MBA Stream in Electronic Commerce
The Michael G. DeGroote School of
Business
McMaster University
March 3, 2000
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The Michael G. DeGroote MBA Stream in Electronic Commerce
Objectives
The general objective of the Electronic Commerce (EC) stream is to provide students with the
technical and managerial background required for management and leadership roles in electronic
commerce applications for businesses and industries of today and tomorrow. Specifically, students
graduating for this program will :
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understand the technological elements underlying the strategies and requirements of
electronic commerce
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be able to design, develop, implement and integrate electronic commerce information
systems
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understand the business, economic, and social trends and issues involved in electronic
commerce innovations
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be prepared for the operational, tactical and strategic management of electronic
commerce applications
Demand
Electronic commerce is the ability to perform transactions and exchange business information
between and within enterprises and other groups in the community with the support of electronic
technologies. The recent explosive growth of the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, has
generated significant interest in the development of electronic commerce. There is little doubt that
these developments will have a huge impact on the operations, systems, and efficiency of business,
industry, and government by the early 21st century. Organizations of all size will be forced to consider
the creative use of electronic commerce not only for business redesign, but in many cases, for survival
in the emerging global marketplace.
The need for organizations to implement and manage electronic commerce is becoming critical
to their success. Industry demand for professionals qualified to effectively manage the opportunities
and challenges posed by this technology has risen, and will continue to rise dramatically.
MBA graduates are generally trained to provide management and leadership skills, but often
lack the technical background required to shape and accomplish the operational and strategic objectives
of electronic commerce. On the other hand, computer science graduates may have the technical
competence, but lack the business skills necessary for technology management. The Michael G.
DeGroote EC stream will provide MBA graduates with the managerial and technical skills demanded
and necessary in the electronic marketplace.
Unique Difference
McMaster University is the first university in Ontario to offer a MBA stream in electronic
commerce. Although most universities offer some electronic commerce courses (such as an
introduction to electronic commerce and electronic commerce marketing), their offerings are not
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extensive enough to support an EC program or stream.
Some universities outside of Ontario have established an electronic commerce focus at a
Masters level (e.g. the Faculty of Business at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John).
However, these programs focus on the "softer" aspects of electronic commerce, such as public
policy, management, marketing, legal, security and privacy issues. Little attention is paid to the
more technical aspects of electronic commerce such as Web-site engineering, programming,
network communication, interface design and intelligent agents. Up to 50% (and a minimum of
40%) of the courses taken by EC students in our MBA stream will be directly related to these
technical aspects. This strong technical emphasis will truly be unique within Ontario and within
Canada. Students following this stream will acquire highly demanded skills that will
differentiate them from other MBA graduates.
Admission Requirements
Since this stream has a strong technical emphasis (students will be taking from 8 to 10
technically oriented courses), successful applicants must have a sound understanding of the
basics of computer hardware and software. It is expected that most students accepted into the
program will have an engineering or computer science degree. However, those who have
considerable work experience with computers may be considered for admissions upon
demonstration of their expertise.
Students must specifically apply for the electronic commerce stream. The admission
process will follow three stages:
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MBA acceptance: The MBA admissions office determines whether candidates are
admissible to the MBA Program.
IS faculty acceptance : Files of candidates requesting admission to the EC stream are
forwarded to the IS faculty members who are teaching in the electronic commerce stream
for an evaluation of technical competence based on education and/or work experience.
When it is not possible to judge adequately the technical competence of a candidate,
he/she will be interviewed by a member of the electronic commerce faculty for a
definitive determination.
Internship interviews : Candidates who have passed the preceding two stages are
interviewed by a member of Business Career Services to judge their skills in terms of
summer internship placements.
Internships
Each student in the EC steam is to be placed in a business or industrial internship during
the summer following the first year of studies. These positions will match as closely as possible
the students' career interests and goals. Based on the strong business and industry links
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established through the Co-op MBA program and research activities of faculty members, and the
high demand for technically competent managers, it is expected that ample opportunities will be
available for EC internship placement. A summer internship is more appropriate for these
students than Co-op work terms since certain skills (such as object oriented programming,
HTML design, and introductory electronic commerce) should be acquired before these students
are placed in a more technically oriented work environment.
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Course Requirements
The following are the course requirements for the MBA stream in electronic commerce.
Specific course descriptions appear in the Appendix. First year courses designed specifically for
e-commerce students are indicated by an asterisk.
1. First Year
Introductory Period (2 weeks)
Communication Skills for Business
Working Effectively in Teams
W601
W604
Quarter 1
Financial Accounting I
Marketing Concepts
Organizational Behaviour
Business Statistics I
Quantitative Approaches to Decision Making
A611
M601
B601
Q611
Q601
Quarter 2
Financial Accounting II
Managerial Economics
Marketing Applications
Information Systems in Management
Introduction to Operations Management
A612
E601
M602
S601
Q621
Introductory Period (2 days)
Creative and Critical Thinking
W602
Quarter 3
Financial Management
Object-Oriented Programming*
Introduction to International Business
Economic Environment of the Firm I
Managerial Accounting I
F600
K600
I601
E611
A621
Quarter 4
Financial Management (continued)
Object-Oriented Programming* (continued)
Strategic Management
Introduction to Electronic Commerce*
Marketing in Electronic Commerce*
F600
K600
P601
K601
K602
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2. Summer Internship
Students will be placed in a job environment relevant to their career development.
Evaluation of student internship experience will be based on a written report which details
student experience and the work environment, in relation to electronic commerce applications. A
satisfactory grade must be achieved on the written report and employer feedback.
3. Second Year
Courses taken during the second year are thirteen weeks in duration (with the following
exceptions: W603 is a workshop-type course. H601 and Q612 are six week courses) and have a
credit value of 1.
Introductory Period (2 days)
Business Ethics
W603
Required
Telecommunication Networks
Electronic Commerce Technology
Databases and Data Warehouses
Electronic Commerce Management Issues and Strategies
Business Process Re-engineering
Information Retrieval and Intelligent Agents
Human Resources I*
Business Statistics II*
K721
K722
K723
K724
K725
K726
H601
Q612
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Special Research Project in Electronic Commerce
Project Management
Human Computer Interface
Decision Support Systems
Supply Chain Management
Market Trading and Risk Management
Introduction to Wireless Networking (offered through ECE)
Professional Software Development (offered through ECE)
Introduction to Communication Architecture (offered through ECE)
K729
K731
K732
K733
K734
F722
ECE787
ECE768
ECE745
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Quarter courses
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Appendix
Electronic Commerce Course Descriptions
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, courses are semester-length.
Business K600 Object-Oriented Programming
Prerequisite : Registration in the EC stream
An introduction to computer programming using modern programming and markup
languages common on the Internet. Object-oriented (OO) programming languages and
methodologies have emerged from the research environment to become a major force in the
commercial world. In this course, students will be introduced to the ideas and techniques of OO
programming, and will learn basic skills of Java programming through a series of programming
assignments. Students will also be introduced to HTML through a Web page development
project.
Business K601 Introduction to Electronic Commerce (quarter course)
Prerequisite : None
An introduction to the concepts and principles of electronic commerce and how it impacts
today's business environment. This course will provide a basic familiarity with the business,
organizational, and technological issues involved in electronic commerce. Emphasis will be
placed on electronic commerce enabled business applications, including accounting, banking,
marketing, trading, retailing.
Business K602 Marketing in Electronic Commerce (quarter course)
Prerequisite : None
Today, electronic commerce is creating new groups of customers in cyberspace, new
digital products and services, new media for promotion, new ways of pricing, and new ways of
products and service delivery, and new intermediaries. Electronic commerce has also
significantly revolutionized promotion mechanisms, and fostered the elimination or adaptation of
existing intermediaries and the development of intermediaries in entirely new forms. In this
course, the critical marketing interface is examined, based on two complementary marketing
approaches: transactional marketing and relational marketing. Transactional marketing can be
characterized by some variation of the four P model (Product, Place, Price, and Promotion),
while relational marketing is more oriented towards customer relationship development,
characterized by database, interaction, or network approaches. Team projects will be required for
students to study these formats and their impact in the electronic marketplace.
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Business K721 Telecommunication Networks
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
Alternative : ECE 6MA3 Computer Communication Networks
This course is designed to help students understand the basic concepts and building
blocks of telecommunication networks and the design and management of communication
resources. Trends in advanced telecommunication technologies such as mobile, multimedia, and
high speed telecommunication, network standard and network security, Internet and
telecommunication service industry etc., will be discussed in a series of information searching,
reference reading and student presentations. Basic knowledge of computers and information
systems is required to take the course.
Business K722 Electronic Commerce Technology
Prerequisite : Business K600
A detailed examination of the planning, development, implementation, management and
maintenance phases of a Web site's evolutionary cycle. The course will examine the technology
and practices of the Web, where topics will include information architecture, quality assurance,
standards, security, and integration. Development tools and techniques will be introduced, and
students will become familiar with XML, CGI, ActiveX, among others. Students will learn how
to deploy information resources and create electronic commerce sites on the Web.
Business K723 Databases and Data Warehouses
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
Databases are very important components of electronic commerce. This course is
designed to introduce basic concepts on database and information systems development. Data
modeling and data-oriented systems development approaches are emphasized. Students will
learn how to use database packages through assignments. Current trends in object-oriented
approach, client-server computing, Data warehouses and Web databases will be discussed.
Students will gain first-hand experience through the development of a real world database
application in a term project. Basic knowledge of information systems and computer
programming is required to take this course.
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Business K724 Electronic Commerce Management Issues and Strategies
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
This course will address the economic, social and cultural impact of electronic commerce
and their business strategies. Issues concerning electronic payments and security systems,
competition, taxation and legal obligations will also be examined. Students will do group
projects to study real e-commerce cases. Learning will be through a combination of lectures,
invited speakers, and group field projects with class presentations.
Business K725 Business Process Re-engineering
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
The objective of this course is to demonstrate, directly and by case studies, the
relationships between business processes and the information systems, human resources, and
organizational capabilities that support the performance of the processes. Students also become
acquainted with the competitive and strategic context for re-engineering and with the use of ERP
(SAP) software for integration of processes through out the organization. Tools for dataflow
analysis and balancing corporate scorecards are introduced to enable students to analyse
intra-organizational information retrieval through system analysis and design.
Business K726 Information Retrieval and Intelligent Agents
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1, K600
Due to advances in technology, diverse and voluminous information is becoming widely
available. This presents the potential for improved decision support, but poses challenges in
terms of building tools to support users in accessing, filtering, evaluating and fusing information
from heterogeneous information sources such as Internet. This course will examine Web
searching and push technology, intelligent catalogues and automatic indexing. Students will
learn about the design and structure of different types of intelligent agents in support of Ecommerce. A major course project consists of developing an intelligent web-based agent using
an agent tool-kit.
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Business K731 Project Management
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
The role of project management in a cross section of applications such as information
technology, product development, and construction is emphasized. Topics covered include
project types, life cycles, project attribute estimation, and project portfolio evaluation and
selection. Management issues related to planning, organization, project manager selection, subcontracting, scheduling, resource allocation, and project monitoring and control are discussed.
The Microsoft Project software tool will be introduced, for project scheduling and management.
Special topics addressed include installation of ERP systems such as SAP, management of virtual
project groups at remote sites through network communications, and project implementation of
systems in highly advanced and/or disruptive technologies, such as e-commerce. The course
includes relevant case studies, student projects, and talks by invited speakers.
Business K732 Human-Computer Interaction
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
The objective of this course is to provide a detailed view of the issues related to HumanComputer Interaction (HCI). HCI is inherently a multidisciplinary subject. The student has to
embrace theories of human behaviour as well as the principles of computer systems design. In
this course, we study different facets of HCI. In particular, the emphasis will be on the designs
well suited for different designs of E-commerce.
Business K733 Decision Support Systems
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
This course focuses on the development of formal systems to improve the effectiveness of
managerial decision making and capabilities. Through the use of alternative development
paradigms and specific methodologies, the students will be taught to determine information
needs methodically, specify appropriate support systems, and assume important responsibilities
in their subsequent design and implementation. Students learn to use state of the art software
technologies for rapid prototyping.
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Business K734 Supply Chain Management
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1
The goal of managing supply chains is to manage the flow of material and information
starting from the raw materials until the finished goods are delivered to customers. Recent trends
in supply chain management are driven by two strong forces: advances in information technology
(particularly electronic commerce) and the ever increasing market appetite for greater
customization, shorter order delivery times and lower costs. Using business cases and models,
this course will introduce the students to components of supply chains (such as order
management, transportation, network design, distribution channel management, after-sales
service, and customer service strategy) and their inter-relationship with other functions of the
company such as marketing, manufacturing and accounting. Analytical tools that can be used to
develop better design and to gain greater insight into inter-firm and intra-firm co-ordination
issues will be discussed. Students will also learn how to overcome challenges in implementation
of "quick response" and "vendor managed inventory" systems.
Electrical and Computer Engineering 787 Introduction to Wireless Networking
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1, Registration in the EC stream
Introduction to networking, digital and packet switching, and protocol architecture. Error
control in communication networks. Standard local area networks (LANs), Narrowband and
broadband ISDN, ATM. Wireless and mobile communication networks, TDMA, FDMA and
random access protocols. ALOHA, CSMA and standard wireless LANs. Cellular network
design and examples. Infrastructure networking in wireless networks.
Electrical and Computer Engineering 768 Professional Software Development
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1, Registration in the EC stream
Mathematical models of programming, modularization of program, hierarchical structures
in programs, module interface documentation, program documentation, requirements
documentation, experience in producing professionally structured and documented software.
Electrical and Computer Engineering 745 Introduction to Computer Architecture
Prerequisite : Completion of Year 1, Registration in the EC stream
Review of Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model, introduction to various local
area network and metropolitan area network technologies, topological alternatives and their
media access and routing algorithms, performance evaluation of media access protocols, routing
in LAN internets and MANs, new metropolitan area network topologies and protocols, integrated
services, miscellaneous topics.
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