L561: Electronic Commerce Syllabus

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		L001		5:45-8:30 PM T		hrosenba@indiana.edu		Office: 005B@SLIS		12:30-2:00 M 3:30-5:30 PM T
Spring 2007		Room		Time		Instructor: Howard Rosenbaum		Telephone: 855-3250		Office hours

Use this table to move through the syllabus:

Introduction	Course Objectives	Course Requirements	Other Information	Assignments
Grading	Required Texts	Topic Outline	Assignments/Due Dates (short)

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	Where do great business ideas come from?	How do people develop new products and services?

	How do you write clear and persuasive business plans to promote your ideas to potential investors?
	How do you do this in the world of ebusiness?
	This is digital entrepreneurship and answering these questions is the focus of this course.

Introduction

Background: An overview of ebusiness

A working definition of ebusiness focuses on the marketing and planning strategies, entrepreneurship, consumer behavior, and legal and regulatory policy issues related to the commercial development of the Internet. It includes at least the following:

The exchange of goods and services across an interactive digital network;

A computer-mediated and virtual market with new relationships among the business and consumers as can be seen with mobile and ubiquitous commerce;

A digital means of exchange (digital money, ecash, secure credit card transactions);

The increasing importance of digital information as a commodity;

Technologies to ensure privacy and protect intellectual property; and

New forms of entrepreneurship, business processes and technologies to support ebusiness

Ebusiness over the Internet takes many forms, including:

Business-to-business;

Business to consumer;

Business-to-government;

Consumer-to-government; and

Consumer-to-consumer (peer-to-peer).

Business on the web is in its second decade. What is the current state of electronic business? Since the beginning of the century, commentators and pundits have been competing to announce the most optimistic projections for the growth of ebusiness. For example, in 1999 Forrester Research analysts predicted that:

By 2004, online commerce will reach $6.8 trillion. This huge amount comprises Forrester's projection for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions online.1

In 2003, Forrester revised their forecast for 2003-2008 and predicted that there would be:

A 19% compound annual growth rate overall (Forrester, US ebusiness Overview: 2003-2008, July 25, 2003). Compared with the explosive growth of 1997 to 2002, growth will slow, but nothing could match the heady days of going from a small base to a large one. Forrester sees two key trends impacting rates: "a growing and maturing online shopper base", and "retail site improvements." They cite the growth of home broadband and diversification of types of online purchasing as experienced shoppers become more and more comfortable with the channel.2

Here's another perspective:

Raising its estimates for internet e-commerce, eMarketer's newly released ebusiness: B2B Report forecasts that worldwide business-to-business activity will grow to $2.7 trillion by 2004, an increase from the $226 billion reported at year-end 2000.³

So now it's 2007 and what has happened?

This chart, from the Department of Commerce (2006), shows that retail ebusiness sales have risen steadily since 1999, the first year that sales were tracked. In the quarter before the recent holiday season, consumers spent $27.5 billion, an increase of 20.9% over the third quarter 2005 and amounted to approximately 2.8% of total retail sales for the quarter.⁴

The trend seems to be positive and increasing. According to Cominskey (2006)5:

Just how big is the online marketplace getting? Well, one new study predicts e-commerce in the United States will surpass a major milestone in 2006. Leadpile.com, a centralized online lead marketplace, says 2006 United States E-Commerce sales will top $100 Billion in a report released this week. This follows a report issued last month by JupiterResearch that predicts online retail sales are expected to grow from $81 Billion in 2005 to $144 Billion in 2010.

Carlson (2007)6 goes even further:

American consumers bought into e-commerce in a big way during 2006, as online retail spending eclipsed $100 billion for the first time.

Spending at U.S. online non-travel sites reached $102.1 billion, marking a 24-percent increase versus 2005, according to comScore Networks.

Much of that growth is due to a record-breaking holiday season that began with a Black Friday boom and a huge Cyber Monday.

Twelve days during November and December surpassed the $600 million mark in 2006. In comparison, just six days in 2005 reached $500 million in online sales.

And many of those big days came later than ever before.

On Monday Dec. 11, consumers set a single-day record for online spending with $661 million. But two days later, that record was broken as shoppers spent $667 million online. American shoppers during the following two days spent 33 percent and 38 percent more online than they did the same two years before.

By the end of the season, holiday e-commerce accounted for $24.6 billion, up 26 percent versus last year.

However, that's not where the real action is. According to the US Department of Commerce (2002)

In 2000, 94 percent of e-commerce is B-to-B. While the surveys do not collect separate data on business-to-business (B-to-B) and business-to-consumer (B-to-C) e-commerce, E-Stats shows that e-commerce represents a much larger share of total economic activity in sectors that sell primarily to other businesses.⁷

We watched as millions of dollars were invested in companies that either began with "e-" or ended in ".com," and have become fast-fading memories both in b2c and b2b sectors. By 2001, over 1,500 companies had burned through their venture capital or, if they had gone public, had seen their stock valuations decrease precipitously. Many hundreds of e-businesses have closed their virtual doors; we all miss Pet.com's sock puppet and the zippy WebVan delivery service. pets.com sock puppet With hindsight, we wonder what these venture capitalists were thinking. We also wonder if the people running these companies understood anything about running a business (beyond happily taking the VC money). If you have been following this story (online, of course), you are aware that the ebusiness bubble burst six years ago. In fact, you may know someone who has been affected by the shakeout - at last count, the number of dotcom layoffs had reached into the thousands. A 2002 report from Challenger, Gray, and Christmas⁸, an outplacement firm, estimates that 100,000 ebusiness jobs were lost in 2001.

Despite mixed early results, as ebusiness moved into its second decade, many business people, government officials, and academic researchers are optimistic and argue that ebusiness will become a permanent and important part of the Internet landscape. Laudan and Traver (2001) think that we are in the second stage of ebusiness, where the business rules that shape the offline economy extend to the digital economy; for example, ebusiness will by "business-driven" with an "earnings and profit emphasis" and more "traditional financing."⁹ A more positive trend was highlighted in a 2004 New York Times article which claimed that the rate at which jobs were being lost in Silicon Valley in 2003 was declining ¹⁰

There is also encouraging news from the Federal Government's Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006) ¹¹ which tracks employment trends:

Employment of computer and information systems managers is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2014.

Employment of computer systems analysts is expected to increase much faster than the average as organizations continue to adopt increasingly sophisticated technologies.

The computer systems design and related services industry is expected to experience rapid growth, adding 453,000 jobs between 2004 and 2014.

Despite fast employment growth, keen competition for management analyst positions is expected for jobs; opportunities should be best for those with a graduate degree, specific industry expertise, and a talent for salesmanship and public relations.

Employment for computer scientists and database administrators (web designers are included here) is expected to increase much faster than the average as organizations continue to adopt increasingly sophisticated technologies.

McGann, King and Lyytinen (2002) ¹² argue that the US is well positioned to assume global leadership in ebusiness and provide a list of drivers of ebusiness:

Demographics such as high gross domestic product and large population

Favorable long-term economic environment for growth in a free economy

Telecom infrastructure that makes the US the most wired country in the world

Digital divide narrowing

Highest Internet user population on the world

Ubiquitous availability of broadband access for both consumers and businesses

Governmental support of the emphasis on ebusiness growth and the Internet as learning tool in schools

B2B and B2C revenue expected increase significantly over the next 5 years

Expanding of infrastructure expected taking place to support the advent of new B2B business models

Wide use of credit cards for consumer

So we know now that the shakeout is over. Ebusiness has not disappeared, in fact, it is getting stronger. What happens next?

The class

We will spend the semester thinking about this question. We assume from the start that the next stage will be driven by innovations in digital products and services as well as in the basic infrastructure of ebusiness. therefore, our first attempt to answer the question of what happens next is to focus on digital entrepreneurship. What kinds of ideas will work in this evolving ebusiness environment? Our second attempt will be to step back and take a broader view of this part of the marketplace.

This is a course on ebusiness. During the next four months, we will have two main goals. First, we explore digital entrepreneurship in the context of the process of new digital product development and the creation of new businesses. What is involved in the innovation process? How can you bring a new or improved product or service from conception to the marketplace? What is involved in selling your idea to potential investors and partners?

Second, we take a broader view of ebusiness drawing on theoretical and empirical work to understand how it has developed and what the main issues and forces are that are shaping its future. You will learn about the history, development, and economics of ebusiness and about the major issues with which people are grappling as they work to make their ebusiness succeed.

What we will be studying

This course will provide you with an analytical and technical framework to understand the emerging world of ebusiness and will be divided into three domains:

Economic: business plans, digital banking and money, marketing and advertising, business models, customer relationship management;
Social: entrepreneurship, privacy, intellectual property protection, legal and regulatory initiatives; and
Technological: Internet infrastructure, network security, web services, mobile commerce:

However, in reality, these realms are entirely interconnected and inseparable. The successful use of technologies is driven primarily by social and economic factors, and the lack of sensitivity to this relationship generally results in the development and implementation of technological systems that will fail, or fail to be used effectively. The course will thus focus on the interrelatedness of these three realms, and, in particular, the degree to which technological innovation in digital markets is driven by social, managerial, and economic choices.

Using an approach based on social informatics and economics, we will explore past and current experiments and models for ebusiness, starting with such pre-Internet activities as electronic data interchange (EDI) and electronic funds transfer (ETF) and moving to current business processes, including emoney (Paypal, Clickshare, Peppercoin), auctions (eBay) , portals (Yahoo!, MSN), mobile commerce (telecomms), and business-to-business marketplaces (Tradezone). The importance of advertising, marketing and demographic statistics in the networked environment will be covered. We willinvestigate the nature of entrepreneurship and innovation. Finally, we will explore issues of law, regulation, and ethics that affect the domestic and global conduct of ebusiness.

In terms of the technical framework, you will have an understanding of security, authentication, data integrity, and digital signatures. You will also gain an understanding of the dynamics of the emerging technical standards relevant to electronic commerce, including the business applications of XML, the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) standard and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) (among others).

What you will do

In this course, you will join a development team that will focus on the creation of an innovative or improved digital product or service. You will learn about and write a business feasibility plan for a digital product or service that you and your team will spend the semester developing and prototyping. Completing this project will merge your technical skills from the program with knowledge of the appropriate research literatures in the context of a "real world" simulation of innovation, product design, and prototype development.

The technical skills that you can bring to the class include programming, database, systems evaluation and design, usability and human-computer interaction, information seeking and use, information architecture, and information organization. The research areas that you can bring to the class are those that support these skills and could include project management, the organization and representation of knowledge and information, human-computer interaction, information visualization, and information retrieval.

Notes

1. Forrester Research Inc. (1999). Forrester Projects $6.8 Trillion for 2004 ($ B): http://glreach.com/eng/ed/art/2004.ebusiness.php3
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2. Kogel, K. (2003). Holidays Ahead: Bigger Spending Online, Cross-Channel Shopping Expected to Grow. Smart Marketing Report, Doubleclick.: http://www3.doubleclick.com/market/2003/09/dc/feature1_holiday.htm?c=0309_smr&id_lead=newsletter&id_source=newsletter_0309
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3. EbizChronicle.com. (2001). New Report Reveals: Global B2B ebusiness to Reach $2.7 Trillion by 2004. February 1.: http://www.ebizchronicle.com/backgrounders01/feb/emarketer_project.htm
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4. US Department of Commerce. (2004). Quarterly retail e-commerce sales 3rd quarter 2004.: http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/data/html/3q2004.html
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5. Cominskey, D. (2006). Report: 2006 Online Retails Sales to Hit $100 Billion. Ecommerce-guide.com: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/trends/article.php/3598281
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6. Carlson, C. (2007). E-Commerce Spending Off The Charts . Internet.com: http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3652021
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7. US Department of Commerce. (2003). Retail e-commerce sales in third quarter 2003 were $13.3 billion, up 27.0 percentfrom third quarter 2002, Census Bureau Reports.: http://www.economicindicators.gov
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8. Challenger, Grey, and Christmas. (2002). More dotcom job cuts in August. August 27.: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358311&rel=true
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9. Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G. (2001). E-commerce: Business, Technology, society. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley. 32.
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10. Flynn, L. (2004). Job losses slow in silicon Vally, Report says. New York Times, January 19: http://weatherhead.cwru.edu/sprouts/2002/020205
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11. US Department of the Census. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2006). Occupational Outlook Handbook: http://www.bls.com
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12. McGann, S., King, J. and Lyytinen, K. (2002). Globalization of E-Commerce: Growth and Impacts in the United States of America Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Environments, Systems and Organizations, Vol 2: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/19/technology/19venture
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Ebusiness logo from: http://www.solent.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/business_computing_hnd/images/ebusiness.jpg

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Course Objectives

After the first part of the course, you will:

Understand how to take an IS product or service idea and carry it through to a prototype by analyzing problem situations and designing possible solutions;

Understand how smaller IS companies are created and how they work;

Understand and be able to apply basic principles of project management in the design of an information product or service;

Be able to write a feasibility proposal for IS products and services; and

Know how to present your ideas to IS business professionals

After the second part off the course, you will:

Have a basic understanding of ebusiness models and channels, including mobile commerce;

Understand the history and development of global electronic commerce;

Understand the complexities of the marketplace for ecommerce (i.e., marketing, advertising, consumer demographics, business models);

Be familiar with some legal and regulatory policy issues that affect ecommerce;

Understand issues surrounding privacy and the protection of intellectual property; and

Have basic knowledge of network security risks and solutions

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Prerequisites

This course is intended to accommodate students of many different backgrounds, and is not restricted to students in the School of Library and Information Science. However, as this class makes extensive use of the net and Web, students enrolling in this course should have a strong familiarity with the use of the net resources, and should be comfortable working with HTML for web page design.

If you have a question about whether or not your computing background is sufficient, please ask the instructor.

The course also involves extensive teamwork, which means that you have to be willing to make a commitment to your teammates to act responsibly throughout the semester. This means attending team meetings, making positive contributions to the assessment exercise, and getting your portion of the work done on time. There is also a strong service component in the class which means that you also have a responsibility to your client. They will be depending on you to do your best work for them.

Course Requirements

To receive a passing grade in this course, you must turn in all of the assignments and the term project and do your presentation. You cannot pass this course without doing all of the assigned work, however, turning in all of the work is not a guarantee that you will pass the course. Grades of <I> (Incomplete) may be assigned in this course after discussion with the instructor, but, depending on the circumstances, there will be a penalty applied at the discretion of the instructor.

All papers and assignments must be submitted on the dates specified in this syllabus. If you cannot submit an assignment or cannot deliver a presentation on the date it is due, it is your responsibility to discuss your situation with the instructor, preferably in advance. Given that your reasons or problems are legitimate, arrangements for the completion of the outstanding work can be made; this will occur, however, at the discretion of the instructor. There will be a penalty for work turned in after the assigned date, and this will also be applied at the discretion of the instructor.

Your written, web-based, and oral work will be evaluated according to four criteria; it must:

Be clearly written, marked up, and/or presented;

Demonstrate a degree of insight into the concepts, issues, and trends in both the areas you investigate in the assignments and in the course content;

Demonstrate a degree of originality in your reviews, analyses and projects; and

Display some familiarity with the appropriate current and/or classic literatures where appropriate.

Borderline grades will be decided (up or down) on the basis of class contributions and participation throughout the semester.

Academic dishonesty

There is extensive documentation and discussion of the issue of academic dishonesty here in the Indiana University "Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct" with a special section added for graduate students here. Of particular relevance is the section on plagiarism:

3. Plagiarism
A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, words, or statements of another person without appropriate acknowledgment. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge an indebtedness whenever he or she does any of the following:

a. Quotes another person's actual words, either oral or written;

b. Paraphrases another person's words, either oral or written;

c. Uses another person's idea, opinion, or theory; or

d. Borrows facts, statistics, or other illustrative material, unless the information is common knowledge.

From: http://www.dsa.indiana.edu/Code/index1.html

Plagiarism is the use of someone else's ideas, words, or opinions without attribution. Any assignment that contains plagiarized material or indicates any other form of academic dishonesty will receive a grade of F. A second instance will result in an automatic grade of F for the course. Penalties may be harsher depending upon the severity of the offense. See Indiana University's "Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct" [link to code].

There is more to avoiding plagiarism than simply citing a reference. To aid students both in recognizing plagiarism and in avoiding the appearance of plagiarism, Indiana University's Writing Tutorial Services has prepared a short guide entitled "Plagiarism: what it is and how to recognize and avoid it". This guide is available at: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html. It provides explicit examples of plagiarism and offers strategies for avoiding it. Each student should be familiar with this document and use it as a guide when completing assignments.

Dr. Russel Williams, at Florida State University, offers tips on avoiding inadvertent plagiarism:

If you take material that is not yours, from any source whatsoever, and copy it into assignments for this class, you must provide an appropriate footnote, endnote, parenthetical, and/or bibliographic reference to the source of the material.

Any material quoted verbatim from other sources must be enclosed in quotation marks and its source attributed as noted in item #1 above.

Material not taken verbatim from a text, but is paraphrased must also be attributed in the manner indicated in item #1

Indiana University and School of Library and Information Science policies on academic dishonesty will be followed. Students found to be engaging in plagiarism, cheating, and other types of dishonesty will receive an F for the course. As a rule of thumb, when in doubt, cite the source!

The following definitions of letter grades have been defined by student and faculty members of the Committee on Improvement of Instruction and have been approved by the faculty (November 11,1996) as an aid in evaluation of academic performance and to assist students by giving them an understanding of the grading standards of the School of Library and Information Science:

Grades at SLIS

Grade	GPA	MEANING
A	4.0	Outstanding achievement. Student performance demonstrates full command of the course materials and evinces a high level of originality and/or creativity that far surpasses course expectations
A-	3.7	Excellent achievement. Student performance demonstrates thorough knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing all requirements in a superior manner
B+	3.3	Very good work. Student performance demonstrates above-average comprehension of the course materials and exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus
B	3.0	Good work. Student performance meets designated course expectations, demonstrates understanding of the course materials and is at an acceptable level
B-	2.7	Marginal work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete understanding of course materials.
C+ C	2.3 2.0	Unsatisfactory work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete and inadequate understanding of course materials
C- D+ D D-	1.7 1.3 1.0 .07	Unacceptable work. Course work performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS degree. For the course to count towards the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
F	0.0	Failing. Student may continue in program only with permission of the Dean.

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Other Important Information

There are three ways you can get in touch with me outside of class:

My office is Room 005B in the School of Library and Information Science, Bloomington campus, and my office hours are 12:30-2:00 PM on Monday, and 3:30-5:30 PM on Tuesday. I can also meet with you by appointment if these hours are not convenient.

My office phone number at SLIS is 812-855-3250. I have voice mail, so you can always leave me a message.

My email address is hrosenba@indiana.edu. I will check the mail at least twice daily and will respond to messages when I read them. This is a good way to for you to communicate with me privately - email messages do not get lost!

There is a class list, called hrosenba_ecommerce, to which we are all subscribed. By sending an email message to hrosenba_ecommerce@listserv.indiana.edu, you can communicate with everyone else.

I will use the mailing list to send messages to the class; typically, these will be clarifications of questions about assignments and other important information, such as when we must alter or cancel office hours. I'll also send interesting postings that cross our screens from time to time. You can use the list to ask questions of your colleagues and me as the semester progresses.

I suggest that you check your e-mail every day!

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		Assignments

Select any of the topics for a detailed description of the assignment --->	Term project and presentation	Business feasibility plan	Profile of an ebusiness company	Issue paper	Reflection and critique

You will be evaluated on the basis of a term project and four assignments (one of which is involved in the final project). You will complete three assignments on your own. You will complete one assignment and the term project with your team. The term project is broken into three components that will be due throughout the term. Because of its complexity, the term project is discussed first. The remaining assignments are also described below, and all will be discussed in greater detail in class.

TERM PROJECT AND PRESENTATION

You will join a business startup team that will spend the semester developing a prototype of an innovative digital product or service (or an improvement of an existing product or service). This will be a hands-on project that will take you deeply into information systems design and development and digital entrepreneurship. Your goal is to develop a digital product or service and write a business feasibility plan to support it that will capture the imagination of IT professionals and venture capitalists.

The team process

On January 9, you will form your development team of no more than 4 people.

Each team should have people familiar with business, database design, web design, electronic media, and research and writing. Communication and presentation skills will also be important.

Team work and benchmarks

Over the course of the semester, you will:

Brainstorm with your team to develop a project idea for a digital product or service (either a new one or an improvement of an existing one). Your team will send an email message describing your idea or ideas to the instructor by January 29. Note that this is a Monday. This will give the instructor time to review your descriptions and provide feedback the next night in class.

Receive signoff; your team then spends the rest of the term developing a prototype of the product or service.

Write a business feasibility proposal. This will be due on March 6

Meet regularly with the instructors throughout the term. All meetings begin at 4:30 PM and at least two members of the group must attend each meeting. The weeks of January 23 and April 10 are exceptions - all groups will meet with the instructor and the meetings begin at 4:00 PM.

At each meeting, be ready to discuss:

What you have done;

What you have left to do;

Problems that you have encountered; and

What you are doing about them.

During these meetings, the instructors will provide feedback about your progrss, help you work through problems (if there are any), and make suggestions about how to proceed.

Here is the meeting schedule. All meetings will take place in the instructor's office:

Date
Groups

January 23
1: 4:00
2: 4:20
3: 4:40
4: 5:00
5: 5:20

January 23
1: 4:30
3: 4:50

January 30
2: 4:30
4: 4:50
5: 5:10

February 13
3: 4:30
1: 4:50

February 20
5: 4:30
2: 4:50
4: 5:10

February 27
1: 4:30
3: 4:50

March 20
4: 4:30
5: 4:50
2: 5:10

March 27
3: 4:30
1: 4:50

April 3
2: 4:30
5: 4:50
4: 5:10

April 10
5: 4:00
4: 4:20
3: 4:40
2: 5:00
1: 5:20

With your team, turn in your feasibility proposal and some means by which your prototype can be accessed to the instructor on April 10, so that these materials can be made available to the judging panel.

Present your work on April 17. This presentation is described below.

Meet one last time on April 23 to find out the results of the judging and discuss what to do next, if you think you want to take the next steps to commercialize or make available the work that you have done.

Date		Groups
January 23		1: 4:00 2: 4:20 3: 4:40 4: 5:00 5: 5:20
January 23		1: 4:30 3: 4:50
January 30		2: 4:30 4: 4:50 5: 5:10
February 13		3: 4:30 1: 4:50
February 20		5: 4:30 2: 4:50 4: 5:10
February 27		1: 4:30 3: 4:50
March 20		4: 4:30 5: 4:50 2: 5:10
March 27		3: 4:30 1: 4:50
April 3		2: 4:30 5: 4:50 4: 5:10
April 10		5: 4:00 4: 4:20 3: 4:40 2: 5:00 1: 5:20

Working on the project:

Each team will have its own account on a SLIS server called (ella).

To access to this account, use ssh to access ella.sllis.indiana.edu:

ssh ella.slis.indiana.edu

Use your network password:

********

Then you will be able to access your group directory

The directory you see will look like your home directory on ella. You will find the files you want in the appropriately labeled subdirectories.

Each team will work out its own rules and procedures for working in this common space.

Project deliverables:

The main deliverables are

An abstract of an idea for an IS product or service
This will be a 500 word description of your idea that explains what it is, why it's a good idea, what may be involved in developing it, what use it may have, and who the target audience is. You will submit your abstract by January 29.

This abstract will be the basis of description of the product or service that appears in the business feasibility plan

A business feasibility plan (described below) that will be due on March 6

A project documentation report

This report will provide a summary of the work that has gone into developing your product or service. You will keep an archive of the documentation you produce, the sketches and early versions of the idea, and the data from the testing and evaluation that you conduct. The report will have four main parts:
- What you have done
- Technological specifications of your product or service
- Wireframes, diagrams, flow charts or some graphic representation (whichever is applicable) of your product or service
  
  These illustrations should support the previous section
- Usability reporting
The entire report should not be more than about 1500 words (six-eight pages including illustrations). It will be an appendix to the business feasibility report and will be due in April 10.
A working prototype of your product or service

Presentation:

Your team will present its feasibility plan and prototype on April 17. The format and requirements of the presentation will be discussed in class. You will be presenting your work to a panel of IT professionals from the local business community. This panel will be made of (at least) a venture capitalist, the CEO of an IT firm, and a small business specialist.

Your presentation is sales pitch and presentation of the work you have done on your project. These presentations will take place in an electronic conference room at the Showers Building downtown. Your presentations will be videotaped so that you may have an archival copy to accompany your feasibility plan and prototype. Your team will go before the judging panel and present your work; the only other people in the room will be the instructor and other interested businesspeople.

The schedule for these presentations will be distributed in class on April 3. On April 23 you will attend a final class where the results of the judging will be presented.

Your presentation will be evaluated by the following criteria:

The commercialization value and creativity of the business idea

The written feasibility proposal

The prototype

The ability of your team to answer adequately questions from the judges

The professionalism of your team's presentation

Grading:

Feasibility plan: 15%

Project documentation report: 5%

Prototype: 30%

Presentation: 10%

The final project will be due on April 17 and will be worth 60% of your final grade - there will be a single grade assigned to all team members on the basis of the evaluation of the final project.

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BUSINESS FEASIBILITY PLAN

You will write a business feasibility report that will clearly and concisely explain your digital product or service and the plan you have to commercialize it.

Your business feasibility plan will be the "road map" of the business that would be built around your product or service, assuming that you want to commercialize it. It will show your team how to get to where you all want to go.

This plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your company's resume. The basic components include an estimated balance sheet, and an income statement with projections. This helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make good business decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any funding. Additionally, it informs sales personnel, suppliers, and others about your operations and goals.

The business feasibility plan will include the following sections:
- Executive Summary
- Company Summary
- Product or Service Description
- Market Opportunity
- Strategy and Implementation
- Management Plan
- Financing Requirements
- Arrendix

You will write the plan in increments. Beginning on February 6 a draft of a section is due. Feedback will be given which should be incorporated into the final version. Here is the schedule:

Component	Date due
III. Description of Product and services	February 6
IV. The Market Opportunity	February 13
V. Strategy and Implementation	February 20
VII. Financing Requirements	February 27

Sections I, II, and VI do not require the same level of research and effort and can be done at the end of the process.

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/L561/syll/biz_plan.html

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/L561/syll/biz_plan.doc

Here are two Excel spreadsheets that you can use to calculate your financial statements. The first is a complex tool that will automatically calculate a range of tables and charts based on the data that you provide. The resukts are needed for the "Market Opportunity" section of thre plan. It is here: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/L561/syll/financials-template.xls.

The second is a simple form (downloaded from Innovateur: Entrepreneur Intelligence (2006). The Financial Plan: High Growth Potential Ventures) that you can use for the break-even analysis that is needed for the "Financial Requirements" section of the plan. It is here: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/L561/syll/break-even.xls.

The business feasibility plan will be due and presented in class on March 6. Your team will come to the classroom at a prearranged time and will present your plan to the instructor. Presentations will occur at 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 PM and 8:00. For your presentation, you will use Powerpoint or an equivalent tool or a web-based presentation. You will also prepare a one page summary of your presentation for the instructor. Your presentation will be no more than 20 minutes in length. By the end of the week, the instructor will provide your team with feedback.

This assignment will be discussed in class on January 9. It is due on March 6 and will be worth 15% of the final grade. This percentage is divided as follows:

5% for the presentation of the plan, and

10% for the final version of the plan

Return to Assignments list

PROFILE OF AN EBUSINESS COMPANY

For this assignment, you will investigate a publicly held company that has a significant online presence either in the business-to-consumer or the business-to-business sectors. You will write a company profile of about 1500 words that will explain the company's place in the ebusiness landscape. In your essay try to make use of principles and ideas that we discuss in class.In general, you will present a larger sense of your company. This may include:
- Background information about the company
  - What is the mission or vision of the company?
  - What is the company's business model? What is its value proposition?
  - What does the company do? What kinds of products and/or services does it company provide?
  - Where is it located (headquarters and branches)?
  - How many employees does it have?
  - Who are the company's main clients/customers? Have they changed over the years?
  - Who are the company's main competitors? How does the company seem to handle the competition?
- The company's history
  - When was the company formed and incorporated?
  - How has the company grown?
  - Has it been involved in any mergers and acquisitions?
  - What can you find out about its leadership?
  - Has the company been in legal or other difficulties? What happened?
  - A description of of its "corporate culture"
- The company's performance
  - How well is the company doing?
  - What kinds of evidence is there that can be used to illustrate company performance?
  - What sorts of changes might it have to make in the near future to continue to do well?
  - Has the company introduced new products or services recently? Is the company considering the introduction of any new or upgraded products or services?
  - What can we expect from this company in the next five years?
  You will email the instructor the name of the company you wish to investigate by February 6. You will receive a confirmation of your choice (or a suggestion that you make another choice) by February 8. The completed essay is due on March 27 and is worth 15% of the final grade. You will send the essay to the instructor as an attachment.

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ISSUE PAPER

Undertake an analysis of one particular facet, theme, issue, or development in ebusiness that we will be raising in the course. Possible topics include:

Internet demographics

Why are internet demographics important?

Who are the major providers of internet demographics?

What are their best estimates of the number of people on the web?

What are some of the important findings and insights that can be gathered from these providers?

How do they gather their information?

Why do their estimates vary so much?

Business models and strategies for ebusiness

What are some of the dominant business models in web ebusiness?

What is a portal and why are they important?

What are some of the strategies that are being used to improve customer service?

How are ebusiness firms attempting to build communities and why should they bother do to this?

How do online auctions work and why are they so successful?

What are affiliate programs, who is trying them, and how well are they working?

Web advertising

What are the dominant advertising strategies and how well are they working?

What are the rates for different types of web media buys?

What are the major techniques used to measure the effectiveness of web advertising?

How are advertisers affected by new US laws (especially the Child Internet Protection Act)?

What are the major techniques that advertisers use to gather information about people and what types of information do they gather?

Who is making money from advertising and why?

Commercial web site design and maintenance

What are the dominant approaches to commercial web site design?

What are some of the major issues web designers must consider when developing a commercial web site?

What can we learn from usability studies of web sites?

What are some of the components of a successful web design and/or administration and why are they important?

How will organizations change as they begin to integrate their ebusiness web sites into their routine business processes?

What are the typical skills and experiences that web server administrators or managers should have?

Digital money and electronic banking

What are some of the different forms of digital currency (emoney) and how do they work?

What are the types of services being offered by online banks and financial services?

What are smart cards, how do they work, and why haven't they caught on in the US?

What are some schemes for processing microtransactions and what are the challenges they face?

What are some digital payment systems that are currently in development and how do they work?

Network security

What are the major protocols and software solutions used to provide security for web based transactions?

How can web site administrators protect their servers from intrusion?

Describe a recent security attack and the ways that is could have been prevented

Explain what steganography is and why it's important

What is a firewall and how does it work?

Legal and regulatory environment

What is the current international copyright regime and how is it affecting ebusiness?

What is the Administration's current position on ebusiness and how does it match up against positions taken by other governments?

What are other governments doing to promote ebusiness in their countries or regions?

What types of internet legislation is Congress considering and how will they affect ebusiness?

You will select one major area and investigate several questions for that area. Use relevant class readings as a basis for your essay, but include and sources (digital or otherwise) that help you answer these questions. Be sure to cite relevant sources that you use. Your essay should be about seven pages (~1,500 words), excluding bibliography. You will send your essay to the instructor as an attachment.

This assignment will be discussed in class on January 9. You will email your proposed paper topic to the instructor by February 20 and will receive email confirmation by February 22. The assignment is due on April 23 and will be worth 15% of the final grade.

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REFLECTION AND CRITIQUE

Write an essay where you reflect on the process of developing your product or service and writing your business plan. In this essay:

Explain how the labor was divided in your team

Describe your role in gathering the information for and writing the business feasibility plan, the development of the prototype, and the creation and performance of the presentation

Briefly summarize what you have learned about ebusiness from this experience.
Suggest any ways that this experience can be improved when the course is taught again.

This essay should be no more than two pages (~500 words). This assignment will be discussed in class on January 9 and is due on April 23. You will send your essay to the instructor as an attachment. This assignment is worth 5% of the final grade.

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Grading

This table shows the assignments you have to do and the percentage of the final grade each is worth.

Assignment	% of Final Grade
Profile of an ebusiness company	15%
Issue paper	15%
Reflection and critique	5%
Final project	60%
Feasibility plan Presentation of plan Prototype Presentation	15% 5% 30% 10%
Participation	5%

NOTE

There is a small portion of the overall grade (5%) that has been allocated for class participation. For the purposes of this class, participation is defined as contributing to class discussion or demonstrating in other ways that you are making an effort to succeed in this class. In addition, as a professional, you will be expected to articulate your ideas in both written and oral form, therefore it is important that you think critically and present your ideas throughout the duration of the class.

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Required Texts

There is one required text for this course:

Abrams, R., and Kleiner, E. (2000). The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies, 4th edition. The Planning Shop. (September 1) ISBN: 0966963563: This book is available at: Amazon.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com; Pricing: from $28.45 new to $13.00 used

Digital readings for the course are on the web, in the instructor's password protected directory, or in the SLIS library electronic reserve system.

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Topic Outline, Reading Schedule and Assignment Due Dates

Select any date and see:

the topics that will be covered;
the readings that have been assigned;

the assignments that will be discussed; and
the assignments that are due in that class.

Schedule of classes

Select any date to see readings, assignments, and due dates	January 9	January 16	January 23	January 30
	February 6	February 13	February 20	February 27
	March 6	March 13	March 20	March 27
	April 3	April 10	April 17	April 23

Note: the URLs for the readings were last checked on January 7, 2007

January 9

Introduction: ebusiness, innovation, and business startups

Topics: Overview of the course
Formation of teams
Brainstorming
Assignments: Final project discussed; Company profile assignment discussed; Issue paper assignment discussed; Forming teams; Brainstorming: begin writing up your ideas for innovative or reinvented digital products or services

Return to Schedule of classes

January 16

Developing a business plan

Topics

The importance of business planning
Components of a business plan

The powerpoint overheads for the discussion of business plans can be downloaded as a single file. The link is at the bottom of this page. The file, called biz_plan.ppt was created with Powerpoint X for Mac and can be viewed with the Powerpoint viewer.

If you want to print the overheads, you should select <handouts (6 to a page)> to save paper. You should also select the option <pure black & white> so that colors will be printed in black and white.

Readings

Abrams and Kleiner (2000). Section 1

Center for Business Planning (2006). Sample Business Plans

http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html

Comox Valley Economic Development Society (2002). Home page

http://www.investcomoxvalley.com/Business%20Plans.html

Kinney, T. (2004). How To Write A Business Plan. Bplans.com

http://www.bplans.com/dp/

Pinson, L. and Jinnett, J. (1993). How To Write A Business Plan US Small Business Administration

http://www.sba.gov/library/pubs/mp-32.pdf

Assignments

Write Introduction (Company Description) Draft

There are templates available that you can use to format the business feasbility plan.

An online version is here: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/faculty/hrosenba/www/L561/pdf/biz_plan.html

A Word version is here: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/faculty/hrosenba/www/L561/pdf/biz_plan.html

All groups meet with instructors before class

Group	Time
#1	4:00
#2	4:20
#3	4:40
#4	5:00
#5	5:20

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January 23

Creating something out of nothing (or very little)

Topics

Digital entretreneurship
Innovation

The powerpoint overheads for the discussion of entrepreneurship can be downloaded as a single file. The link is at the bottom of this page. The file, called entrepreneur.ppt was created with Powerpoint X for Mac and can be viewed with the Powerpoint viewer.

Readings

Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. (2006). Overview of Entrepreneurship. Harvard Business School

http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurship/resources.html#resoverview

Ashoka. (2006). What is a Social Entrepreneur?

http://www.ashoka.org/fellows/social_entrepreneur.cfm

Downing, S. (2005). The Social Construction of Entrepreneurship: Narrative and Dramatic Processes in the Coproduction of Organizations and Identities Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(2) Page

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111%2Fj.1540-6520.2005.00076.x

The Entrepreneur Network. (nd). For Entrepreneurs

http://tenonline.org/art-ent.html

Assignments

Groups 1 and 3 meet with instructors before class

Group	Time
#1	4:30
#3	4:50

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January 30

Defining your market

The PowerPoint overheads for the presentation on the marketing analysis component of the business plan can be downloaded as a single file. The link is at the bottom of this page. The file, called marketing.ppt was created with Powerpoint X for Mac and can be viewed with the PowerPoint viewer.

If you want to print the overheads, you should select <Handouts (6 to a page)> to save paper. You should also select the option <Pure Black & White> so that colors will be printed in black and white.

Topics

Understanding the market
Understanding the competition
Making sales projections

Readings

Abrams and Kleiner, Chapter 6, 7, 8 23

KnowThis.com (2007). How to Write a Marketing Plan: Part 2: Situational Analysis

http://www.knowthis.com/tutorials/marketing/marketingplan1/3.htm

NetMBA (2006). Market Analysis Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, Inc.

http://www.netmba.com/marketing/market/analysis/

Virtual Advisor, Inc. (2004). Conduct a Market Analysis

http://www.va-interactive.com/inbusiness/editorial/sales/ibt/market_analysis.html

Assignments

Description of product or service idea due (on January 29)

Groups 2, 4, and 5 meet with instructors before class

Group	Time
#2	4:30
#4	4:50
#5	5:10

Return to Schedule of classes

February 6

Financial feasibility - Understanding financial statements

Topics

Understanding the financial component of a business plan
Balance sheets
Start-up costs
Financial assumptions

The PowerPoint overheads for the presentation on the financial component of the business plan can be downloaded as a single file. The link is at the bottom of this page. The file, called financials.ppt was created with Powerpoint X for Mac and can be viewed with the PowerPoint viewer.

Readings

Abrams and Kleiner, Chapter 16

BixPlanIt, LLC (2006). Virtual Business Plan: Financial Projections

http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan/financial.html

FSO Technologies. (2003). Pricing your products and services

http://www.gofso.com/Premium/BS/fg/fg-Pricing.html

Innovateur: Entrepreneur Intelligence (2006). The Financial Plan: High Growth Potential Ventures

http://www.innovateur.co.uk/financial_plans.html

SCORE. (2006). Templates for your business

http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html

Assignments

Product or service description draft due

Email name of company for company profile assignment

Receive confirmation of company for company profile assignment within 48 hours

Write financials draft (determining start-up costs)

Return to Schedule of classes

February 13

Business models and strategies

Topics

Business models for ebusiness
Thinking strategically

The PowerPoint overheads for the presentation on business models for ebusiness can be downloaded as a single file. The link is at the bottom of this page. The file, called bizmodels.ppt was created with Powerpoint X for Mac and can be viewed with the PowerPoint viewer.

Readings

Chesbrough, H. and Rosenbloon, R.S. (2002). The role of the business model in capturing value from innovation: Evidence from Xerox Corporation'ss technology spin off companies. Industrial and Corporate Change, 11(3). 595-555.

http://icc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/11/3/529.pdf

List, D. (2006). What is a business model?

http://www.audiencedialogue.org/busmod.html

McManus, R. (2006). Mashup Business Models

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mashup_business.php

Rappa, M. (2006). Business models on the web

http://www3.digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html

Rappa, M. (2006). Digital markets

http://www3.digitalenterprise.org/markets/markets.html

Assignments

Marketing draft due

Email issue paper topic to instructor

Groups 1 and 3 meet with instructors before class

Group	Time
#3	4:30
#1	4:50

Return to Schedule of classes

February 20

Assessing ebusiness readiness

Topics

Ebusiness strategy
Understanding ROI

The powerpoint overheads for the the analysis of ebusiness readiness can be downloaded as a single file. The link is at the bottom of this page. The file, called ready.ppt was created with Powerpoint X for Mac and can be viewed with the Powerpoint viewer.

Readings:

Abrams and Kleiner, Chapter 18, 19, 20

Department of Employment and Economic Development. (2006) E-Commerce Readiness Guide.

http://www.deed.state.mn.us/Community/erg/

Grover, V. and Saeed, K.A. (2004). Strategic orientation and performance of Internet-based businesses. Information Systems Journal. 23-42

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/l561/pdf/grover_ecomm-perf.pdf

Huang, J.H., Huang, W.W., Zhao, C.J., and Huang, H. (2004). An E-Readiness Assessment Framework and Two Field Studies. Communications of the Association for Information Systems. 14 Article 19 October, 2004

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/l561/pdf/huang_ereadiness.pdf

Mogollon, M. and Raisinghani,M. (2003). Measuring ROI in e-business: a practical approach. Information Systems Management. Spring. 63-83.

http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/l561/pdf/mongollon_measure-ecomm.pdf

Assignments

Strategic plan draft due

Email issue paper topic to instructor

Receive confirmation of issue paper topic from instructor within 48 hours

Groups 2, 4 and 5 meet with instructors before class

Group	Time
#5	4:30
#2	4:50
#4	5:10

Return to Schedule of classes

February 27

A history of ebusiness

Topics: Electronic data interchange
Barriers to ebusiness
Effects of ebusiness on the economy
Readings:
Barsh, J., Crawford, B., and Grosso, C. (2001). How e-tailing can rise from the ashes. McKinsey Consulting

Return to Schedule of classes

March 6

Presenting the business feasibility plan

Group Time

Group 5 5:45

Group 1 6:10

Group 4 6:35

Group 2 7:00

Group 6 7:25

Group 3 7:50

Group	Time
Group 5	5:45
Group 1	6:10
Group 4	6:35
Group 2	7:00
Group 6	7:25
Group 3	7:50

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March 13

S P R I N G B R E A K

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March 20

But will they come back: Customer relationship management for ebusiness

Topics: Types of CRM
Building customer loyalty
The importance of trust
Readings:

Boyce, G. (2002). Beyond Privacy: The Ethics of Customer Information Systems. Informing Science

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March 27

Business-to-business ebusiness and web services

Topics: Types of CRM
Building customer loyalty
The importance of trust in ebusiness
Readings:

Chen, M., Chen, A.N.K., Shao, B.B.N. (2003). The implications and impacts of web services to electronic commerce research and practices. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 4(4) 128-142.

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April 3

Network security: Protecting the goods

Topics: Internet security and ebusiness
Information security
Protecting network infrastructure
Readings:

Bagchi, K. and Udo, G. (2003). An analysis of the growth of computer and Internet security breaches Communications of the Association for Information Systems. 12 Article 46 684-700

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April 10

M-business, wireless and U-business

Topics: Ubiquitous ebusiness
Wireless ebusiness
Mobile ebusiness
Readings:

Agrawal, M., Chari, K, and Sankar, R. (2003). Demystifying Wireless Technologies: Navigating Through The Wireless Technology Maze. Communications of the Association for Information Systems. 12 Article 12, 166-182

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April 17

Presentation of prototypes to panel at an undisclosed location!!!

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April 23

Digital money and wrap up!

Topics: Why we don't have digital money
Epayment systems
Ebanking

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Assignments and Due Dates: Short Version

This table shows the assignments you have to do, the dates that they will be This table shows the assignments you have to do, the dates that they will be discussed in class, other important dates, the percentage of the final grade each is worth, and the dates the assignment are due.

Assignment/Project	% of Final Grade	Due Date
Company profile Email company name for profile to instructor receive confirmation of name within 48 hours Discussed in class	15%	March 27 February 6 February 8 January 9
Issue paper Email topic to instructor Receive confirmation from instructor Discussed in class	15%	April 23 February 20 February 22 January 9
Reflection and critique Discussed in class	5%	April 23 January 9
Final project Group formation Progress meetings Feasibility plan Description of product or service idea due Product and service draft due Market analysis draft due Strategy analysis draft due Financials (start-up costs) draft due Prresentation of plan Working prototype Project documentation report Presentation date and time Discussed in class	60% . . 15% . . . . . 5% 30% . 10%	April 17 January 9 Throughout the term March 6 January 29 February 6 February 13 February 20 February 27 March 6 April 10 April 10 April 3 January 9

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Page by Howard Rosenbaum
Find me at hrosenba@indiana.edu	http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/L561/syll/l561_s07.html