i Contents 1. Backgrou nd ........................................................................................................... - 1 - 2. Six bu siness ty pes ................................................................................................. - 1 - 3. The cu rrent main competitors ............................................................................... - 2 - 4. The e-commerce related adv antages ..................................................................... - 4 - 5. The e-commerce related disadv antages ................................................................ - 5 - 6. The possible improv ements .................................................................................. - 6 - 7. The possible difficu lties Ctrip may face in the improv ing process ...................... - 7 - 8. Alternativ e actions of competitors ........................................................................ - 8 - 9.References .............................................................................................................. - 8 - - 1 - 1. Background Ctrip company was founded in 1999 (Ctrip1 2010), headquartered in Shanghai, China. It has set up subsidiaries in 11 cities (Ctrip1 2010) including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Qingdao, Nanjing, Wuhan, Shenyang and Sanya. And it has set up call center in Nantong and offices in Ningbo, Suzhou, Zhengzhou and Chongqing.Ctrip has over 10 thousand employees (Ctrip1 2010). By providing more than 40 million (Ctrip1 2010) members with hotel reservation, air ticket booking, holiday travel, business travel management, merchant and travel information, Ctrip was known as the seamless integration between Internet and traditional tourism model. With business growth and excellent ...