COMENIUS UNIVERSITY IN BRATISLAVA
Faculty of Management, Department of Information Systems
Syllabus E-Business and E-commerce
prof. RNDr. Michal Greguš, PhD.
e-mail: michal.gregus@fm.uniba.sk
Mgr. Andrea Studeničová
e-mail: andrea.studenicova@fm.uniba.sk
The objectives:
The goal is to teach students how to use information and communication technologies for the company
to compete successfully in global markets, find new and maintain existing customers with minimal
costs.
The course consists usually of several basic lectures and some special lectures by experts from
practice.
Basic reading: Keneth C. Laudon, Carol Guercio Traver: E-Commerce 2013, Business, Technology,
Society. 9th edition. Prentice Hall, 2012, 912pp, ISBN-10: 0132730359, ISBN-13: 978-0132730358
http://www.azimuth-interactive.com/ecommerce9e/
Read the following chapters for the sessions as recommended by the lecturer:
Session 1: Introduction to E-commerce
Chapter 1. The Revolution is Just Beginning
Chapter 2. E-commerce Business Models and Concepts
Session 2: Technology Infrastructure for E-commerce
Chapter 3. The Internet and World Wide Web: E-commerce Infrastructure
Chapter 4. Building an E-commerce Website
Chapter 5. Online Security and Payment Systems
Session 3 and 4: Business Concepts and Social Issues
Chapter 6. E-commerce Marketing Concepts
Chapter 7. E-commerce Marketing Communications
Chapter 8. Ethical, Social, and Political Issues in E-commerce
Session 5 and6: E-commerce in Action
Chapter 9. Online Retailing and Services
Chapter 10. Online Content and Media
Chapter 11. Social Networks, Auctions, and Portals
Chapter 12. B2B E-commerce: Supply Chain Management and Collaborative Commerce
What you should learn in each chapter:
Chapter 1: The Revolution Is Just Beginning
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Define e-commerce and describe how it differs from e-business.
Identify and describe the unique features of e-commerce technology and discuss their business
significance.
Recognize and describe Web 2.0 applications.
Describe the major types of e-commerce.
Discuss the origins and growth of e-commerce.
Understand the evolution of e-commerce from its early years to today.
Identify the factors that will define the future of e-commerce.
Describe the major themes underlying the study of e-commerce.
Identify the major academic disciplines contributing to e-commerce
Chapter 2: E-commerce Business Models and Concepts
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Identify the key components of e-commerce business models.
Describe the major B2C business models.
Describe the major B2B business models.
Understand key business concepts and strategies applicable to e-commerce.
Chapter 3: E-commerce Infrastructure: The Internet, Web, and Mobile Platform
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Discuss the origins of the Internet.
Identify the key technology concepts behind the Internet.
Describe the role of Internet protocols and utility programs.
Discuss the impact of the mobile platform and cloud computing.
Explain the current structure of the Internet.
Understand the limitations of today’s Internet.
Describe the potential capabilities of the Internet of the future.
Understand how the Web works.
Describe how Internet and Web features and services support e-commerce.
Understand the impact of m-commerce applications.
Chapter 4: Building an E-commerce Presence: Web Sites, Mobile Sites, and Apps
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Explain the process that should be followed in building an e-commerce Web site.
Describe the major issues surrounding the decision to outsource site development and/or hosting.
Identify and understand the major considerations involved in choosing Web server and e-commerce
merchant server software.
Understand the issues involved in choosing the most appropriate hardware for an e-commerce site.
Identify additional tools that can improve Web site performance.
Understand the important considerations involved in developing a mobile Web site and building mobile
applications.
Chapter 5: Online Security and Payment Systems
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Understand the scope of e-commerce crime and security problems.
Describe the key dimensions of e-commerce security.
Understand the tension between security and other values.
Identify the key security threats in the e-commerce environment.
Describe how technology helps protect the security of messages sent over the Internet.
Identify the tools used to establish secure Internet communications channels, and protect networks,
servers, and clients.
Appreciate the importance of policies, procedures, and laws in creating security.
Describe the features of traditional payment systems.
Understand the major e-commerce payment mechanisms.
Describe the features and functionality of electronic billing presentment and payment systems.
Chapter 6: E-commerce Marketing Concepts: Social, Mobile, Local
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Identify the key features of the Internet audience.
Discuss the basic concepts of consumer behavior and purchasing decisions.
Understand how consumers behave online.
Describe the basic marketing concepts needed to understand Internet marketing.
Identify and describe the main technologies that support online marketing.
Identify and describe basic e-commerce marketing and branding strategies.
Chapter 7: E-commerce Marketing Communications
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Identify the major forms of online marketing communications.
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Understand the costs and benefits of online marketing communications.
Discuss the ways in which a Web site can be used as a marketing communications tool .
Chapter 8: Ethical, Social, and Political Issues in E-commerce
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Understand why e-commerce raises ethical, social, and political issues.
Recognize the main ethical, social, and political issues raised by e-commerce.
Identify a process for analyzing ethical dilemmas.
Understand basic concepts related to privacy.
Identify the practices of e-commerce companies that threaten privacy.
Describe the different methods used to protect online privacy.
Understand the various forms of intellectual property and the challenges involved in protecting it.
Understand how governance of the Internet has evolved over time.
Explain why taxation of e-commerce raises governance and jurisdiction issues.
Identify major public safety and welfare issues raised by e-commerce.
Chapter 9: Online Retail and Services
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Understand the environment in which the online retail sector operates today.
Explain how to analyze the economic viability of an online firm.
Identify the challenges faced by the different types of online retailers.
Describe the major features of the online service sector.
Discuss the trends taking place in the online financial services industry.
Describe the major trends in the online travel services industry today.
Identify current trends in the online career services industry.
Chapter 10: Online Content and Media
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Identify the major trends in the consumption of media and online content, and the major revenue
models for digital content delivery.
Understand digital rights management.
Discuss the concept of media convergence and the challenges it faces.
Understand the key factors affecting the online publishing industry.
Understand the key factors affecting the online entertainment industry.
Chapter 11: Social Networks, Auctions, and Portals
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Explain the difference between a traditional social network and an online social network.
Understand how a social network differs from a portal.
Describe the different types of social networks and online communities and their business models.
Describe the major types of auctions, their benefits and costs, and how they operate.
Understand when to use auctions in a business.
Recognize the potential for auction abuse and fraud.
Describe the major types of Internet portals.
Understand the business models of portals.
Chapter 12: B2B E-commerce: Supply Chain Management and Collaborative Commerce
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Define B2B commerce and understand its scope and history.
Understand the procurement process, the supply chain, and collaborative commerce.
Identify the main types of B2B e-commerce: Net marketplaces and private industrial networks.
Understand the four types of Net marketplaces.
Identify the major trends in the development of Net marketplaces.
Identify the role of private industrial networks in transforming the supply chain.
Understand the role of private industrial networks in supporting collaborative commerce.
Sample Questions for E-business and E-commerce course:
1. Describe how the Internet and the World Wide Web have impacted e-commerce.
2. Outline what should be done with a Web site to gain audience interest.
3. List what is important in motivating customers to take action (buy online, etc.).
4. Explain distribution in relationship to e-commerce.
5. Explain the -strategies e-businesses are using to create value for customers.
6. Compare and contrast how e-commerce is being used as a strategic tool by e-retailers and
traditional retailers.
7. Describe how online communities are targeting individuals and what it takes to make a successful
online community.
8. Describe how businesses are using data and new technologies to gain competitive advantages.
9. Explain the importance of brand names of e-business.
10. Explain how e-businesses are organizing themselves to compete.
11. List and describe the major legal issues related to e-business.
12. Describe the importance of quality online customer service.
13. Explain the importance of long-term customer relations in e-business.
14. Explain how you would measure the value of the web site.
15. Explain how Google has attained its success.
16. Discuss the various online marketing communications efforts that exist through the use of
sponsorship and affiliate deals.
17. What are Web transaction logs, and how do they work in combination with registration forms,
shopping cart databases, cookies, and Web bugs to help firms understand how customers behave
online?
18. What are the values or benefits of search engine marketing? Describe the types of search engine
marketing that exist.
19. Define the term industry structure and discuss the ways the Internet and e-commerce have
changed the five forces that characterize industry structure.
And some more questions:
Question 20: One of your customers complains about the delivery of goods that she claims she did not
order.
(a) What is needed to establish that a contract actually existed?
(b) What other information is it useful to keep about your customers, and what could you use it for?
(c) Describe some of the problems of anonymous payment schemes such as digital cash. Where might
they be useful?
(d) What recourse would the customer have if she had paid using such a system, and how would you
detect whether such a complaint was fraudulent?
Question 21: A company proposes to introduce a new e-mail service, one with a small postage charge
for each message. It is believed that by charging for each message sent the amount of spam will be
reduced.
The response rate for spam is about 0.005%, that is about five in a hundred thousand messages elicit a
positive response.
(a) Estimate a price that might economically discourage spam.
(b) Describe approaches to handling the micro-payments involved.
(c) What is meant by a network externality, and how might it be overcome in this case?
(d) The postage charges might be credited to the recipient, less a handling fee. Describe a mechanism
for this.
Question 22: It is said that the Internet played a significant role in the US presidential election. You
are asked by a major UK political party to advise them on their Internet policy and associated
website. The party has about 200,000 members, each paying a fee of £25 per annum. Its total annual
income, mainly from donations, is about £20M. The UK has about 46 million people registered to
vote. There are about 646 parliamentary constituencies.
(a) Describe in brief bullet points the key elements of your proposed Internet strategy.
(b) Draw an outline block diagram of the architecture that would be needed.
(c) Make and justify some estimates of the size and cost for its implementation.
(d) Outline relevant regulations.
Question 23: Suppose that the annual fixed cost of operating and maintaining a merchant web site is
$100,000. The only source of traffic for your site is a pay-for-performance referral site that charges
you 25 cents for each click through. If the average value of a sale is $50.00 at this site what is the
number of referrals that will be necessary to breakeven? You may assume that the site’s average
variable operating expense is 15% of sales, the site’s conversion rate is 20% and the margin on the
merchandise sold is 40%.
Recommended literature:
Efraim Turban, Jae Kyu Lee, Dave King, Judy McKay, Peter Marshall: Electronic Commerce, A
Managerial Perspective 2008: International Edition, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-513544-3
Matthew Portnoy: Virtualization Essentials, Sybex; 1 edition 2012, ISBN-10: 1118176715, ISBN-13:
978-1118176719
Barrie Sosinsky: Cloud Computing Bible, Wiley; 1 edition, ISBN-10: 0470903562, ISBN-13: 9780470903568
Natalia Kryvinska Michal Greguš: SOA and its Business Value in Requirements, Features, Practices
and Methodologies, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, 2014, ISBN 978-80223-3764-9
Thomas Plevyak, Veli Sahin: Next Generation Telecommunications Networks, Services, and
Management (IEEE Press Series on Network Management), Wiley-IEEE Press; 1 edition 2010, ISBN10: 047057528X, ISBN-13: 978-0470575284
And some more books from Laudon: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/laudon/
Evaluation of the subject (There are two alternatives):
One possibility is to prepare a presentation on a given (by the lecturer) topic from e-commerce or ebusiness. The presentation should be approximately 20-25 minutes long.
The other possibility is to prepare answers to the four questions. The answers should be at least two
and half pages long (i.e. 4500 symbols)or cca seven minutes long presentation for each answer, that is
for all four questions it is 10 pages (standard page is 1800 characters) or 25 minutes The answers
should be presented in class.
The answers should be sent in advance in electronic form to the address michal.gregus@fm.uniba.sk
or andrea.studenicova@fm.uniba.sk.
Last change made:
May 2015