The Hertz Corporation - Task 3

Faculty of Business

U50034 : e-Business

Individual Coursework Integrative Report

Semester 1, 2011/12 Submission Date

13 December 2011 at 17:00

2,179 words Module Leader: Dr Diana Limburg Dominic George

(08061629)

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Student No.

08061629

Student Name

Dominic George

Module No. Seminar tutor: Essay Title:

U 50034

Module Title

e-Business

Dr Diana Limburg Hertz – (Individual) Integrative Report

Word Count:

2,179 words

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13 December 2011

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Table of Contents

1

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 9

2

e-Business Background ..........................................................................................................10 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

3

e-Marketing Analysis ...............................................................................................................13 3.1 3.2

4

B2B e-Commerce ....................................................................................................................... 17 B2B e-Business .......................................................................................................................... 17 Supply Chain .............................................................................................................................. 17 Value Map .................................................................................................................................. 18

m-Commerce...........................................................................................................................19 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6

7

Usability ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Accessibility................................................................................................................................ 15 Functionality ............................................................................................................................... 16

B2B (Business to Business) Analysis ......................................................................................17 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4

6

Approaches and Strategies ......................................................................................................... 13 Competitor Comparison and the Effectiveness of Hertz e-Marketing Strategy ................................ 14

Web Design Analysis ...............................................................................................................15 4.1 4.2 4.3

5

Background to the Organisation .................................................................................................. 10 Goods and Services..................................................................................................................... 10 Business Sector Dynamics .......................................................................................................... 10 Analysis of Current Position and Business Potential ..................................................................... 11 e-Business Modelling.................................................................................................................. 12

m-Commerce .............................................................................................................................. 19 Ubiquity ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Convenience ............................................................................................................................... 19 Instant Connectivity .................................................................................................................... 19 Personalisation ........................................................................................................................... 20 Localisation ................................................................................................................................ 20

Recommendations and Conclusion ........................................................................................21 7.1 7.2 7.3

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 21 Suggestions for future e-marketing opportunities......................................................................... 21 Suggestions for future m-commerce opportunities ....................................................................... 21

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A

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................22

B

Appendices .............................................................................................................................24 Appendix B1 (Airport Rental Tracking – Q2 2011) ................................................................................... 24 Appendix B2 (PPC Budgets for Hertz vs. Enterprise for ‘Query-Based’ Placement) .................................... 24 Appendix B3 (e-Business Model Usages – Social Media) ........................................................................ 25 Appendix B4 (Nielsen, 2000 : 164) ........................................................................................................ 26 Appendix B5 (Hertz Car Hire Website – United Kingdom) ......................................................................... 27 Appendix B6 (Click Through Data) .......................................................................................................... 28 Appendix B7 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Consistency and Problems) ......................................................... 29 Appendix B8 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Inconsistency)............................................................................. 30 Appendix B9 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Consistency) ............................................................................... 31 Appendix B10 (Supply Chain) ................................................................................................................. 32 Appendix B11 (Value Map)..................................................................................................................... 33 Appendix B12 (Hertz Mobile Applications) .............................................................................................. 33

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1

Executive Summary

The aim of the report is to demonstrate the diversity of Hertz as an e-business, e-marketing, and e-commerce organisation. The car rental industry has developed rapidly since the corporation was formed back in 1918, and the development of technology and e-business has aided the corporation’s diversification into different markets.

Hertz, as a car rental company, have many competitors, including the big four: Dollar-Thrifty, Enterprise, Avis, and Budget. Hertz has been pitted against its competitors to analyse its strategic capabilities. This has also been completed in order to determine the positioning of each company against that of its competitors.

This report described the e-business background of the company, followed by an in-depth analysis of their e-marketing strategies adopted by Hertz, whilst incorporating several academic business models to back up its findings. The report also analyses the company’s website, highlighting important strengths and weaknesses in its design, and suggest opportunities in which to develop it further. Furthermore, it will then continue with an in-depth look at corporate B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) relationships, and how new mobile technologies are enabling them to branch out into new markets. Finally, it will conclude with an overall conclusion and recommendations for future expansion and development of their car rental organisation. All findings within this report, have been taken from industry sources which help back up the results of this report. A list of suitable appendices has been included to backup findings in a visual form.

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2

e-Business Background

Background to the Organisation 2.1 Hertz, the world's leading vehicle renting organization, operates from approximately 7,700 locations in 145 countries worldwide1 (Hertz, 2011b). The Car Rental division operates rental facilities near airports, central business districts, and suburban areas, and also retails and leases used cars in the United States, Canada, France, and Spain. The corporate headquarters are located in New Jersey, USA.

Goods and Services 2.2 The main operating capacity of the company focuses on vehicle rental, specifically cars and vans. Product and service initiatives include a loyalty scheme, customised navigation systems, satellite radios, and unique vehicles, help to “set Hertz apart from the competition” (Hertz, 2011b). Currently, Hertz's Worldwide Reservations Centres handle approximately 40 million phone calls and deliver approximately 30 million reservations annually1 (ibid).

As illustrated by Appendix B1 (see page 25), Hertz maintain their industry dominance in business and leisure rentals at airports, a market which accounts for approximately 64% of overall worldwide rentals (HSR Market Research, 2011). A majority of the firm’s profit is generated through vehicle rental, including a proportion made through ancillary sales such as upgrades for navigation, insurance excess waivers, fuel, and child seats. There are also a number of contractual B2B relationships (see Section 5.2, page 18) with airlines, such as fly-drive holidays and package deals.

Business Sector Dynamics (Porter & Millar, 1985) 2.3.1

Power of Suppliers – LOW

Rental firms source their cars from the manufacturers. If one manufacturer is unwilling to supply a rental firm, others would be willing to. Because of rental firm sizes, a manufacturer cannot afford not to do business with them, because they bring a significant revenue level.

1

All data correct at 11 October 2011

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2.3.2

Power of Customers – LOW / HIGH

Both consumers and businesses have a wide choice of firms to choose from. The loss of a business contract will affect Hertz, depending on the size of the contract. If many consumers decide to not use Hertz, then these consumers have high power; affecting the market share.

2.3.3

Threat of New Entrants – LOW

Start-up costs are high and the industry is heavily regulated. Due to a highly competitive market, there would be a lack of significant profitability due to economies of scale. On a local level, it would be much easier for a new entrant to compete as the costs involved would be much smaller.

2.3.4

Threat of Substitutes – HIGH

There are alternatives ways to travel. Hertz and its competitors operate from major locations, and offer similar products/services. In all these locations, at least one other form of transport is available. Car rentals are flexible, as compared to alternative methods of transportation.

2.3.5

Industry Rivalry – HIGH

Price wars are commonplace. Hertz attempted to differentiate itself from its competitors by introduced a ‘collect it here, leave it there’ model (Hertz, 2011b), which has since become standard for all major competitors. Hertz has also tried to further differentiate itself with the introduction of the Adrenaline range (Automotive, 2011?).

Analysis of Current Position and Business Potential (Chapman, 2008) 2.4.1

Strengths

 Website is designed so clients receive maximum information about future car rental  Operating online helps Hertz save costs  With a boom in the internet usage worldwide, the company has links on main social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter where customers can easily be redirected to the company’s business page  Hertz operates the Hertz On Demand™ services which a variety of car rental options available to the customer, such as Rent-By-Hour, Rent-By-Day and Rent-By-Week, where customers are free to choose which option will cater for their needs best 2.4.2

Weaknesses

    

Mobile apps and website not accessible by everyone iPhone App has large number of programming glitches Can’t select disability options using app Technology is continually changing at speed, so there is need to update regularly Since the company is mainly an e-business company (booking done online/telephone), the company cannot attract customers who don’t regularly use the internet and/or online services  Difficult for Internet limited users

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2.4.3    

Opportunities

PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) driving Loyalty programmes (e.g. car clubs) Mobile applications (Apps) Publicity/Advertising

2.4.4

Threats

 Technology is continually changing at speed, so there is need to update regularly

e-Business Modelling (Rappa, 2010) Brokerage

Marketplace exchange, buy/sell fulfilment, distributor (e.g. use of airlines)

Advertising

Television commercials, offline print, e-advertising

Infomediary

Advertised networks, incentive marketing, metamediary

Merchant

‘Click-and-mortar’ seller of products and services

Manufacturer (direct)

Not utilised

Affiliate

Banner exchange, pay-per-click, and [possible] revenue sharing (e.g.

Google)

Community

Product and service loyalty initiatives, i.e. #1 Club

Subscription

e-Newsletters

Utility

Use of ‘metered’ usage – main business model

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3

e-Marketing Analysis

Approaches and Strategies 3.1 Hertz adopts a number of different strategies with respect to Rappa’s (2010) e-business model, whilst incorporating the AIDA model (Chaffey, 2010).

3.1.1

Manufacturer (Direct) Model

Hertz are able to market to their customers directly through their website, removing the need for in intermediary. Customers receive marketing emails and offers, allowing them to book and reserve through the website. The website permits customers to ‘pay online’ or ‘pay at location’ (Hertz, 2011a); providing the consumer with an easy-purchase option.

3.1.2

Advertising Model

Hertz utilise their YouTube channel to effectively market their loyalty program and the range of vehicle options that they offer (Hertz, 2011a). Query-based placement and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising includes Hertz in a list of sponsored links under specific search criteria on search engines, such as: Google and Bing/Yahoo. Various keywords are charged at different rates and depending on the level of competition (iSpionage, 2011a). Online advertising has seen proven success for Hertz, helping retain high search engine rankings (see Appendix B2), with the use of SEO strategies, such as: meta-tagging and index referencing. This helps bolster its position search ranking for relevant criteria.

3.1.3

Infomediary Model

Hertz promotes its incentive marketing through its loyalty program. Hertz promotes its company through a number of leisure websites, such as Ryanair. Hertz have utilised their YouTube channel page to market their #1 Gold Club service initiatives (Hertz, 2011a). As a #1 Gold Club member, subscribers receive related promotional marketing from affiliate companies.

3.1.4

Affiliate Model

Hertz utilises online promotion websites, such as TradeDoubler and Buy.at, enabling third-party websites to promote the Hertz brand; gaining a share of revenue arising from any bookings they generate. This enables them to advertise on other websites that they do not already market on, by utilising the affiliate’s contractual websites.

3.1.5

Brokerage Model

With consumers ever increasing focus on price and the ability to compare similar products is noticeably simpler, by utilising the internet, brokerage companies and price comparison websites, such as: TravelSupermarket.com, CarRentals.com, CarHire3000.com, Hotwire.com,

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Orbitz.com, Kayak.com, and HolidayAutos.com. This business model represents an increasing market share of the car rental industry. Hertz actively utilises these websites, helping keep pricing structures in line with their competitors, enabling them to compete on price and availability.

3.1.6

Community Model

Promoting online presence through social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (see Appendix B3, page 26), has provided a cost-effective method of e-marketing. This enables them to obtain a higher online presence, allowing consumers to contact them through more commonly utilised methods of communication, as compared to the phone, or through a letter or e-mail.

Competitor Comparison and the Effectiveness of Hertz e-Marketing Strategy 3.2 We can explore the effectiveness of Hertz’s e-marketing strategy, examining in part, the website and search engine analytics and tracking of its users through data procurement code such as cookies. This helps identify the source of the user and how they arrived at the website, whether via an email, search engine such as Google or Bing, or an affiliate website. We can take this a step further and identify specific elements within these, search engine keywords for example.

Without direct access to the web stats analytics, it is not possible2 to create an entirely accurate portrait of the effectiveness of Hertz’s e-marketing. However, using third party web traffic analysis such as Alexa.com (2011), we are provided with figures for approximate PPC usage and search engine keyword breakdowns.

If we compare monthly Google PPC spend between Hertz and Enterprise, figures 3 show Hertz spends on average 35% more. However, this does not directly correlate to increased levels of traffic as Hertz received only 17% more click-throughs (see Appendix B2, page 25). This could be as a result of a more targeted keyword search and improved ad ranking.

If we examine3 the most commonly used keyword string for car rental search queries, “car rental”, 38% of all searches lead to Enterprise.com and only 13% to Hertz. Despite this, Hertz.com is currently the 4,836th most visited site globally and 1,592th in the US3.

Enterprise.com, their nearest competitor, are 4,818th globally and 1,078th in the US (see Appendix B2, page 25). Part of this may be due to increased brand awareness and users travelling to Hertz.com directly without the need for a search engine.

Email and social media marketing is relatively inexpensive (Trusov, et al., 2009 : 91), therefore it would be useful to examine figures pertaining to the open rates and booking levels to establish its overall effectiveness.

However, to measure complete effectiveness of Hertz’s e-marketing strategies, we would need complete figures to support direct return on investment for Hertz and its competitors.

2

In the author’s opinion

3

All data correct at 14 November 2011

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4

Web Design Analysis

Usability 4.1 Usability is “an approach to website design intended to enable the completion of user tasks” (Chaffey, 2009 : 626). In the design of a consumer website, the importance of usercomputer interaction is high. Noyes and Baber (1999 : 623) explain that “user-centred design involves more than one user interface design”. Chaffey (2009 : 623) states that “user centred design starts with understanding the nature and variation within the user groups”. The Hertz website is user-centred and is focused around functionality. The main user-interface incorporated into the design is the rental query function. This takes all the necessary information for the website to generate result listings based on the search criterion provided by the user.

Nielsen (2000 : 164, see Appendix B4, page 27) argues that “the website usability suffers dramatically as soon as the user moves away from the home page and must navigate through in order to solve problems”. As for efficiency, the Hertz website attempts to ‘upsell’, by selling ancillary products. To fully make a reservation, the user has to go through six individual pages, inputting data in eighteen different fields, and click at least fifty-nine times to make a booking.

These amounts are considerably more than if the user went through an airline or to competitor (see Appendix B6, page 29).

Accessibility 4.2 The website should be accessible to all users, because “they are trying to spend money” (Limburg, 2011b : 9), as it is a “core requirement for websites” (Chaffey, 2009 : 646). Hertz utilise two very contrasting colours (gold and black) against each other, making it easy to read.

One in twelve men and one in two-hundred women have some form of colour blindness; accounting to 9% of the UK population (DaveChaffey.com, n.d. : 12). People with tritanopia will therefore find it difficult to see the gold as a hue on the website (Colblindor, 2006), but will have no difficulty reading the text. However, the text size is a little small in certain areas: mainly, the ‘reservation management’ titles, and the sitemap (located at the bottom of the page).

Even though not immediately clear, the website is programmable in a limited number of languages, eight to be precise, including: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Chinese (Mandarin). This could potentially be cutting off a section of the market, as major languages, such as Chinese (Cantonese) and Arabic are not available. All of the African countries have only one language: English. Finally, the website does not fit in an 800 x 600 screen resolution, as it has been designed in for 1024 x 768 screen resolution. An “increased usage of mobile or wireless access devices … makes consideration of accessibility important” (Chaffey,

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2009 : 646). When the user is utilising the website on a mobile device, the website automatically converts to a similar layout style as the company’s mobile application.

Functionality 4.3 In agreement with Nielsen, a flaw in the collection of user data is the consistent request for “Arrival / Flight Information” (see Appendix B7, page 30), in which the user is requested to input their information into the field. However, even though the passenger may be arriving via train, there is no option for train information input, as only airlines are listed. Also, the full price may not be displayed completely when making a booking (see Appendix B7, page 30). If the user wants to add an additional driver onto the rental booking, or if the driver was under 25 years old, then additional charges would be incurred upon collection. This is also true in respect of “After Hours Charges”.

The web design consistency is maintained throughout the booking process (see Appendices B5 and B7, pages 28 and 30 respectively), i.e. the main user-interface. And, does not take long to return listings or to load up the homepage on a broadband connection, because there are no large HTML files, the images are non-Flash based, and there are limited image files used.

However, the main user-interface is where the consistency ends. The remainder of the website (see Appendix B8, page 31) is displayed in the previous layout format, and is predominantly textbased, with very few images (all very small and of very low resolution). Some of the corporate pages, such as the Mission Statement (see Appendix B9, page 32), are not even incorporated into the website; they are external links to PDF files, which look like PowerPoint slides.

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5

B2B (Business to Business) Analysis

B2B e-Commerce 5.1 B2B e-commerce is the “transactions between businesses conducted electronically” (Turban, et al., 2011 : 47). Even though a predominant focus of Hertz’s business is B2C (Business to Consumer), B2B efforts have more established relationships between partners, prior planning and negotiation, systems in-place rather than one-off activities, and an integration between e-business systems and legacy systems (Limburg, 2011a : 7).

B2B e-Business 5.2 As shown in Appendix B10 (page 33), there are two main B2B relationships that occur in the supply chain. The first is from the vehicle manufacturer (e.g.. the Ford Motor Company) to Hertz, as a company has to supply a vehicle to Hertz to enable them to sell their services. The second is from Hertz to the distributor (e.g. Virgin Atlantic) who sells the service (more often than not as part of a package, e.g. a fly-drive holiday).

By utilising Ng’s (2005 : 220) e-business model framework, it can be seen that Hertz, even though evenly split between the three models, is still very much supplier-centric orientated. This means that they have the ability to “aggregate complex products and bundle them into larger order requests [and] standardise and automate the buyer decision-making process” (ibid).

However, there is also a supplier-centric model focus, because they can “instigate immediate business transaction[s]” (ibid) over the Internet. Finally, they are also neutral between the supplier and the buyer because they attempt to differentiate themselves from their competitors through “leverage [of] distinctive expertise in specific areas” (ibid).

Supply Chain 5.3 Turban (et al., 2011 : 48) defines the supply chain as: “the flow of materials, information, money, and services from raw material suppliers through factories and warehouses to the end customers”. In the case of Hertz (see Appendix B10, page 33), a majority of the supply chain is internal or downstream. This ensures that Hertz have control over their consumers. However, it should be noted that, as mentioned in Section 3.1.5 (e-Marketing Analysis: Brokerage Model, see page 13), Hertz also distributes to a number of OTAs (Online Travel Agents) and different brokerage firms to aid the sale of the product or package in otherwise inaccessible markets.

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Value Map 5.4 Based on Tapscott’s (2000) value map, you can see that Hertz.com is a distributive network, enabling different locations to manage user reservations. Based on the value map (Appendix B11, page 34) for Hertz’s car rental division, you can see that the main interactions are conducted either between the user and the company, or between the company and its distributors. This incorporates the exchange of goods and services, knowledge, and intangible benefits (such as customer relationship management).

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6

m-Commerce

m-Commerce 6.1 m-Commerce (mobile commerce) refers to “the conduct[ion] of e-commerce via wireless devices” (Jackson, 2011 : 3). The mobile economy is valued at $1.2 trillion, and is growing at 9% every year (ibid : 2), with 78% of the value divided into services, including applications. This demonstrates that this is rapidly evolving market. m-Commerce adds five value attributes to e-commerce: ubiquity, convenience, instant connectivity, personalisation, and localisation (ibid). Hertz developed their first mobile application, designed for the iPhone/iPod Touch and the BlackBerry in 2009 (Oliver, 2009), and now has since developed the application for Android, Symbian (for Nokia devices) platforms (Hertz, 2011c; also see Appendix B12, page 34). Based on Jackson’s (2011 : 44) humaninterface application types, the Hertz application for the iPhone/iPod Touch is predominantly a utility and productivity application. This is because it provides the user with “bite size” pieces of information, but contains “full features and navigation” (ibid), such as detailed product information (upon request) and navigational searching based on the user’s current location.

However, the ‘Hertz TV’ section of the application makes the application also “immersive” (ibid), as it links directly (in the application) to the company’s YouTube page.

Ubiquity 6.2 Hertz’s mobile applications are linked to their CRS, which means that the user will be able to obtain real-time information regarding available products and services, and see details about their reservation, wherever, and whenever they require it.

Convenience 6.3 There is, however, a flaw in the design of the application, that even though it is able to store user details (namely username and password for the corporate loyalty program) for offline purposes, it is unable to store simplistic product or service information for browsing capabilities.

Instant Connectivity 6.4 As highlighted in Section 6.3, there is one major flaw with the application: the offline connectivity. Most of the features made available on the application, only work online. This is due

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to the CRS connectivity for real-time information. However, when the application is operational on an online mobile device, full usability is restored.

Personalisation 6.5 Even though certain areas of the user interface are not available offline, the application does personalise the application to store structured information for individual customers (Jackson, 2011 : 3). This comes in the form of remembering the user’s favourite locations and car types. However, this function is only made available through completed reservations, and cannot be initiated by the user.

Localisation 6.6 When the device is online, the ‘Nearby’ function of the application enables the device to track the user’s location by its GPS function. However, this is only available on GPS enabled mobile devices. This then puts an arrowhead, directing the user’s attention to the nearest Hertz service centre.

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7

Recommendations and Conclusion

Conclusion 7.1 Hertz is very well established in the e-business, e-marketing, e-commerce, and mcommerce markets. With continual product initiatives, this enables them to remain as the industry leader in the car rental market. However, there are some areas, mainly in e-marketing and m-commerce that could help bolster their position as a continual industry leader.

Suggestions for future e-marketing opportunities 7.2 It’s recommended that Hertz purse its current e-marketing strategies, having already invested significantly in their PPC advertising and search agents. They should carefully examine keyword analysis to improve click through response from keyword searches.

It would also be wise to send more marketing emails to existing and potential customers who have registered with them although aren’t #1 Gold Card members.

Suggestions for future m-commerce opportunities 7.3 Hertz could progress their m-commerce platform by improving their smart phone applications, as these represent an increasing proportion of the interactive market (Jackson, 2011 : 6). The existing apps have limited functionality with customers unable to specify certain criteria when booking, such as disabled accessibility and optional child seats.

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A

Bibliography

Automotive (2011?) Hertz Teams with Lotus for UK Adrenaline Range. Available at: http://bit.ly/r16AZ2 [Accessed: 24 October 2011].

Chaffey (2009) e-Business and e-Commerce Management (4th edition). Harlow: Pearson Education.

Chaffey (2010) e-Business and e-Commerce Management (5th edition). s.l.: FT/Prentice-Hall.

Chapman, A. (2008) SWOT Analysis [Online]. Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm [Accessed: 28 September 2011].

Colblindor (2006) Tritanopia – Blue-Yellow Colour Blindness [Online]. Available at: http://bit.ly/6BhuEf [Accessed: 12 December 2011].

DaveChaffey.com (n.d.) Your Guide to Digital Business. In: Limburg, D. (2011) Web Design [Lecture Presentation Slides], 09 November 2011. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.

Hertz (2011a) Gold is Better - Hertz Gold Plus Rewards [YouTube]. Available at: http://bit.ly/vhxOZH [Accessed: 13 November 2011].

Hertz (2011b) Hertz History [Online]. Available at: http://bit.ly/ecK62w [Accessed: 11 October 2011] Hertz (2011c) Hertz Goes Mobile [Online]. Available at: http://bit.ly/vIZ7oI [Accessed: 12 December 2011].

HSR Market Research (2011) Consumer Tracking Study Q2. In: Hertz (2011) 2Q 2011 Earnings Call. Worldwide, 03 August 2011. Park Ridge (NJ): Hertz Global Holdings iSpionage (2011a) PPC Keywords [Online]. Available at: http://bit.ly/vgSepo [Accessed: 14 November 2011]. iSpionage (2011b) PPC Budget [Online]. Available at: http://bit.ly/s8OqA5 [Accessed: 14 November 2011].

Jackson, P. (2011) M-Commerce [Lecture Presentation Slides], 02 November 2011. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.

Limburg, D. (2011a) Business to Business (B2B) [Lecture Presentation Slides], 30 November 2011. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.

Limburg, D. (2011b) Web Design [Lecture Presentation Slides], 09 November 2011. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.

Ng, E. (2005) An empirical framework developed for selecting B2B e-business models, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 20 (4/5), pp. 218-225.

Nielsen, J. (2000) Designing Web-Usability (in German). MĂźnich (Germany): Pearson Education Deutschland GmbH. (See Appendix B4 for original text)

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Oliver, S. (2009) Hertz To Roll Out iPhone & BlackBerry Rental Apps, Groceries And Dentist Appointments Are Next! [Online]. Available at: http://bit.ly/8R9uKY [Accessed: 12 December 2011].

Porter, M. E., Millar, V. E. (1985) How Information gives you Competitive Advantage, Harvard Business Review. 63 (4), July-August 1985.

Rappa, M. (2010) Business Models on the Web [Online]. Available at: http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html [Accessed: 28 September 2011].

Tapscott, D., Ticoll, D., and Lowy, A. (2000) Digital Capital: Harnessing the Power of Business Webs. London: Nicholas Brealey .

Trusov, M., Bucklin, R., and Pauwels, K. (2009). Effects of Word-of-Mouth Versus Traditional Marketing: Findings from an Internet Social Networking Site. Journal of Marketing: 73 (5), pp.

90-102.

Turban, E., King, D., and Lang, J. (2011) Introduction to Electronic Commerce (7th international edition). Harlow: Pearson Education.

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B

Appendices

Appendix B1 (Airport Rental Tracking – Q2 2011)

Appendix B1 (Airport Rental Tracking – Q2 2011) Source: HSR Market Research - Consumer Tracking Study Q2 (2011)

Appendix B2 (PPC Budgets for Hertz vs. Enterprise for ‘Query-Based’ Placement) October 2011 Stats (Estimated)

October 2011 Stats (Estimated)

PPC Budget

$61,403 - $112,312

PPC Budget

$40,279 - $72,928

Last Month Clicks

15,385 - 19,378

Last Month Clicks

12,823 - 16,117

Avg. Ad Position

4

Avg. Ad Position

3

Google PPC Keywords

1,640

Google PPC Keywords

860

Yahoo PPC Keywords

16

Yahoo PPC Keywords

15

Appendix B2 (PPC Budgets for Hertz vs. Enterprise for ‘Query-Based’ Placement) Source: Adapted from iSpionage (2011b)

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Appendix B3 (e-Business Model Usages – Social Media)

Appendix B3 (e-Business Model Usages – Social Media) Community Model – Social Media (Anticlockwise Sources: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube)

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Appendix B4 (Nielsen, 2000 : 164)

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Appendix B5 (Hertz Car Hire Website – United Kingdom)

Appendix B5 (Hertz Car Hire Website – United Kingdom) Source: Hertz (Car Hire) Website – United Kingdom

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Appendix B6 (Click Through Data) Hertz Airline1 Competition2

Homepage

Ancillaries

Selection

Payment

Total

21 18 12

9 4 1

0 16 3

29 15 18

59 53 34

Manual Input Fields3 18 18 9

Appendix B6 (Click Through Data) Number of click-throughs required to make a booking

1 2 3

Relates to a car hire booking made for the same period through an airline website (Virgin Atlantic) Relates to the number of click required to make a booking through a competitor website (Dollar-Thrifty) Refers to the number of manual fields that the user has to fill-in (e.g. driver names, address, payment details, etc.)

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Appendix B7 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Consistency and Problems) Consistency

Limited Pricing

Functionality Problem

Limited Pricing

Consistency

Appendix B7 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Consistency and Problems) Source: Hertz (Car Hire) Website – United Kingdom

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Appendix B8 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Inconsistency)

Inconsistency

Appendix B8 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Inconsistency) Source: Hertz (Car Hire) Website – United Kingdom

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Appendix B9 (Hertz Car Hire Website – Consistency)

Appendix B9 (Hertz Car Hire Website – PDF / PowerPoint Mission Statement) Source: Hertz (Car Hire) Website – United Kingdom

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Appendix B10 (Supply Chain) Source: Adapted for Hertz, from Turban (et al., 2011 : 48) Receiving (Vehicles)

Auditing

Raw Materials

Quality Control

1st Tier Supplier (Vehicle Manufacturer)

Upstream

2nd Tier Supplier (Vehicle Parts)

Manufacturing

Engineering

Design

Supplier

Internal

Packaging (Non-Physical)

Manufacturing (Ancillaries)

Sales

Marketing

Product Delivery (to Distributors)

Vehicle Delivery (to Sales Depots)

Product

Sales Department

Marketing Department

Downstream

Reception (at location)

Consumer

Purchasing (B2C Transaction)

User

Appendix B10 (Supply Chain)

Appendix B11 (Value Map) Request for parts

Parts Supplier

Ford Motor Company General Motors Company Toyota Motor Corporation

Satellite Navigation Manufacturer Child Seat Manufacturer

rs fo

ss ce

Re qu

es t

an ist

Users

sa le

Hertz

Sa

er vic e

Request for cars

Manufacturer

Price discovery mechanism

Distributors

Virgin Atlantic Travelsupermarket.com Orbitz.com

Goods, products, services, revenue Knowledge Intangible benefits

Appendix B11 (Value Map) Source: Adapted for Hertz, from Tapscott (et al., 2000)

Appendix B12 (Hertz Mobile Applications)

Appendix B12 (Hertz Mobile Applications) Source: Hertz (2011c)

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