MBA405
E-Business and E-Commerce Strategy
Michael J. Shaw
Hoeft Distinguished Chair
Department of Business Administration
Course Objectives
Information technology (IT) has become the single largest area for corporate capital
investment in the U.S. That is not surprising because IT not only supports most valueadding activities, it increasingly is used to build the competitive advantages of firms.
Moreover, new IT developments in the e-business and e-commerce areas are accelerating
at such rapid speeds that the understanding of how to manage IT is getting to be an
essential skill for both technical and general managers. Moreover, we are witnessing a
revolution in the business world due primarily to explosion in information technology
and the resulting rapid emergence of Electronic Commerce and e-Business.
Commercial activities for information gathering, shopping, trading, brokering,
banking, accounting, auditing, financing, negotiating, collaborating, marketing,
supplying, partnering, training, meeting, scheduling, manufacturing, distributing,
servicing, and retailing will all be changed thanks to the capabilities of the new
information technology. All companies, large and small, will face the inevitable
challenges brought about by these technological developments.
To help train executives to be knowledgeable about e-business and e-commerce,
this course discusses the important facets of managing e-business and e-commerce. It
emphasizes (1) the strategic perspectives of e-business management, (2) the evolving
business models for electronic commerce, and (3) the importance of matching business
models with new technologies.
The topics to be covered will be presented in the following structure:
 Introduction to e-Business and e-Commerce Management
 B2C e-Commerce for e-retailing and e-Services
 Web Marketing
 Economics of Digital Products
 The IT Service Providing Industry and e-Business Development
 Channel Management for e-Commerce
 IT for Channel Partnership
 Supply-Chain Management
 Web-Based Procurement
 B2B e-Markets
 Mobile Commerce
 Enterprise e-Commerce Strategy
Topics
(Please note that the topic sequence and the guest speakers are subject to change)
1. Introduction to e-Business and e-Commerce Management
Related Readings:
a. “Building an E-business from Enterprise Systems,” M. Shaw, Information Systems
Frontiers, 2:1, pp. 7-17, January 2000.
2. e-Business Management.
Guest Lecturer: Todd Miller, President, Revere Group
Related Readings:
a. “e-Business Management Models: A Service Perspective and Case Studies, available on
the web site: http://citebm.cba.uiuc.edu/IT_cases/revere.pdf
3. B2C eCommerce for e-Retailing and e-Services,
Guest Lecturers: Mike Brennan, VP, Peapod.com, and Ken Hooten, Founder and
President, Service Masters Online.
E-Commerce Business Models
Critical Success Factors
Examples of e-Services in Auto, Travel, Airline industries
Impact of e-Commerce
Related Readings:
“Strategy and the Internet,” Michael E. Porter, HBR, March 2001.
4. Digital Products, Transparent Pricing, and Versioning
The New Economics of Information and Business
Models. -network economics, -virtual communities
-technology lock-in, -pricing of information goods,
-versioning E-Commerce business models
Related Readings:
a. Cost Transparency: The Net’s Real Threat to Prices and Brands, Indrajit Sinha, Harvard
Business Review, pp. 3-8, March-April 2000.
b. Versioning: The Smart Way to Sell Information, Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian, Harvard
Business Review, pp. 106-114, November-December 1998.
5. Web Marketing
Guest Lecturer: Scott Whitsitt, CEO, 1-to-1 Service.com
Related Readings:
a. “Branding and Bonding Beyond the Banner,” Dennis Beausejour (P&G), Spring ’98
Ad-Tech Conference.
6. The Internet as a New Channel: Managing the Mix of Bricks and
Clicks
The New Consumer Process
The Right Mix of Bricks and Clicks
Channel Management Issues
Customer Relationship Management
Related Readings:
a. Get the Right Mix of Bricks & Clicks, Ranjay Gulati and Jason Garino, Harvard Business
Review, pp. 107-114, May-June 2000.
b. Product Marketing and Channel Management in Electronic Commerce, Chandrasekar
Subramaniam, Michael Shaw and David Gardner, Information Systems Frontiers, 1:4, pp.
363-378, April 2000.
c. Chapter 7, M-Business: The Race to Mobility, R. Kalakota and M. Robinson,
McGraw Hill: New York, 2002.
7. Pervasive Computing and Mobile Commerce
Guest Lecturer: Rich Lauf
Related Readings:
Chapters 1 and 2, M-Business: The Race to Mobility, R. Kalakota and M. Robinson,
McGraw Hill: New York, 2002.
8. Case: P&G-Wal-Mart Case on channel partnership
Inter-Organizational Partnership and Coordination
Related Readings:
a. Supply-Chain Integration through Information Sharing: Channel Partnership between WalMart and Procter & Gamble, Michael Grean and Michael Shaw (available at the web
site:
http://cistm.ai.uiuc.edu).
9. Web-Based Procurement and B2B eCommerce
Case: Caterpillar's e-Commerce Project
Guest Lecturers: Mike Hackerson Director of E-Business, and Steve Blessin, Senior
Manager of E-Business, Caterpillar
10. B2B e-commerce
Coverage:
a. E-Hubs: The New B2B Marketplaces, Steven Kaplan and Mohanbir Sawhney, Harvard
Business Review, pp. 97-103, May-June 2000.
b. Beyond the Exchange: The Future of B2B, Richard Wise and David Morrison,
Harvard Business Review, pp. 87-96, November-December 2000.
11. Preparing for the Case Presentation in Germany
12. Mobile-Commerce
Guest Lecturer: Dean Haackman, Director of e-Business, Motorola
Related Reading:
Chapter 8, “Supply-Chain Focus” in M-Business: The Race to Mobility, R. Kalakota and
M. Robinson, McGraw Hill: New York, 2002.
13. Wrap-Up Session
14. Final Exam.
Grade Composition:
 Exam (30%)
 e-business/ e-commerce project (30%)
 Mini-project (25%)
 Class Participation (15%)
e-Business/ e-Commerce Project (Group):

1-Page Proposal

Project Report in Powerpoint slides (in no more than 30 slides)

Possible e-Business areas for the project (in a selected corporate setting):

M-Commerce

B2B, B2C, B2E, C2C Applications

Supply-Chain Partnership

Digital Products Strategy

E-Procurement

Evaluation of e-Business Projects
Readings
1. Building an E-business from Enterprise Systems, Michael J. Shaw, Information Systems
Frontiers, 2:1, pp. 7-17, January 2000.
2. Get the Right Mix of Bricks & Clicks, Ranjay Gulati and Jason Garino, Harvard
Business Review, pp. 107-114, May-June 2000.
3. Cost Transparency: The Net’s Real Threat to Prices and Brands, Indrajit Sinha,
Harvard Business Review, pp. 3-8, March-April 2000.
4. Versioning: The Smart Way to Sell Information, Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian,
Harvard Business Review, pp. 106-114, November-December 1998.
5. Supply-Chain Integration through Information Sharing: Channel Partnership between
Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble, Michael Grean and Michael Shaw.
6. E-Hubs: The New B2B Marketplaces, Steven Kaplan and Mohanbir Sawhney, Harvard
Business Review, pp. 97-103, May-June 2000.
7. B2B E-Commerce: The Biggest Gamble Yet, CIO Magazine, April 15 2000, 11 pages.
8. Beyond the Exchange: The Future of B2B, Richard Wise and David Morrison, Harvard
Business Review, pp. 87-96, November-December 2000.
9. Branding and Bonding Beyond the Banner, Dennis Beausejour, Spring ’98 Ad-Tech
Conference.
10. Can the Internet Hotwired P&G? K. VanScoy, Smart Business, Jan. 2001, pp. 69-84.
11. Product Marketing and Channel Management in Electronic Commerce, Chandrasekar
Subramaniam, Michael Shaw and David Gardner, Information Systems Frontiers, 1:4,
pp. 363-378, April 2000.
12. Globalism vs. Nationalism vs E-business: The World Debates, Martin Vander Weyer,
Policy, pp. 63-72.
13. Strategy and the Internet, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March
2001.
14. Your Next IT Strategy, John Hagel, III, and John Seely Brown, Harvard Business
Review, October 2001.
15. Chapters 1, 2, 7, and 8, M-Business: The Race to Mobility, R. Kalakota and M.
Robinson, McGraw Hill: New York, 2002.