Acc 255 Electronic Business Management

BADM590-EB – Electronic Business Management

Section 1 – Course Description and Syllabus (Fall 2009)

Instructor:Matthew L. Nelson, CPA, Ph.D.

Office:7 Wohler’s Hall

Cell Phone: (586)995-6559

E-mail:

i-Campus Portal Link:BADM 590 - Seminar in Business Admin - Fall 2009 - Section EB

Blackboard URL:

Class Meeting: Section 1 – BIF #2043, Mondays 5:00pm ~ 7:50pm

On-line Office Hours:Anytime you see professor on-line in Blackboard (via “Who’s Online”)

Office Hours:Mondays: 4:00 ~ 4:50pm

And by Appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course examines the management and alignment of organizational strategy and electronic methods of delivering products, services, and exchanges in inter-organizational, national, and global environments. Information technology strategy and technological solutions for enabling effective business processes within and between organizations in a global environment are considered. This course focuses more on the business and management considerations of e-business and e-commerce and less on the technological considerations. With e-business management as the course’s primary mission, we examine e-business models, recent & emerging trends, marketing & other channel management strategies, the IT industry (overall) and significant e-business design considerations. The course uses a foundation level e-business textbook, coupled with recent supplemental e-business lecture topics and very recent current events presentations. To accomplish these objectives the course provides students an opportunity to conduct real-life case-orientated analysis, prepare some of the most prevalent types of consulting engagements, and research & review materials from the industry’s most successful thought-leaders in these areas. It is the professor’s sincere hope that this innovative course design will maximize the students’ learning experience, time and value of completing this class.

PREREQUISITES:

Maintain an open-mind and an insatiable appetite to learn! It should be noted that all students are expected to apply computer skills that have already been learned in previous classes. Coming into this class you are expected to possess skills in the following software applications: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, e-mail, use of Web browsers and web development software. No further instruction in this software should be expected. It should also be noted that the use of Compass (Blackboard Learning System)is an integral part of this course.

COURSE PROCEDURES:

The course will make extensive use of the Blackboard Learning System (available through the Compass Portal) with a designated folder for each week of the course. Class time will consist of a combination of lecture, discussions, question and answers and several in-class activities. E-copies of the course’s syllabus, schedule, lecture slides and other course documents are available on the courses Blackboard. Any student in need of a special accommodation should contact the staff in the Office of Disability Resources and Educational Services at (217) 333-1970 (voice/TTY) or at ( Any one cheating on an exam, quiz, (or aiding another individual), or assignments will receive an “F” in the course and will be referred to Office for Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) ( See the Code of Student Conduct and other student conduct materials at (

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The mission of BADM590 is to better understand the role ofe-Business Management in organizations through achieving the following five objectives:

We will closely examine the various components of e-business models, including the business planning process and the financial considerations and consequences.
We will closely examine the e-commerce system designprocess used by organizations to design and implement new e-business based systems, including key web-attraction strategies and security concerns.
We will learn how organizations and industries have strategically used e-business technology to gain a competitive advantage, both with legacy information systems and with e-commerce based systems.
We will raise awareness and improve our understanding of historical and emerging e-commerce technologies.
We will examine emerging trends in managing affiliate partner programs and effective marketing techniques (including channel management) of e-business websites.
Many others if the student and the professor maintain an open-mind and an insatiable appetite to learn!

This course will also provide students the opportunity to acquire competencies and skills in the following areas:

Inter-organizational value and supply chain concepts
Types of e-commerce business models, including B2B, B2C, B2G, C2C, C2G,
Evolving e-commerce business relationships

E-commerce consumer issues, including shopping carts, human computer interface designs, interactions with payment processing mechanisms, relationships to information technology development and support

E-commerce functionality found in common business relationships
Ethical, contractual, and regulatory issues
Protection of individual privacy
Organizational security in inter-organizational systems
Strategic alignment of information technology planning and maturity
Measuring, reporting, and controlling e-commerce processes

TEXT AND OTHER READING MATERIALS:

Required Text:

Introduction to e-Commerce, 2nd Edition, by Rayport and Jaworksi, ISBN-13 9780072553475.

EVALUATION AND GRADING:

Grading Scale: 90%+ A Range, 80% ~ 89% B Range, 70% ~ 79% C Range, 60% ~ 69% D Range, Below 60% F. Grading components are tentatively based on the following (480 points in total).

Exams (2 @ 80 points each)160 (33%)
Individual Assignments (5 @ 35 or 50 points)220 (46%)
On-Line Quizzes (10 @ 5 points each)50 (10%)
Current Events Presentation (1) 50 (10%)

EXAMS

Two exams are scheduled in this course for 80 points each. Exams will primarily focus on material from the textbook with most questions in a traditional multiple choice format. Students can also expect some“applied” structured work problems on the exams, similar in structure to written assignments and / or the supplemental lecture topics. Excellent resources for preparing for exams include the in-class exam review sessions, on-line quiz questions, the textbook (and its’ on-line supplemental materials), and written assignments. Exams must be taken at the scheduled date and time. No sunglasses may be worn during the exam. Students arriving late for the exam will have no more time to complete the exam than that needed for those students who arrived on time. While taking an exam, all students will face directly forward, keep their eyes on their own exam, and cover their answer sheet. Students who are not present for an exam receive a zero (0) for that grade. Any one cheating on an exam, quiz, (or aiding another individual), or assignments will receive an “F” in the course and will be referred to Office for Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) ( See the Code of Student Conduct and other student conduct materials at ( The final exam is considered the 2ndexam in this course and will be administered during the previously scheduled Final Exam week. PleaseNote, the university determines Final Exam dates / times, not the instructor.

Current Events ReportING:

The Information Technology industry is changing at a rapid pace. To stay competitive and marketable, you must maintain a great awareness of your environment. We are going to use 12-15 minutes of most lecture class periods to help you establish a life-long learning habit so that you can maintain current in the rapidly changing IT environment. Two students will present and discuss an e-Business article or newspaper clipping of legitimate quality of source (tier A, B or C) to class. Each presentation should be no longer than 5~6 minutes and the presenter must provide an electronic copy of the Powerpoint presentation (submitted through Blackboard) and a paper-copy of the article to the professor. Please note: your presentation file will be made available to the entire class via the course’s Blackboard site. Key points to consider: (1) Summarizing key points of the article for the class, (2) Actively encourage participation of the topic from the class (via discussion questions, etc) (3) The quality of presentation. See the Current Events Presentation Grading rubric in Blackboard and in the Course Schedule file for additional details / requirements. Current Event topics will focus on one of two areas: (1) Illustrations of successes or failures in e-Commerce Attraction strategies / techniques or (2) Illustrations of recently developed or emerging technologies / trendsor e-business models.

Consolidators of Current Events Presentations: In lieu of their current events presentation, two individuals will volunteer (hopefully) or be asked to consolidate the current events from through-out the semester (one for each themed area) and summarize (generalize) the research findings and develop a one-page “take away” to hand out at the end of the semester. Again, the aim of this effort is for everyone to benefit from the research, on a long-term basis in your future careers, of providing the consolidated findings tothe entire class.

ON-LINE QUIZZES:

You should expect an on-line quiz on each of the 13 chapters covered in the text and they are to be completed on an individual basis only. Quizzes have intentionally been structured to be more of a learning activity (versus a testing event). All of these quizzes can be taken outside of class using the on-line Blackboard System accessed via a Web browser. The intent of these quizzes is to enhance your learning of the textbook and lecture material. Students can expect similar questions and question types on exams. The quizzes are set up to provide you with instantaneous feedback about your performance and allow you to see if you have learned the material. Each quiz consists of five questions composed primarily of multiple choice or true-false questions. Any one cheating on an exam, quiz, (or aiding another individual), or assignments will receive an “F” in the course and will be referred to Office for Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) ( See the Code of Student Conduct and other student conduct materials at ( On-line quizzes can be accessed through Compass, or accessed directly at the blackboard site for this course (

Each quiz may be taken during a rolling four-week open time 'window', generally beginning the week of coverage of a new section in the course and ending the day of the exam for that section. Although quizzes may be taken at anytime during this time “window”, once you begin a quiz it must be completed within 8 hours. (Even if you properly save the quiz, close the browser window and return later…the quiz still must be completed within 8 hours of its’ inception. Please note this is a Blackboard imposed constraint, not the instructors!) Thus students are strongly encouraged to complete a quiz in ONE SITTING. Also note, only one attempt is permitted with each quiz (thus, you cannot go back to a quiz after it has been answered and the responses saved). To minimize your consequences of unexpected events (family emergencies, network failures, computer glitches, ISP failures) students must plan to take quizzes early in the rolling window. Of the 13 available quizzes (one for each chapter) only your highest eight (10) quiz scores will be counted (regardless of chapter). Quizzes may not be taken after the scheduled close date (recall, only 10 of the 13 quizzes are actually required). Students are strongly encouraged to use quiz questions as a good source for reviewing for exams. At a minimum, students should access and save an attempt with each quiz during the availability window, to enable them to regain access to the quiz during exam preparation and review.

Individual assignments

Five individual assignments are required in this course, which include two (2) traditional Harvard Business Review and three (3) applied “light” research orientated assignments. The assignments provide comprehensive, in-depth and recent examinations of e-Business topics that are effectively utilizing e-business solutions. Each assignment must be completed on an individual basis with 35 points assigned to each. Assignment requirements and instructions can be found the courses Blackboard website and will be provided by the instructor. Assignments should be submitted to the instructor via the course’s Blackboard website by the due date and students should come to class prepared to discuss their findings. The tentative assignment due dates are as follows:

Assignment #1 – Channel Management(due 9/14/09 at 5:00pm)

Assignment #2 – Case Study Alibaba.com(due 9/26/09 at 5:00pm)

Assignment #3 – Case Study MedNet.com(due 11/2/09 at 5:00pm)

Assignment #4 – 3-options (VW, IS Audit, or Longtail)(due 11/9/09 at 5:00pm)

Assignment #5 -- e-Commerce Design 7-C(due 11/30/09 at 5:00pm)

Please see the grading rubric that will be used for all assignments in this course (a much more readable version of this is in a separate tab of the Excel spreadsheet containing this course’s schedule which is located on the course’s Blackboard site).

BADM590 e-Business Management, Section 1Fall 2009