BUAD 884: Marketing and Electronic Commerce, Spring 2000

Rename.net
Free web address provided by Rename.Net

Last updated, February, 2000

Latest course is here

Contact Information

Class Webpage: http://learn.at/buad884
Class Discussions

Instructor: Alex Brown
Phone: 610-255-5762
Email: alex@udel.edu

Course Description

This course is designed to familiarize students with the emergence and importance of electronic commerce. The course will give students a clear understanding of the field of electronic commerce as well as the skills to develop electronic commerce applications (on the web.)

Course Schedule

The following course schedule is tentative and subject to change. Change should be anticipated given the nature of this course and the availability of guestspeakers.

Session Number and Theme Session Title Readings Tasks Addendum
1 MEDIAFeb 8 Introduction, History and Infrastructure of the Internet Readings Buy Texts
2 Feb 15 Web as a Medium, Impact on Media Readings
3 Feb 22 Economics of Information.
Web Development and Design 		Readings Complete Resume
4 CONSUMER MARKETING Feb 28 Promotion on the Web, Banners and Affiliates Readings Complete 2 Page Presentation Outline
5 March 7 Branding on the Web.
Permission Marketing and Viral Marketing 		Readings
6 March 14 Retailing: Shifting to the Web? Readings
7 BUSINESS MARKETING, RESHAPING MARTETS March 21 Business 2 Business: Shifting to the Web? Meta Markets Readings
8 LEVERAGING THE WEB April 4 Industry Focus: Online Banking Readings Guest Speaker: Chip Weldon: WingspanBank.com
9 April 11 Transitioning Traditional Business to the Web.
Virtual Business and Intranets 		Readings Guest Speaker: Jeff Peterson, DuPont Company
10 April 18 Business Models: Auctions, Communities, Portals Incubators.
Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
Standards
Readings
11 PRESENTATIONS April 25 Presentations, AMAZON.COM, DELL, REDHAT
12 May 2 Open Source Readings Guest Speaker: Eric Raymond
13 May 9 Presentations, MICROSOFT, E*TRADE Readings
14 WHAT'S NEXT May 15 Presentations, NETSCAPE, AOL.COM, YAHOO.COM
The Future: Broadband, Wireless and Convergence 		Readings

Course readings

The required books for the course are:
  1. High Stakes, No Prisoners, Charles Furguson
  2. Information Rules, Shapiro and Varian
  3. StrikingItRich.com, J. Easton
You are also required to subscribe to Knowledge@Wharton
If you plan to really keep abreast with this field, you are encouraged to subscribe to Redherring, Business 2.0 and Wired Magazines (in that order!) Fast Company is also somehwat relevant.
All texts should be purchased from the Class Bookstore.

Various readings will also be assigned prior to the classes. If there is an assigned reading for a session number, the reading must be completed before the session.

Additional Resources


Web/HTML Guides: WebMonkey | A Beginner's Guide to HTML | The Bare Bones Guide to HTML | Web Site Garage
Graphics: CopyRight Free Graphics | Web Safe Colors Chart
WWW Counter:Web Counter

Course Assignments

Assignment 1: Develop a resume to be posted on WWW.
This assignment serves two purposes.
  1. It familiarizes you with writing web documents.
  2. It will augment your impending job search (full-time students).
This assignment should be completed by the third session of the semester. For additional information on writing your web document and hosting it on your own account you can use the following Web Publishing Resources.
If you are a part-time student, and do not wish to develop your web-resume, then you should create a phantom resume.
No grade, but must be completed in order to receive the resource grade.

Assignment 2:Business Resource Page
Develop a business web-page that looks at information gathered from the web focusing on a particular type of business/interest/hobby. This assignment is designed to familiarize you with the effective use of search engines on the web.

The resource page should include links to appropriate sites with a descriptive statement regarding the site as a resource. The guide must link to at least 10 resources. The resource guide can focus on a particular industry, product, hobby or country. The choice must be approved by Alex.
20% class grade

Class Resource Pages from the previous year

Assignment 3: Group projects
WWW business analysis
You will be assigned a group by the second class. Your group is responsible for analysing a nomimated web business. You should summarize its history, analyze its current strategy, complete an exhaustive competitive analysis, and make recommendations for its future.
30% class grade

Assignment 4: Case Study
You have the choice to select a case on Rename.com or Geometrek.com. You are required to write a ten page paper analyzing the issues highlighted by the case you select. Please feel free to discuss the cases on the Class Discussion Board. You are also welcome to work with a group of people on one case, you must request my approval before forming a group. Clearly my expectations scale up the more people involved in the analysis.
30% course grade

20% of your course grade is based on your participation on the Class Discussion Board.