W1 Assignment

What factors have contributed to the development of e-commerce such as technology, the economy and customer trends? Write up a SHORT presentation or summary of one page or less to express your feelings of the changes allowing the application e-commerce to grow.

W2 Discussion 75-150 words

Social Media such as FaceBook, Google Apps and Second life is now used for e-commerce type of activities. Discuss what marketing strategies are used in Social Media E-Commerce.

W2 Assignment

For this assignment you will become the CEO of a new company. You will begin by describing this new company. You will use this company in future assignments. Write up a SHORT presentation or summary of one page or less answering the questions.

For your new company, you will need a description of the product or service.

Identify the market by answering the following questions:

· Who could be your potential customers for this product or service?

· Who could be your potential competitors for this product or service?

· What information would you seek about potential customers and competitors—list questions you would want answered.

· How will you find out this information—what kind of market research would you do?

· What do you think are the growth possibilities for this company?

Here is a list of some example companies. You are not limited to these examples. These are only examples to help you develop your new company idea.

Example businesses:

1. Growing retailer of non-perishable consumer products (electronics and books)

2. Small but flourishing local business with one or two locations (florist and pizza restaurant)

3. Medium-sized manufacturer struggling in a challenging market (automotive and electronics)

4. Medium-sized service organization with several locations (law firm and accounting firm)

W3 Discussion 75-150 words

· This TED Conference video demos the Sixth-Sense Technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ-VjUKAsao

After viewing the video, assume your company has decided to purchase the rights to develop, produce and distribute the new product.

What type of business-to-business partnerships would you develop for this proposal?

What activities would you accomplish online such as eProcurement?

W3 Assignment

· For this assignment, take your company from last week and look at the business partnerships you would develop to support your new adventure. The needs of your company will have a variety of types of partners according to the products or services offered by your company. Write up a SHORT summary of one page or less answering the questions

For example:

· Would your company use e-business activities with the partners for ordering or selling parts or services?

· Would you use a web hosting service or your own company hardware and software?

· Would your company design the website or outsource the development?

W4 Discussion 75-150 words

· The National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) created the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax in the fall of 1999 to simplify sales tax collection. It encourages "remote sellers" selling over the Internet and by mail order to collect tax on sales to customers living in the Streamlined states.

Review the information on this site about the Streamlines Sales and Use Tax Agreement. http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/index.php?page=faqs

Post your feelings about the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and how it effects states sales tax income.

W4 Assignment

· Write up a one to two page summary of the legal and ethical issues of concern when looking at your proposed company.

To help you get started consider the following questions:

· What is ethical in B2C and B2B web sites?

· Who can you trust online?

· What are the laws in advertising online?

· Are there different issues with B2B and B2C?

· What are the ethical standards, federal laws, and international laws for email marketing?

· What can be copied online?

W5 Discussion 75-150 words

Discuss your feelings about web browser privacy after reviewing the video Tracking the Trackers at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_f5wNw-2c0 and the information on Collusion & Ghostery at http://www.ghostery.com/.

W5 Assignment

· For this assignment you will look at the web server hardware and software needs for your proposed company. I am not looking for make, models and detailed specification but rather how may customers will be accessing the server, is there going to be online purchases and payments, etc. Write up a one to two page summary of the needs.

Some of the topics you should cover will include:

· Will the company website be self-hosting or pay a service provider to host? The answer to this question could depend of company size, volume of transactions, etc.

· Does the company already have equipment and staff in place were purchasing additional software might be the best direction?

· What type of operating system, connection speed and user capacity are needed to support your proposal? For example, if your company were involved in online gaming the needs would be different from a company with an online catalog purchasing system.

· What key elements will be the software need to support such as catalogs, shopping carts, and transaction processing capabilities? Will there be blogs, file transfers, etc?

· What are the database needs such as for purchasing, inventory, customer information, etc.?

W6 Discussion 75-150 words

After watching the video Misha Glenny: Hire the hackers! At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gSwRHScq6M discuss your feeling on hiring hackers. Look at the credit card history in this video as you form your viewpoint.

W6 Assignment

For this assignment you will look at some of the security concerns for your proposed company and countermeasures you could use to help prevent the risks. Write up a one to two page summary of the needs.

Start by looking at what the company assets that you need to protect. Next looked at who has access to the assets, what risks make these assets vulnerable and methods to make the assets secure. Do not forget about physical security of the assets.

Some items to help you think about coverage include:

What could you do to protect the web server, communication channels and databases?

What company proprietary information needs to be protected? Does the company develop new software, patent medicine, copyrighted materials such as training, documents, etc?

Where do you need to use encryption?

What should be included in the acceptable use policy for employees, customers, and business partners?

What about the email system?

What about workstations, customer computers, etc?

W7 Discussion 75-150 words

This week's discussion will be about the implementation plan assignment. We will discuss any questions you have on the assignment and what items should a good plan include. Next week your final assignment will be developing a presentation of your company that summaries your proposed company and plans.

W7 Assignment

Write up the implementation plan for your company site. You will use the other written assignments to help develop this plan. This plan write up will be a one to two page summary of the implementation plan. The written assignment grading rubric will be used for the assignment grading.

Your plan should include information on:

· The benefit and cost objectives in your e-commerce site

· A project site evaluation technique

· The internal company team such as customer service personnel, call center information, system administration, business management, and application specialists.