VG Jones was the UK''s leading multi-channel retailer holding a significant share of the market in books, video/DVD and music markets in the UK with further, but limited, sales worldwide. However, the high street retailer has been in the headlines after announcing pre-tax losses of over £130 million, as sales at its 700 stores fell. Analysts are arguing that the fate of VG Jones will ultimately be decided by how much business it loses to online retailers. Whilst online sales of music, DVDs and books are all booming, customers have been going online to sites such as Amazon, who either offer the same things as VG Jones for much less, or offer an unbeatable range of products. VG Jones does have an online presence, but it is far from comprehensive or competitive. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is aware that Amazon poses a major threat to his company. However, he also knows that Barnes and Noble also faced falling market share and profitability in 1996 as a result of competition from Amazon. In response to this, they substantially transformed their business models to take advantage of the opportunities, which e-commerce and e-business present and have subsequently recovered. In order to address this situation the CEO has asked you to prepare a business report evaluating the websites and the e-commerce / e-business strategies of these two dominant competitors. The report should justify your recommendation for developing a new online presence and an appropriate e-business strategy based upon your analysis. You should also indicate how competitive advantage can be sustained. Therefore your report should consist of two sections: The first section: It is the intention of the client to have their web site redesigned after conducting an analysis of the Amazons web site. This section of the report should identify those characteristics upon which particular emphasis should be placed in order to position your client in a more competitive situation. Therefore, the first section should be a critical appraisal of the key characteristics of the competitor’s web site the addresses of which are: www.amazon.co.uk. and www.barnesandnobel.com The recommendations, which you present should be based upon the results of your analysis and must be justified by the use of appropriate guidelines or other suitable techniques (including citations). Particular attention should be paid to: 1. Context of use; 2. Impact of the home page; 3. Usability; 4. Navigation and page layout; 5. Information content. Reference should also be made to the importance of engineering principles when re-developing the website. The client also wishes to have your views in brief relating to the main legal and ethical issues which should be addressed on the website relating to conducting business online. (This is worth 60% of the available marks available for the main body of the report) In the second section: You are required to identify and critically appraise the business model or models used by Amazon and Barnes and Nobel. You are also required to identify the sources of competitive advantage, which they exploit and briefly outline the technology used to facilitate this. (This is worth 40% of the available marks available for the main body of the report) For this assignment you must write a business report not exceeding 3000 words, which should include an Executive Summary of 200/300 words. Your working papers detailing the analysis of the website may be presented in the form of appendices, which do not contribute to the word count. However, a concise summary supported by appropriate citations must be presented in the body of the report. The report must be in your own words and please take note of the Assignment Guidelines given below. Business Report Structure Your report should begin with a title page. An Executive Summary of 200/300 words in length will follow this. The report will begin with an introduction followed by the main body of the report containing appropriate sections covering the issues outlined in the introduction. The report will be concluded with a summary of the main points made in the body of your report. A complete list of references must be presented at the end of the paper. A bibliography should NOT be included. The reference style must be consistent and distinct from the text style and comply with the Harvard referencing system. 2:1 CLASS REQUIREMENTS - Knowledge base is up-to-date and relevant to an appropriate breadth and depth. A significant ability to apply theory, concepts, ideas and their inter-relationship is illustrated. Clear evidence of independent thought and presentation of work is fluent, focused and accurate.Exceptional scholarship shown in complex learning environments. Sustained ability to confront the current limits of knowledge in an area, or dealing with applied ‘real world’ contexts where demands of theory and practice may conflict.