Syllabus

Course Description | Readings | Assignments and other Activities | Credit and Grading | Appendix

This seminar examines the progress and potential of the Internet, World Wide Web, and related technologies for the marketing, selling, and distribution of goods and services. Much has happened in this arena and new developments occur at a high rate. We shall do a scan of the environment with the help of student projects, guest speakers, readings, and lectures. The goal will be to cover a selection of important material rather than be encyclopedic.

Topics will include

• Technology issues, including basic infrastructure, security, and agents
• Shopping and search and their implications for market strategies and structures
• Pricing, packaging and distribution of information goods
• Business-to-business commerce
• Customization and personalization
• Online communities
• Financial markets and payment systems

Books for the course are: (These books will be on reserve at Dewey Library.)

Team projects
The main student assignments will be two team projects, undertaken in groups of approximately four people.

The first project is a research briefing. Its purpose is to develop up-to-date information on a relevant aspect of electronic commerce and to share it with the rest of the class and others. In effect, the collection of research briefings by the class will be part of the text materials for the course. Since the field is changing fast, such a collection can provide the latest information for everyone. The briefings will be disseminated via oral presentation, web posting, and hard copy. The written reports are due the week before spring break and the collection will come out as a second course packet when classes resume. Short oral presentations on the briefings will be worked into the class sessions throughout the semester. The appendix to the syllabus has a sample list of possible briefing projects and the course website contains the briefings developed in the seminar last year.

The second project is a case study built around an existing or proposed activity in electronic commerce or marketing. Typically, the project might analyze a specific site in depth, describing its underlying business model and strategy, indicating what was working, what was not, and how the site or strategy might be improved. Alternatives might include analyzing a group of sites, an industry or a prospective business opportunity. The second project will be reported orally and in writing at the end of the term.

Commercenet

Class preparation and participation
The readings provide preparation for the outside speakers and classroom discussion. In addition to doing the readings, students should access and contribute to class discussions on the course web site.

Personal web pages
It is desirable for each student in the course to have at least some hands on experience with the technology of web pages. Many students will already have their own home page, but those who do not are required to bring one up. Please note that you should not post on your web page any personal information about yourself that you feel uncomfortable revealing to the outside world. A lab session will be arranged for those who would like instruction.

Informal dinners with speakers
Many of the outside speakers have been invited to go to dinner with a small group of students after class and several have accepted. The plan is to invite 3-4 students on a sign-up basis. Priority will be first-come-first-serve except that individuals doing projects for which a speaker has special relevance will be given extra preference.

Credit and grading
This is a 9 unit course (3-0-6 Level grad credits). Grades will be assigned on the following basis:

Feb 5 Electronic commerce and marketing: an overview

Apr 2 Business Strategies on the Internet

May 7 Team project presentations

May 14 No Classes

Below are a number aspects of electronic commerce and marketing on the internet that might make interesting topics for the research briefing that comprises the first project. A number of the topics were investigated last year but have had new developments occur since then. The list is by no means exhaustive and teams are welcome to suggest other topics or modify these

• The evolving options for local access
• Search engines, agents, and filters
• Electronic payment systems
• Privacy
• Disintermediation
• Brokers
• Auctions on the web
• Intranets
• Internet advertising
• Direct marketing on the internet
• Security
• Business to business marketing
• Pricing strategies for information goods
• Successful retailing models
• EDI on the web
• Measuring advertising
• Publishing on the web
• Log files and their analysis
• Ad placement software

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