Chapter 1: a: What are the differences between click n mortar, brick n mortar, and pure play e-commerce firms?
b: How and why are supply chain activities considered to be e-commerce functions?
c: What is the role in e-commerce in changing organizational design, operations, and efficiencies
Chapter 2: a: What are the components of a marketplace? What is similar and different when considering physical versus electronic marketplaces?
b: What is an intermediary? Why are intermediaries important? How does the Internet change traditional intermediary relationships?
c: How do m-commerce and e-commerce differ? How are they similar?
d: What are the economic impacts of e-commerce applications and marketplaces? How do these differ for physical versus electronic products?
e: How does e-commerce have the potential to change the structure, design, and strategic focus of firms?
For the following chapters, please answer one of the questions (per chapter) in writing and bring your written response to class on the first day that we are scheduled to discuss it? Please consult the page that lists What's Coming Up to identify the appropriate schedule. Make certain you have your name prominently printed on the top of the page.
Chapter 3: a: The book outlines several business models and industry sectors (e.g., Tourism, Job Placement, Real Estate, Financial Services, Delivery Services, Online Digital Delivery). Which of these models makes the most sense? Which are you most likely to (or do you) use? Why?
b: When (or if) you use online purchasing tools such as www.MySimon.com or www.PriceGrabber.com, what criteria do you use in evaluating the information that the service provides for you? In other words, what causes you to trust (or not trust) the results you get?
c: Considering Click-n-Mortar businesses, such as BestBuy or Target. What are the advantages for these firms in offering information, products, sales online? What are the disadvantages?
d: Here's my assertion: Disintermediation and Reintermediation are critical concepts in e-commerce. Why would you think this is so?
Chapter 4: a: Consider the consumer decision making model shown in Exhibit 4.3. What are the differences between how a consumer behaves when engaging in the first three steps (i.e., need recognition, information search, and selection) in an e-commerce versus a traditional retail context?
b: When considering the decision making model, what is the relationship of trust to the actions taken during each step of the process? How does trust affect behavior in an online versus a traditional retail transaction?
c: Why is data mining important? How is data mining accomplished? What capabilities and data do firms need to engage in data mining? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet in supporting data mining to learn about customers?
d: Personalization is important for many retailers. What advantages does the Internet offer a firm in creating a more personalized experience for customers? What pitfalls can await firms trying to engage in customer relationship management and personalization?
Chapter 5: a: Identify and discuss at least 3 points of comparison (or contrast) between advertising on television and on web sites.
b: Identify and discuss at least 3 points of comparison (or contrast) between advertising on web sites and via email.
c: Consider various forms of web advertising such as banner ads, pop ups, interstitials, etc.; which of the advertising methods discussed in the book has proved to be most effective in winning your attention (i.e., convincing you to click through, check out a site, or buy a product)? Which are least effective (or most annoying)? Why?
d: Why is it important to develop an advertising strategy that is coordinated (e.g., to promotions in other traditional advertising media)? What are some of the pitfalls a firm faces if it doesn't manage advertising from a strategic perspective?
e: When does online advertising go too far? Cite some examples of types of advertising that go over the top, are annoying, or are distracting and offer your assessment of why a firm might engage in this type of advertisement when they probably know it annoys potential consumers.
Chapter 6: a: Identify and discuss the benefits and disadvantages for a firm in a sell-side (one-to-many) B2B relationship.
b: Identify and discuss the benefits and disadvantages for a firm in a buy-side (many-to-one) B2B relationship.
c: When a firm participates in a collaborative commerce relationship, what benefits accrue to the firm? What potential risks does the firm take?
d: What are some of the benefits of e-procurement and explain why they benefit the firm.
e: What is a reverse auction? Why are they so popular? What risks do firms take in seeking lowest price bids?
Chapter 8: a: How can groupware be used to support collaborative commerce and inter-firm relationships? In discussing this topic, identify some of the unique features of groupware and explain how these features benefit groups.
b: How would you expect information flow to differ within a firm versus between collaborating firms? In other words, what types of information would you likely want to freely share with a business partner and what types of data would you want to protect?
c: How do corporate portals differ from public, consumer oriented portals. For reference, consider a portal such as www.walmartstores.com, which is a corporate portal, and compare it to the Wal-Mart consumer-oriented portal.
d: Suppose you are a medium size manufacturer in Iowa and that you are approached by Wal-mart to supply your product to their stores. Their order is so big that they would likely buy all of the products you could produce, with the result that you would have no need to sell products to other retailers. The only thing you have to do is align your information system with Wal-mart's requirements. As you recover from your initial jubilation over this prospect, you begin to realize that there are risks with this arrangement. What risks would a firm in this situation face? Would it be wise to accept Wal-mart's offer?
e: What are some of the problems that can occur in a supply chain? How can e-commerce solve or mitigate these potential problems?
Chapter 15: a: Consider the strategic planning process discussed on pages566-568. List the top five that you think will be most important to apply to the Midwest Metal Products concept of wedding products? Of these pick the most important and explain why it's important in this case.
b: Again, for Midwest Metal Products, which strategic planning tool would you expect to be the most effective in helping the company examine the wedding products strategy?
c: List and describe at least three of the critical success factors that exist for one of the (small business) projects that we are working on during this semester. Explain why these factors are important for the case you select.
d: For the Box Company, list at least three measures that the Barkers could use to assess whether the web project that we develop for them has been a successful endeavor. How could they actually measure them?
Chapter 10: a: List three advantages for users of mobile commerce and computing and explain why these advantages benefit users.
b: List and describe three factors that are contributing to the increased availability and use of m-commerce.
c: Describe three mobile applications. Of those you described, which do you think will be most successful? Why?
d: Briefly describe LBS and provide a description of what you anticipate will be the most successful application of this type of service.
e: List and briefly describe four of the applications and benefits of RFID.
Chapter 11: a: List three benefits of electronic auctions for sellers.
b: List three benefits of electronic auctions for buyers.
c: List three risks or problems with electronic auctions.
d: Why are prices in electronic auctions often higher than in other sales venues? What factors can drive prices lower?
e: List three protections against fraud in an auction context.
Chapter 12: a: what are several (at least three) of the common types of attacks or threats that that face Internet users. Which are you most fearful of in your own use of the web? Why?
b: List and define the five common mistakes made in organizations in managing EC security. Why do you think it is so easy for organizations to forget about security?
c: List and describe three types of biometric technologies. Pick one of these and explain how it is used to authenticate users.
d: What is encryption? What are several (at least three) encryption techniques and how do they operate?