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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · E-business: value chain

Calder Pharma Distribution sells to pharmacies. Pharmacies place orders and pay through a secure portal (a business-to-business transaction). Calder's staff use an intranet, and Calder lets selected suppliers see its stock levels through a restricted web area. Calder's board wants to classify each technology correctly. Which classification is correct?

The pharmacy portal is B2B e-commerce, the staff intranet is internal-only, and the supplier stock-view area is an extranet. What distinguishes an extranet from an intranet is that selected external parties, like suppliers, are given controlled access, not who owns the system.

  1. AThe staff intranet and supplier stock-view area are both extranets, because both restrict access by password
  2. BThe pharmacy portal is B2B e-commerce, the staff intranet is internal, and the supplier stock-view area is an extranetCorrect
  3. CThe pharmacy portal is e-marketing only, because it communicates with customers
  4. DThe supplier stock-view area is an intranet, because Calder owns the system

Explanation

Ordering and paying through a portal between businesses is B2B e-commerce. An intranet is restricted to internal staff. An extranet gives selected external parties, such as suppliers, access to part of the organisation's systems. Ownership or passwords do not determine the classification; the user group does.

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