Adapted from the Economist Intelligence Unit/Pyramid Research e-readiness ranking (www.eiu.com)