INFS 6880 Seminar in Electronic Commerce

Instructor: Mirza B. Murtaza

Tel. No.: 904-8348 Office: N 335

Website: www.mtsu.edu/~mmurtaza/ and WebCT

Office Hours: TBA

Text: e-Business: Organizational and Technical Foundations by Michael P. Papazoglou and Pieter Ribbers (Wiley). ISBN: 0470843764 (Required)

Case Link: Ivey Cases - http://cases.ivey.uwo.ca/Cases/Pages/home.aspx

Course Description:

The Internet and the World Wide Web in recent years have had a tremendous impact on how individuals and organizations transact goods and services. It has given rise to new organizational forms, virtual/online organizations, and markets which feature electronic transaction models in new categories of goods and services, e.g., order placement and fulfillment for digital products on information networks. These developments have potentially profound implications for society and raise several legal, ethical and policy issues, such as taxation, that are yet to be resolved.

By the end of this course students should be able to:

· Formulate sound electronic commerce strategies used by businesses and consumers to exchange information and initiate transactions.

· Assess the legal environment surrounding electronic commerce initiatives and formulate legally and ethically appropriate electronic commerce strategies.

· Determine the role of various business functions, such as, accounting and marketing, in the design and maintenance of electronic commerce systems.

· Identify and assess the risks of insecure electronic commerce systems and formulate security-conscious solutions.

· Assess the adequacy of data protection of electronic commerce systems.

· Understand the following technical concepts and tools used in an electronic commerce system design: Internet standards and protocols, data protection, cryptography, authentication and digital signatures, firewalls, electronic financial systems, and consumer privacy rights.

Course Evaluation: Student performance assessment is based on exams, design project, case study, and research paper as follows:

Exams (two)	50%
Web Design Project	15%
Case Study	15%
Research Paper	20%

93 and above A, 90 to 92.9 A-,

87 to 89.9 B+, 83 to 86.9 B, 80 to 82.9 B-,

77 to 79.9 C+, 73 to 76.9 C, 70 to 72.9 C-,

67 to 69.9 D+, 63 to 66.9 D, 60 to 62.9 D-,

Below 60 F

Exams:

Two exams (closed book) will be given during the semester. The exams will include mostly short-answered and multiple-choice questions on the material covered in class lectures and in the text. There will be no coding questions related to HTML/XML/programming on the exams, however, there may be some general questions on Web and XML concepts.

Web Design Project (Group):
You are charged with developing a business web site (1 or 2 individuals allowed). It is up to you to decide what business (real or fictitious) you would use. (If you don’t consider yourself a techie, it is advisable to select a partner who is a CIS or related major)
Process of a simple business web site design using HTML, XML and ASP will be covered in class. You can use Dreamweaver etc. for completing the project, if you have background in those technologies. You can set up the site on CIS3 server or any other location you prefer.

Some of the features, your site should have are listed below:
1. A background page that lists location of corporate headquarters or equivalent.
2. Business Policies, if transactions are conducted, including:

· complete and easy to understand rate charges if the business provides a service;

· shipping policy and charges;

· tax policy; and

· return policy.

3. Privacy Policy.
4. Security Statement.
5. Issue at least a cookie.
6. Use at least one form.
7. Use at least one search feature, esp. if the site has a lot of content.
8. Use at least one image.
9. Provide space for at least one banner advertising. (You don’t have to put an actual banner.)
10. Provide a webmaster e-mail function on each page.
11. Prevent against dead-end pages.

In designing your site, the following aesthetics must be considered:
1. Appropriate use of colors and contrasts.
2. Appropriate amount of information on each page - do NOT clutter your pages with too much information.
3. Appropriate use of images (so that load time is not too high.)
4. Consistent corporate image or logo throughout the site.
5. Use of easy navigation features.

A written summary must be submitted with the web site that consists of the following items:
1. Industry Analysis;

2. The general promotion strategy of the web site; and
3. A list of additional features/work that has to be completed in order to use this site for business (production environment).

Case Study:

You are to select one of the cases from the list of Ivey Cases and present it to the class (1 or 2 individuals). The presentation should last about 30-40 minutes and you should allow an additional 5 minutes for any questions. Students are encouraged to ask questions during these presentations. The basic requirement for the case study include: describe the company's business and their business model, give industry background: growth, number of firms, major players, etc., analysis of major issues involved in the case, analyze the business using Porter’s five forces and other relevant frameworks like SWOT analysis, and provide case updates (if any). There are no right or wrong answers for a typical case, however, there are good and bad case analyses. The way you present your thoughts and arguments, the clarity of information, and the depth of your analysis are the key components of case presentations.

Please let me know (via e-mail) your name(s) and case preferences (at least 3) by the end of first week. These will be assigned on first-come first-serve basis.

Individual Research Paper:

The research paper can focus on technical, managerial, or policy issues related to Electronic Commerce. Examples include:

· Impact of the Internet on major industries, e.g., healthcare, government, banking, entertainment, publishing;

· Impact of the Web on development of new organizations structure and business models

· Societal impact of electronic commerce, e.g., privacy and confidentiality, division in society

· The law and electronic commerce, e.g., intellectual property rights, taxation

· Review of key information technology enablers of electronic commerce, e.g., electronic payment, Web standards, secure protocols and cryptography, intelligent systems

This paper should be word-processed, double-spaced and at least ten-page long (plus any additional tables, charts, appendices, etc.) and it should include at least three current technical journal references. The paper must use appropriate headings/sub-headings and adhere to formats generally used in IS-related journals and it should have ‘sufficient’ technical content and some discussion of managerial significance of the topic.

A one-paragraph paper proposal via e-mail is due by the second week; soft-copy is the preferred mode of submission of the final paper.

Software Required:

We will be using Dreamweaver and Visual Web Developer 2005 Express in CIS instruction lab (S 304). These tools are available in COB computer lab also. If you like, you can download Visual Web Developer from Microsoft website at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/, it is easy to download, install and use.

Tentative Schedule:

Week	Chapter	Topics
7/9	1, 2, 3, 4	Course Introduction Overview of Electronic Commerce, Value Chain, Business Models Basic web design (Dremweaver)
	6, 7	Infrastructure (Internet, Intranet, WWW and protocols) XML static web pages- HTML
7/16	8, 9, 10	EDI, Inter-organizational systems and Web Services SCM webpage- interactivity Student Case Presentations - 1
7/23	13	Exam 1 Network Security, E-commerce Security Validation of inputs Student Case Presentations - 2
7/30	16, 17, 18, 19	Encryption, Privacy issues/case Enterprise integration Creating, accessing XML/ database Individual Research Paper due Student Case Presentations - 3
8/6		Legal and Ethical Issues HIPPA (health), SOX, GLB (financial) Lab Student Case Presentations - 4
8/8		Exam 2

Important Dates:

July 16 Individual research paper proposal due

July 23 Exam 1

July 30 Individual Research paper due

August 10 Website project (site and report) due