Instructional Objectives

Upon completing this course the you should:

1. have a general understanding of the Internet and related technologies
2. be able to store/retrieve/build files on the Internet
3. understand current and future obstacles for ebusiness
4. understand the legal aspects of the Internet and related developments
5. be able to analyze the organizational fit between strategy and technology
6. understand current trends in the use of Internet for commerce and other purposes
7. be able to specify the development of electronic commerce capabilities in a company

National information infrastructure technologies provide new strategic opportunities that must be considered by any business that wants to have a global presence. The convergence of computing and communications technologies impacts such organizational processes as new product development, resource acquisition, order fulfillment and customer service. 

This course provides a broad overview of the strategies used in ebusiness from the early days of the commercial Internet through to the present. Specifically, this course will address:

• The Internet – Properties that facilitate commerce and competitive advantage, role in business, incremental and disruptive technologies, value configurations, benefits, limitations and online and off-line similarities and differences
• Business Models – How companies leverages the Internet through the different business models of the new economy, evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of dynamic business models and strategies; The models and theories that underpin many current business models and critiquing the business models of a variety of actual businesses.
• The Macro Environment – Investigation of competitive and macro environments as determinants of profitability and as influencers of business models, as well as how the Internet and ebusiness have affected the macro environments in which they operate.

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to identify a firm’s business model, scope and revenue streams and be able to evaluate its strategy based upon its position in a competitive space and the macro environment factors that influence it. With this understanding of the concepts behind ebusiness strategy, as well as their real-world application, the student will be able to recognize upcoming competitive threats and environmental issues and develop alternatives with which to counter them.

This course provides tools, skills, and an understanding of technology, business concepts and issues that surround the emergence of electronic commerce. We also explore several of the problems surrounding electronic commerce such as security - authentication, privacy - encryption, safeguarding of intellectual property rights, acceptable use policies, and legal liabilities. I use a combination of lectures, classroom demonstrations, self-learning, case studies, and project work. Experience with programming languages is may be a requirement because some of the work may require using a development environment. A willingness to experiment with and explore this emerging technology is necessary.

Last Changed Wednesday, January 17, 2001