Business process and information systems

Business process is a process where work is organized,coordinated and focused to produce a valuable product or services. Business process are concrete workflow of material, information, and knowledge-sets of activities. Business processes also refer to the unique ways in which organizations coordinate work, information and knowledge, and the ways in which management chooses to coordinate work. 

To a large extent, the performance of a business firm depends on how well its business process are designed and coordinated. A company's business process can be a source of competitive strength if they enable the company to innovate or to execute better than its rivals. Business processes can also be liabilities if they are basis on outdated ways of working that impede organizational responsiveness and efficiency. 

Every business can be seen as a collection of business process. Some of these process are part of larger encompassing processes. Many business process are tied to a specific functional area. For example, the sales and marketing function would be responsible for identifying customers, and the human resources function would be responsible for hiring employees.  

But eBay operates in a very rapidly changing environment where customers can easily switch to other online retailers that offer more value and convenience. As time went on, eBay's original strategy was not enough to keep it profitable and growing. E-Bay started losing market share to Amazon and other online retailer who were able to offer the convenience of goods sold at a fixed-price and better service. E-Bay revised its strategy by acquiring other Intern business, and then by de-emphasizing online auctions in favor of fixed price sales by large companies such as Buy.com. Today it is a large but highly diversifies online platform where many different types of business engage in e-commerce.