E-commerce Practical Encyclopedia

Author: Jiang Xuping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: Once causing tremendous excitement, it was considered one of the most significant events in human economic life at the end of the 20th century that had a profound impact. After five years, the miracles created by e-commerce had shaken the world time and again, igniting the dreams of countless elites. Thus, groups of restless students plunged into this field, and creative minds sparkled in the network environment, creating a brilliant and radiant flame. The flame quickly spread like wildfire, sweeping away old obstacles. E-commerce not only created numerous internet heroes and legends but also fundamentally altered the historical course of human business management. The internet and electronic technology are tools that assist humans in conducting various business activities. However, due to the rapid development of technology and tools, the contemporary wave of the internet and e-commerce has fundamentally revolutionized and challenged the traditional fields of business operations and management. In the network environment, traditional physical barriers such as geography and time constraints on human business activities no longer exist. The way people use information to engage in various business activities has been completely transformed. Management concepts, market dynamics, investors' value and resource perspectives, as well as business and marketing strategies, buying and selling behaviors of supply and demand parties, and more, have all undergone profound changes. E-commerce, this form of business activities that leverages the contemporary internet environment, will ultimately become the primary mode of future human business activities. This has become a common consensus among people. Today, humanity has entered the new millennium. E-commerce has also gone through a historical development process from turbulence, takeoff, bubble, to gradual maturity. At the turn of the century, I was very eager to provide a comprehensive summary of the development of e-commerce in the late 20th century to ensure its healthier growth in the 21st century. For this purpose, I also made an effort to record the historical development process of e-commerce technology and the efforts of my colleagues in the form of an "E-commerce Annual." However, it did not meet expectations. Coincidentally, Mr. Han Xin visited me, earnestly hoping that I could take the lead in editing such a comprehensive book. He and a group of graduate students from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Beijing Normal University, and Renmin University of China would be responsible for the specific writing. Inspired by their sincerity and enthusiasm, I conceptualized the structure of this comprehensive book and a thick detailed table of contents. Given the scale of this monumental project, relying on a group of young and energetic individuals, I had little confidence in their ability to complete it within a short time. However, four months later, when they delivered a manuscript more than a foot thick, weighing nearly 20 pounds, and completely compiled to my office desk, I was astounded by their work ethic and efficiency. In such a short time, they had found such abundant materials, contacted so many original authors, and compiled the entire book—truly unimaginable.
After receiving the manuscript in early September, I spent more than a month reading and revising it day and night. My revisions mainly focused on inconsistencies between chapters, inappropriate statements, repetitive content, and replacing some inappropriate chapters and typical examples. To respect the original authors' work, I tried to retain as much of the original manuscript as possible, only making changes to certain parts that seemed unsuitable today. It should be noted that the various terms, definitions, statements, and technologies mentioned in the book only reflect the current state of development and level of understanding. As technology advances, this content continues to evolve, improve, and change, and people's understanding will also continue to deepen. Taking myself as an example, I only came into contact with EDI at the end of 1992, and my understanding of e-commerce was limited to EDI applications. As a result, when writing the book "Methods of Information System Development" in 1995, I couldn’t find a suitable term to define it. In 1996–1997, when the wave of e-commerce rapidly rose in the United States, I wrote the book "Electronic Commerce and Network Marketing." Although this was the first comprehensive book in China to introduce e-commerce and network marketing and played a significant role in promoting the development of e-commerce in China, it now lags behind the pace of e-commerce technology development. The rapid development and constant innovation are precisely the charm of e-commerce. Therefore, as a stepping stone, dedicating ourselves to this rapidly evolving historical process with all our efforts is without regret. The purpose of writing this book is not to leave a permanent milestone but to summarize and synthesize the results of current human efforts and technological development, to tell future generations how to avoid the mistakes of the past, learn from experience and technology, surpass them, and better engage in e-commerce. Emphasizing the process, practicality, and recording history is the purpose of this book, aiming to promote the development of the e-commerce industry in China. This book is a record of the development process of the times and the state of technology, the result of the efforts of many authors. I only played a role in designing the overall structure and chapter content, as well as the final compilation of the entire book. Due to the limited awareness and capabilities of our current stage, there are still many shortcomings in the content and structural system of this book. I sincerely hope that the and academic peers will not hesitate to offer advice and work together to promote the development of theory and practice in this field. E-commerce, a new concept, but a concept that we must master in the 21st century. And this book provides you with a way to understand the basic concepts and deeper content of e-commerce. It is an excellent read on e-commerce.