E-Commerce and Online Businesses

OVERVIEW:

The increasing development of information technologies (IT) has significantly affected both firms and markets. IT is currently changing the world in a more permanent and farreaching way than any other technology in the history of mankind. A new economy, where knowledge is the most important strategic resource, is forcing firms to review their traditional routines and take advantage of the tools able to create new value. Meanwhile, the tool that is currently having the most significant effect in the business world is the Internet.

The Internet and the World Wide Web are revolutionizing the way people, businesses and governments transact business via electronic commerce (e-Commerce). This process is just beginning but is already having enormous impact on our activities and the way we relate to people and organisations. This course examines the major concepts that enable e-Commerce, including the Internet, security and privacy, software and hardware architectures, policy, legal and economic issues. The objectives of the course are to become familiar with the technologies, strategy and management issues associated with e-Commerce as well as to develop a good understanding of the risks in its use.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

     - Analyse the state of the art of e-Commerce and the factors that have provoked its incredible growth worldwide.

     - Understand the technical underpinnings of e-Commerce, including steps to build up web presence, web server hardware and software, and web design.

     - Understand the legal and fiscal environment of e-Commerce, specially in the Spanish (LSSICE)

     - Understand the concepts related to marketing online and publicity in the Internet.

     - Understand business models in the Internet and develop business strategies to conduct e-Commerce.

REQUIREMENTS:

Fluent in English

CONTENTS :

Classes will be conducted in seminar format promoting student’s participation. Attendance is not compulsory, but it is crucial to attain a satisfactory grade. It is important to remark that most of the theoretical material is needed to undertake the case studies and the presentations. Fundamental theoretical notions and special issues in electronic commerce will be discussed in class and applied on case studies. Although there is a theoretical base, the class is mainly case study based.

The presentations: the objective of this assignment is to engage students deeply in the course material, and to allow students to contribute to class discussion with up-to-date information and analysis. The ideal presentation includes information and data on recent developments regarding the subject matter. In general, the focus of the presentations should be on business aspects of the discussed topics (business models, applications in business-related environments, impacts on industries). All material that is used for the presentation is analyzed critically and tied in to provide for a coherent and interesting story that becomes part of the overall class discussion. Students are encouraged to gather first-hand information, e.g., by contacting a representative of the respective ecommerce users, vendor firms, customers, competitors etc., and/or to include hand-on demonstration to support the presentation.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Chapter 1: The Revolution Continues

Chapter 2: E-commerce Business Models and Concepts

Chapter 3: E-commerce Infrastructure: The Internet, Web, and Mobile Platform

Chapter 4: Building an E-commerce Presence: Web Sites, Mobile Sites, and Apps

Chapter 5: E-commerce Security and Payment Systems

Chapter 6: E-commerce Marketing Concepts: Social, Mobile, and Local

Chapter 7: E-commerce Marketing Communications

Chapter 8: Ethical, Social, and Political Issues in E-commerce

Chapter 9: Online Retailing and Services

Chapter 10: Online Content and Media

Chapter 11: Social Networks, Auctions, and Portals

Chapter 12: B2B E-commerce: Supply Chain Management and Collaborative Commerce