316-212
Economics for E-Commerce
SUBJECT GUIDE
First Semester, 2009
Prepared by
Neville R. Norman, Subject Coordinator
Economics
Faculty of Economics and Commerce
Subject Outline
Introduction
Welcome to Economics for E(lectronic)-Commerce, a practical and relevant application of the economics you have learned and will develop this year to IT and e-commerce issues. The subject brings economics to life, as a tool for understanding and assisting e-commerce website development and commercial uses of IT; in appraising the economic effects of e-commerce and in designing and understanding public policy approaches towards e-commerce.
Subject Aims
The overall aim of this subject is to demonstrate the utility of basic economic analysis in following the growth and development of e-commerce and assessing its economic effects and public policy issues. Through this subject students will gain respect for and appreciate the value of economic concepts and tools as applied to this contemporary aspect of modern marketing, value-added and technology-based commerce. Critical thinking and careful application skills will be developed, gaining new insights into both economics and e-commerce. Students will be able to define, describe and analyse e-commerce using market analysis and strategic decision theory.
Prescribed References
Detailed notes and guidance to books and articles will be provided in the lectures. There is no prescribed text as most of the e-commerce literature/books lack economic content.
Learning Outcomes
Subject Objectives
To view the subject objectives and the generic skills you will develop through successful completion of this subject, please see the University Handbook:
https://app.portal.unimelb.edu.au/CSCApplication/view/2009/316-212
To view the learning goals, generic skills and graduate attributes for your degree, please locate the University Handbook entry for your degree at: http://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/
Generic Skills
In this subject you will have the opportunity to develop important generic skills. These include: critical analytical and awareness facilities; techniques of data interpretation and hypothesis testing; interpretation of data; appreciation of the economic and social impact of a specific activity sector; capacity to use and apply economic theory.
Awareness Issues
At a broader level, studying this subject will increase your awareness of issues such as: the evolution and importance of electronic commerce; public policy in relation to spam, nuisance emails, tax evasion losses through e-commerce and policy options for arresting it; engaging critically and professionally in economic debates; ability to apply rational decision theory to issues beyond economics and e-commerce.
Prerequisites
Candidates must have a good working knowledge of basic economics at the level of Introductory Microeconomics 316-102 or its equivalent. It is useful if students have good facility in using spreadsheets, which are used to introduce aspects of timing and risk as essential parts of realistic decision analysis, and to supplement the mainly static and full-information features of the background economics. A working knowledge of websites and IT (information technology) will not go astray in supporting appreciation of the setting for the subject, but this is not essential.
Academic Staff Contact Details
Your coordinator, lecturer and tutor for Economics for E-Commerce is Neville Norman:
Email:
Room: 705, Economics and Commerce
Phone: 8344 5327; 0414 653 770
Consultation Hours:
Email Protocol
Please note that we are only able to respond to student emails coming from a University email address. Please do not use personal email addresses such as Yahoo, Hotmail or even business email addresses. Emails from non-University email addresses may be filtered by the University’s spam filter, which means that we may not receive your email. All correspondence relating to this subject will only be sent to your University email address. Note that you must first activate your University email address before you can send or receive emails at that address. You can activate your email account at this link: http://accounts.unimelb.edu.au/.
While academic staff endeavor to address queries received via email, it is more appropriate to resolve substantive questions during seminars and during normal consultation hours. With this in mind, we encourage students to attend all seminars and to familiarise themselves with the consultation hours offered by the seminar leader in this subject.
Lectures
Lecture Times
In 2009, two one-hour lectures are held each week of term. They at 3.15pm Mondays (Prest Theatre) and 3.15pm Wednesday (Old Physics). Tutorials are provided weekly for all students.
Lecture Participation Requirements
Students are excepted to attend all lectures and tutorials and to prepare work are specified at the end of each class and in notes provided on the LMS. There is an opportunity for students to ask questions in each lecture.
Lecture Schedule
This section provides a timetable of lectures for the entire semester.
L. / Date / Topic / Tu's/Ass / T's 09 / Tute content1 / 2-Mar / Welcome, formalities, overview
2 / 4-Mar / E-commerce and economic models
3 / 9-Mar / Decisions and review of micro/future / T.0 / t.O / rationals, decis
4 / 11-Mar / Demand curve in economics
5 / 16-Mar / micro models; glic, sales max / T1 / t1 / p comp, dem c
6 / 18-Mar / CBA technique
7 / 23-Mar / CBA applications and core corp / T2 / t2 / power f cba
8 / 25-Mar / Factors of Revenue; Product selection
9 / 30-Mar / FOR: Promotion, D-S rule / T3 / t3 / glic and cba
10 / 1-Apr / FOR: pricing , partnerships
11 / 6-Apr / Review of part A, bridge to part B / T4 / NEW / NEW: pric. D-S
12 / 8-Apr / Macro effects: growth, productivity / Ass1Apr8
13 / 20-Apr / Prices and welfare / T5 / T4 / Rational choice
14 / 22-Apr / Sector/industry effects
15 / 27-Apr / Ass1 Rpt; More on sectors, predictions / T6 / T5 / Th Review; Jorg/Free
16 / 29-Apr / Finance and banking effects, risk
17 / 4-May / Tax effects of e-comm; All-Sandmo / T7 / T6 / Sec effs; snag lst
18 / 6-May / Nuisance effects of e-c; effects summary
19 / 11-May / Policy analysis in economics: reguln overview / T8 / T7 / Risk, tax, bank, pol
20 / 13-May / Competition law and e-comm implications / As2My13
21 / 18-May / Valuation of public interest damage / T9 / t8 / Comp pol
22 / 20-May / Policy options for e-commerce
23 / 25-May / Ass2Rpt: Policy analysis for e-comm / T10-revis / New / Extra & Revis
24 / 27-May / Review and exam advice; finale/farewell.
Lecture Slides
Lecture slides will be placed on the LMS page for this subject following each class. The slides are located under the heading “Lectures”.
Assessment
Assessment Overview
Your assessment for this subject comprises the following:
Assessment Task / Individual or Group / Hard copy or Electronic / Due / WeightingAssignment 1 / Individual / Either / April 8 2009 / 15%
Assignment 2 / Individual / Either / May 13 2009 / 15%
End-of-semester exam / Individual / Exam books / June 2009 / 70%
Exam Policy
The Faculty requires that you are available for the entire examination period. Supplementary exams will not be provided in cases of absence during the examination period, unless the absence is due to serious illness or other serious circumstances. See the Special Consideration web site for more information: http://www.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/students/special/#missing
Using the Assignment Tool
During the course of the semester, you’ll be asked to submit one or more assignments in hard copy format. When submitting an assignment in hard copy, you must first print out an assignment cover sheet via the Assignment Tool, then complete the cover sheet and attach it to your assignment before you submit it.
A student guide has been prepared on the use of the Assignment Tool. The guide provides instructions on how to submit individual assignments, how to form groups and submit group assignments. The guide can be downloaded here: http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/StudentsGuideAssignmentTool.pdf
Please note that you are required to keep a copy of your assignment after it has been submitted, as you must be able to produce a copy of your assignment at the request of your subject co-ordinator at anytime after the submission due date.
Plagiarism and Collusion
Presenting material from other sources without full acknowledgement (referred to as plagiarism) is heavily penalised. Penalties for plagiarism can include a mark of zero for the piece of assessment or a fail grade for the subject.
Plagiarism is the presentation by a student of an assignment identified as his or her own work even though it has been copied in whole or in part from another student’s work, or from any other source (e.g. published books, web-based materials or periodicals), without due acknowledgement in the text.
Collusion is the presentation by a student of an assignment as his or her own work when it is, in fact, the result (in whole or in part) of unauthorised collaboration with another person or persons. Both the student presenting the assignment and the student(s) willingly supplying unauthorised material are considered participants in the act of academic misconduct.
See http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism/plagiarism.html for more information.
The Teaching and Learning Unit has developed a web-based ‘Academic Honesty Module’ that allows you to learn more about and test your knowledge of plagiarism and collusion. You are strongly encouraged to complete this module, which can be accessed at: http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/AcademicHonestyTest/index.cfm
Penalties for Late Submission and Exceeding Word Limits
In order to ensure equality for all students, assignments must be completed within specified time limits. Late submissions will attract a marking penalty where approval for late submission has not been given.
Assignments that exceed word limits may also attract a marking penalty.
Section 15 of the University’s Assessment Policy lists standard penalties for exceeding word limits and for the late submission for work for New Generation undergraduate courses.
Special Consideration
Students who have been significantly affected by illness or other serious circumstances during the semester may be eligible to apply for Special Consideration.
The following website contains detailed information relating to who can apply for Special Consideration and the process for making an application:
http://www.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/students/special/
Referencing
All sources used for a written piece of assessment must be referenced. This is to acknowledge that your material is not based entirely on your own ideas, but is based, in part, on the ideas, information, and evidence of others. This is desirable as you are attending University in order to learn from others.
You will be required to use the APA system or Harvard System of referencing. The TLU has prepared a booklet for each system specifically to assist students to reference correctly. Each booklet contains many examples that will help you when preparing your assignments. The booklets can be found here: http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/apastyle.pdf and http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/The_Harvard_System.pdf
It is important that all material you present for assessment is referenced correctly. Material that has not been referenced correctly may be considered to be plagiarised, and as such may be penalised. We will also look for evidence that material included in the bibliography has been used in the assignment. Including references that have not been used may also result in your assignment being penalised.
LMS Discussion Board
The Discussion Board for this subject can be accessed via the LMS subject page and allows you to post messages and read messages at any time. All students are free to communicate with each other using the Discussion Board by posting, reading, and replying to messages.
The discussion forum is organised into threads (conversations within a topic). Messages are posted by starting a new thread or replying to an existing posting. To access the Discussion Board, click on the Discussion Board located in the navigation menu of the LMS page for this subject.
Non-assessable Revision Tests
Teaching & Learning Unit
The Teaching and Learning Unit offers a wide range of support services to students. If you are having any difficulty in studying for this subject you could arrange a consultation with the Unit’s learning skills specialist. The learning skills specialist can review your current approaches to study and offer advice on how to adjust to the demands of tertiary study. If you are a student from a non-English speaking background there is an English as a Second Language specialist who is available to help with your written work. Both of these specialists are available for face-to-face consultations or electronically through email. Go to the Faculty office to arrange for consultations or contact the specialists electronically through the Teaching and Learning Unit web page. The web page also contains a wide variety of study skills topics and information sheets for students, and a timetable of up-coming events, including focussed workshops, designed to support Economics and Commerce students in their study.
The Teaching and Learning Unit is located on the 2nd floor of the Babel Building. Please visit the TLU’s website – http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/.
Make use of the Teaching and Learning Unit. It is there to help.
Recent Past Exams
Examination in Economics for E-Commerce in 2008:
(Exam formalities deleted)
PART A: ANSWER ONE QUESTION ONLY
EITHER
1. Two basic demand functions used by economists are described as (a) a linear relationship between demand quantities and own prices; and (b) a constant-power function in prices and other variables explaining demand quantities. Explain the properties, uses, strengths and limitations of each of these demand functions. Explain how they may assist e-commerce managers and economists seeking to study e-commerce operations in a modern economy. Explain how you would obtain any information required by these functions that is not normally available through officially-published statistics.
OR
2. Write brief notes on any three only of the following concepts in relation to their role and contribution to using economic analysis for the purposes of advising those taking decisions in relation to e-commerce in a modern economy:
- Economic theories of pricing
- Economic theories of (optimal) advertising
- Cost functions for both short-run and long-run analyses
- Demand functions with constant elasticities
- Economics of risk-bearing with prospectively good and bad outcomes
- Computer spreadsheets such as Excel/XL used for benefit-cost analysis.
PART B: ANSWER ONE QUESTION ONLY