Course Schedule

(Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12, Week 13, Week 14, Week 15)

Week 1

Thursday (August 23): Course Introduction

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Getting acquainted
2. Course overview, goals, and administrivia
3. Introduction to Electronic Commerce

Readings:

• Course Syllabus
• "It's a Flat World, After All," Thomas Friedman, NYT (4/3/05). (Watch (optional) video presentation; read interview)
• Bakos, Y., "The Emerging Role of Electronic Marketplace on the Internet," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41, No. 8, August 1998, pp. 35-42.
• Oreilly, T., "What is Web 2.0?" (9/05).

Other:

• Ray, G., Muhanna, W.A., and Barney, J.B., " Competing with IT: The Role of Shared IT-Business Understanding," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 50, No. 12, December 2007.
• The Impact of Web 2.0 and Emerging Social Network Models - World Economic Forum, 2007.
• Tech/Web Stats: InternetWorldStats, Clickz Stats, Tofocus.
• Retail E-commerce Sales - US Department of Commerce
• E-Biz Strikes Again! Cover story, Business Week (May 10, 2004)
• Varian et al., "The Net Impact Study: The Projected Economic Benefits of the Internet In the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany," January 2002. (summary pp. 1-17)
• "Why CEOs still don't get the Net," Cnet (5/21/02)
• Teen Entrepreneurs, CNBC (8/1/12)
• Inventions That Killed Business, CNBC (8/1/12)

Assignments:

• Experience Electronic Commerce -- do it right away

Week 2

Tuesday (August 28) & Thursday (August 30): Internet Business Models

Topics (Session Slides):

B2C and C2C Business Models

B2B Business Models

Read:

• Rappa, M., "Business Models on the Web," NCSU, 2007.
• Kaplan, S. and M. Sawhney, " E-Hubs: The New B2B Marketplaces," Harvard Business Review, May-June, 2000.
• A world of connections - A special report on social networking, The Economist, January 21, 2010.

Other:

• Patented Web Business Processes/Models
• A giant sucking sound: Video games move online, The Economist, November 7, 2009. (OSU only)
• The end of the free lunch? Again, The Economist, March 19, 2009 (also here)
• Online Music: Rewriting the Score, BusinessWeek, May 30, 2005
• Jewelry Heist, Business Week, May 10, 2004

Assignments:

• Dell Online

Week 3

Tuesday (September 4) & Thursday (September 6): eCommerce Technologies I: The Network Infrastructure for E-Commerce

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Overview of Internet Architecture and Protocols
2. The Access Provider Industry
3. Internet Governance
4. Basics of Telecommunications
5. How the Internet Works

Read:

• The Internet Architecture -- a brief guide
• How Web Servers and the Internet Work, from howstuffworks.com

Other Web Resources:

• Hobbes' Internet Timeline
• Akamai's "State of the Internet" reports
• Mapnet: Internet Backbone Visualization
• Internetworking Technology Handbook from CISCO
• Tools: IP address Lookup & Host Identity, DomainTools, DNSstuff, VisualRoute, NetworkTools, Domain Name Lookup, Geolocation
• Cyber Geography -- visualizing internet topology and traffic patterns.
• Internet Traffic Report
• A note on Cybersquatting
• Directory of Internet Service Providers
• learn more about Internet2
• Internet Governance:
  • Concise Guide
  • Organizations: Internet Society, Internet Systems Consortium, IAB (Internet Architecture Board), IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
  • IP Address Block Assignment: AINA
  • Domain Name Registration: InterNIC, ICANN
• Office/Home Networking: WiFi.org and WiFiPlanet.com (Wireless), Powerline
• Emerging Wireless Technologies: WirelessMAN , MBWA
• Beyond Wi-Fi (BW; Special Report; 6/05)
• Power Line Broadband

Week 4

Tuesday (September 11): Discussion of Dell Online case (Slides)

Thursday (September 13): eCommerce Technologies II: The Web

Topics (Session Slides):

1. WWW protocol: HTTP
2. Markup Languages: HTML, XML
3. Web Services
4. Service-Oriented Architecture and Cloud Computing

Read:

• Web Services (Wikipedia)
• SOA (Wikipedia)
• Cloud Computing
• "Regulating the Cloud" Report, RAND, 2012 (Chapters 1 & 2)
• Companies Slowly Join Cloud-Computing - NYT, April 18, 2010.

Resources to Skim:

• Web Building Tutorials
• The World Wide Web Consortium
• Builders.com
• Java: Java Home
• CookieCentral
• Builder.com
• XML:
  • xml.org,XML.com,
  • XBRL: Trust and Data Assurances in Capital Markets: The Role of Technology Solutions - PWC Research Monograph
• Web Services
• The Way To A Google Office - BusinessWeek, October 31, 2005.
• Cloud Computing Frameworks/Platforms: Microsoft's Windows Azure, Amazon's Web Services (EC2), Google's App Engine

Week 5

Tuesday (September 18): eCommerce Technologies II: The Web (Ctd.)

Thursday (September 20): Tech III: Technologies for Secure E-Commerce

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Firwalls and Network Security
2. Encryption and Transaction Security
3. Digital Signature
4. Technologies: SSL, PGP, PKI

Read:

• Introduction to Cryptography (Chapter 1 which comes with PGP; skim)

Other:

• SSL FAQ
• Spyware: Spyware Runs Rampant (PCWorld; 4/15/04), How To Stymie The Snoop In Your PC (BW; 4/5/04)
• Note on Digital Signatures
• International PGP
• Hacker vs. Hacker (BW; 3/10/11)
• Passwords people use, Cracking Your PIN Code: Easy as 1-2-3-4

Week 6

Tuesday (September 25): Tech III: Technologies for Secure E-Commerce (ctd.)

Thursday (September 27): Discussion of Monster and eBay Cases (Slides)

Read:

• Network Effects (Wikipedia)
• Wolf, J., and W. A. Muhanna, "Adverse Selection and Reputation Systems in Online Auctions: Evidence from eBay Motors," Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, December 2005. (focus on introduction and conclusion)

Other:

• Arthur, W. Brian,"Positive Feedbacks in the Economy," Scientific American, Feb. 1990.
• Liebowitz, S.J., and S. E. Margolis, "Network Externalities (Effects)," The New Palgraves Dictionary of Economics and the Law, MacMillan, 1998.

Week 7

Tuesday (October 2): eCommerce Technologies III: Security (Ctd.)

Thursday (October 4): Tech IV: Electronic Payment Systems

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Online Credit Card-Based Systems
2. Digital Checks
3. P2P payment systems
4. Micropayment Mechanisms and Digital Cash
5. Smart Cards and Mobile Payment Solutions

Read:

• E-Money, S. Holly, Internet Business.
• Starbucks Schools Other Retailers on Mobile Payments, BusinessWeek, 8/23/12.

Other:

• Money - Past, Present & Future by Roy Davies
• Smart Card Players: American Express (Blue), Mondex, Visa
• Virtual Credit Cards and Digital Wallets: Visa, Google Checkout (demo)
• P2P Payment Solutions: PayPal
• Shopping PayPal or Google Checkout (7/06)
• BillMeLater (related story)
• Mobile Payment Solutions (Wikipedia), Examples: Zong, Boku, Venmo, obopay, ISIS
• Cellphone Payments Offer Alternative to Cash - NYT (4/2010)
• Neither rain or snow, but Billpay got them, Economist (4/2010)

Week 8

Tuesday (October 9): discussion of B&K Case (Slides)

Supporting Materials:

• Jeffrey, M., "Return on Investment Analysis for E-Business Projects", Technical report, Northwestern University, 2006.
• A note on Sensitivity Analysis Using Excel

Thursday (October 11): Midterm Exam

Week 9

Tuesday (October 16): eTailing

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Measuring the Opportunity
2. Online Retailing Issues and Challenges
3. M-Commerce

Read:

• Alba, J. et al., "Interactive home shopping: Consumer, retailer, and manufacturer incentives to participate in electronic marketplaces," Journal of Marketing, July 1997.
• Wolf, J., Arkes, H., and Muhanna, W., "The power of touch: An examination of the effect of duration of physical contact on the valuation of objects," Judgment and Decision Making, 3:6, August 2008. (see corresponding university Press Release; media mention: NPR, Jay Leno, The Toronto Star, Times, MSNBC, and many others.)
• Lee, Y. et al., "Coping with Internet channel conflict," Communications of the ACM, 46:7, July 2003.

Other:

• Retail E-commerce Sales - US Census Bureau

Thursday (October 18): Online Marketing

Topics: (Session Slides)

1. Nature of Marketing in EC Environments
2. Target and Micromarketing
3. Advertising on the Net

Week 10

Tuesday (October 23): discussion of Yahoo & Google's cases (Slides)

Supporting Materials:

• Google AdWords and AdSense Programs.
• On the 2008 proposed Microsoft-Yahoo Merger.
• Yahoo-Microsoft 2009 Deal

Thursday (October 25): Internet's Impact on Pricing and the Nature of Competition

Topics (Session Slides):

1. The eMarket Efficiency Hypothesis
2. Impact of Reduced Search Costs

Read:

• Bakos, Y., "The Emerging Role of Electronic Marketplace on the Internet," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41, No. 8, August 1998, pp. 35-42.
• (skim) Smith, M., J. Bailey, and E. Brynjolfsson, "Understanding Digital Markets: Review and Assessment," 2000.
• (read intro and conclusion) Campbell, C., G. Ray and W. A. Muhanna, "Search and Collusion in Electonic Markets," Management Science, March 2005.

Other:

• Second Sight, The Guardian (UK), 3/24/05. (Story on our research)
• Frictions in cyberspace, The Economist, 11/20/99.
• Good-Bye to Fixed Pricing?, Businessweek, 5/4/98.
• The Hotelling Beach Model

Week 11

Tuesday (October 30): Internet's Impact on Pricing and the Nature of Competition (Ctd.)

Thursday (November 1): Market and Organizational Implications

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Transaction Costs Economics
2. Markets vs. Hierarchies

Read:

• Malone, T. W., "Electronic Markets and Electronic Hierarchies," Communications of the ACM, 30:6, June 1987, pp. 484-497.
• Muhanna, W. A. and J. Wolf, Jr. "The Impact of E-Commerce on the Real Estate Industry: Baen and Guttery Revisited," The Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, 8:2, pp. 141-152, 2002.

Other:

• E-Biz Strikes Again! Cover story, Business Week (May 10, 2004)

Week 12

Tuesday (November 6): Disintermediation and Cybermediation

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Disintermediation and Cybermediation

Read:

• Sarkar et al., "Cybermediaries in Electronic Marketspace: Toward Theory Building", J. Business Research, 41:3, pp. 215-221, March, 1998.
• Gallaugher, J. M., "E-commerce and the undulating distribution channel," Communications of the ACM, 45:7, July 2002.

Other:

• Muhanna, W. A. and J. Wolf, Jr. "The Impact of E-Commerce on the Real Estate Industry: Baen and Guttery Revisited," The Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, 8:2, pp. 141-152, 2002.
• Atkinson, R. D., "The Revenge of the Disintermediated," January 2001.

Thursday (November 8): Discussion of the Autobytel case (Slides)

Week 13

Tuesday (November 13): Disintermediation (ctd.)

Thursday (November 15): Pricing Strategies for the Digital Age

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Pricing Digital Goods
2. Versioning
3. Bundling

Read:

• Shapiro, C. and H. R. Varian, "Versioning: The Smart Way to Sell Information," Harvard Business Review, November-December, 1998.
• Zhu, K., and MacQuarrie, B., " The economics of digital bundling: the impact of digitization and bundling on the music industry," Communications of the ACM, 46:9, September 2003.

Other:

• Weiss, R., and Mehrotra, A., "Online Dynamic Pricing: Efficiency, Equity and the Future of E-commerce," Virginia Journal of Law and Technology, 6:11, Summer 2001.

Week 14

Tuesday (November 20): BrightCove and the Future of Internet TV

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Discussion of BrightCove case

Read:

• Eisenmann, T. R., G. Parker, and M. van Alstyne, "Strategies for Two-Sided Markets," Harvard Business Review 84:10, October 2006.

Thursday (November 22): Thanksgiving Day -- no classes

Week 14

Tuesday (November 27): Strategies for the Digital Age

Topics (Session Slides):

1. Strategy for the Digital Age

Read:

• Porter, M. E., "Strategy and the Internet," Harvard Business Review, March 2001.
• The Long Tail

Thursday (Novemner 29): Term Project Presentations

Tuesday (December 4): Term Project Presentations

Back to AMIS 4660 Home Page

---

Waleed A. Muhanna / wmuhanna@ cob.ohio-state.edu