Product Description

For courses in Electronic Commerce. Relying on years of experience as an executive and consultant-rather than on theory alone-the author approaches writing about technology and business concepts with a down-to-earth practical application. The result is a text that includes numerous real-world examples, and explanations of how concepts are implemented. The text educates tomorrow's professionals so they understand both the technologies that serve as infrastructure and the business models taking advantage of the technologies.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1652556 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 325 pages

From the Back Cover
A REAL LOOK AT E-COMMERCE

This is not the usual e-commerce text with terms, definitions, and concepts alone. In this book, Effy Oz explains how e-commerce concepts are implemented.

This author knows that students cannot learn e-commerce unless they understand how it exists within the parameters of business. This is the only text of its kind that includes not only e-commerce success stories, but also stories of e-commerce failures. Students will learn volumes from the failures in the industry, as well as the successes.

In addition, material on ethical and social issues relating to electronic commerce technologies, and business models is abundant throughout this text. Effy Oz shares his expertise in the area of internet ethics by providing strong coverage of issues such as 'privacy, free speech, sensitivity to cultural differences, and more.

Both professors and students will find Foundations of e-Commerce by Effy Oz to provide the most realistic and comprehensive insight into electronic commerce.

About the Author

Effy Oz received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and statistics and a Master of Business Administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, then received a doctorate in Management Information Systems from Boston University. For 11 years Dr. Oz served as an executive for a large aerospace corporation and as the controller of a small company. His practical experience includes financial management, project management, cost accounting, inventory planning, contract administration and negotiation, development of information systems, and strategic planning.

Dr. Oz has served on the faculties of Boston University, Boston College, Wayne State University, and Pennsylvania State University, where he now serves as an associate professor of management science and information systems. He is the author of five books and numerous articles in academic and professional journals, including MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, Decision Sciences, Information & Management, Omega, Journal of Systems Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Computer Information Systems, and Journal of Global Information Management. Dr. Oz has been on the editorial boards of two academic journals and on the Encyclopedia of Information Systems. His opinions on systems integration and computer ethics have been quoted by print and television media. Dr. Oz is a frequent speaker before corporate and professional groups.

In 1997, the Information Systems Section of the American Accounting Association awarded Dr. Oz the Notable Contribution to the Information Systems Literature Award. In 2000, his campus colleagues awarded him the Distinguished Research Award.

In April 2000, Dr. Oz co-founded 2ce, Inc., a software company that specializes in development of three-dimensional Web browsers. Until February 2001 he served as the company's CIO and CFO.

Dr. Oz is married and has four children. His favorite leisure activities include racquetball, in-line skating, and numismatics.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The goal of Foundations of E-Commerce is to provide a real-world understanding of electronic commerce: its infrastructure, business models, challenges, and promises. The book was written for business and computer science students. Observations from the past decade or so indicate that e-commerce will eventually pervade the entire global economy. Thus, the book provides students with a firm foundation of the principles of building online businesses and/or online arms of traditional businesses. The book is intended to help build successful careers-no matter what type of business students enter.

The World Wide Web has spawned tremendous changes in the economies of many nations. While stock markets may fare better or worse, the facts are simple: our economy is increasingly reliant on information systems in general, and on e-commerce in particular. Web browsers are the most popular type of software application ever. They are free, easy to use and, therefore, ubiquitous. Their universality has accelerated the rush of both consumers and businesses to the Web. Regardless of how well online businesses do on stock markets, a growing amount of the national GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of nations is passing through computer networks, mainly the Internet.

Foundations of E-Commerce takes a fresh case approach to reinforcing e-commerce principles. Each part of the book opens with a brief case or telling statistics relevant to the discussion in the chapter. In addition, at the end of each chapter, there is a case with a set of critical-thinking questions.

Foundations of E-Commerce provides students with the proper balance of technical information and real-world applications. No matter what field they undertake, students will enter the business world knowing how to harness the Internet to work for them. If they are interested in enrolling in an e-commerce program, or only in taking an e- commerce course, this book will help them understand the necessary principles of the relevant technology, business processes, and marketing.

ORGANIZATION AND APPROACH

Foundations of E-Commerce is organized into thirteen chapters, followed by a glossary, a table of measurement units, and an index. The book starts with both historical and future perspectives on the Internet, telecommunications, and basic types of Web use for commercial activities. It then proceeds with thorough discussions of Web software and the mechanics of establishing and operating a Web site. Once the student has a good grasp of what a business can do with the Web's capabilities, the book provides thorough discussions of business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and government online business. Special emphasis is given to establishment of Web sites, marketing on the Web, online payment methods, security, privacy, and legal issues. The book ends with a look into future Internet technologies and e-commerce.

Chapter 1, The Internet: Past and Present, provides a historical perspective of the world's largest computer network. The student can follow the development of the network as well as the organizations that constantly improve it with new standards and controls. We cover the latest initiatives, such as Internet2 and the Next Generation Internet, to prepare the student for what lies ahead.

Chapter 2, Essentials of Telecommunications, is a primer in telecommunications technology. Students who wish to learn about electronic commerce must have a basic understanding of the infrastructure used for online activities. The chapter introduces various network topologies, explains the TCP/IP set of protocols used on the Internet, discusses various physical communications media, clarifies the notion of Internet addresses, and concludes with business considerations in choosing telecommunications alternatives.

Chapter 3, The Three Levels of Web Sites, describes the three major levels of business activities on the Web: passive Web presence, mechanisms of improving offline activities, and pure play businesses that interact with clients only through the Web. The chapter provides extensive illumination of one of the most important aspects of electronic commerce, Web advertising, and explains the methods used to measure the effectiveness of such advertising. It also explains phenomena that are unique to the Web, such as cross-linking. This chapter is placed at the beginning o~the book to give the student an overarching understanding of the degree to which businesses in different industries have adopted the Web. The student can then see how the Web provides much value to some companies and less value to others.

Chapter 4, Web Software, discusses all the current applications that make up the software infrastructure of the World Wide Web. It introduces SGML, the overarching standard for Web programming languages. The chapter explains the purpose and capabilities of HTML, XML, and Java. It covers software that allows one to interact with organizational databases through the Web as well as software for tracking Web browsing, which is important for understanding ideas discussed in subsequent chapters, such as consumer profiling. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the newest types of Web browsers: three-dimensional browsers.

Chapter 5, Establishing a Web Site, takes the student through the stages of establishing a commercial Web site, different alternatives for establishing such enterprises, relationships with Internet service providers, scalability of hardware and software of a Web site, and detailed advice for building an effective commercial site. At the end of this chapter we take a glimpse into legal challenges, which are discussed extensively in Chapter 11.

Chapter 6, EDI and the Internet, lays the technical ground for the most important element of online business-to-business activities: electronic data interctiange. The student is made aware that electronic commerce is not a new phenomenon; it has been around for at least two decades in the form of proprietary EDI. This chapter explains how VAN EDI works and the benefits and challenges of transferring EDI onto the Web.

Chapter 7, Business-to-Business: A Variety of Models, is a long chapter covering a variety of business models between and among businesses. It also covers the growing presence of online business between governments and businesses and between governments and citizens. In addition to numerous examples, the chapter provides analyses of successful and unsuccessful B2B business ideas. This chapter is located before the chapter on business-to-consumer issues because despite its lower visibility, B2B has a significantly stronger impact on the economy than B2C; about eighty percent of all e-commerce is between businesses.

Chapter 8, Business-to-Consumer E-Commerce, emphasizes online retailing in all its forms and shapes. It extensively discusses the important elements for successful online retailing, such as branding, as well as the challenges, such as the delivery challenge and channel conflicts.

Chapter 9, Marketing on the Web, provides a comprehensive analysis of methods and approaches for attracting new online shoppers, turning them into buyers, then keeping them as repeat customers. There are numerous examples of how to construct effective Web pages, with an emphasis on cultural differences. The chapter also explains various affiliate marketing models, cross-linking and crossluring, targeted marketing on the Web and through e-mail, and the metrics for measuring online marketing success. This long chapter covers a large number of topics—topics that often are the subjects of entire books.

Chapter 10, Security and Privacy Issues, is dedicated to two important elements of doing business on the Web: protecting Web sites against security breaches and protecting the privacy of consumers. Both have become major concerns.

Chapter 11, Legal Issues, explains the legal challenges posed by a commerce medium that has no political boundaries. The discussion addresses the major concerns of the digital age in general and Internet-based commerce in particular: electronic signatures, protection of intellectual property, free speech, legal restrictions on e-commerce, and legislation for privacy.

Chapter 12, E-Money, discusses a variety of methods for making payments through the Internet. The discussion addresses current popular means of payments such as credit, debit, and charge cards and the increasingly popular online person-to-person transfers. The chapter explains the challenges of micro-payments. It emphasizes how acceptable solutions to this challenge can give e-commerce a great boost. It also discusses electronic cash and points—a method that practically creates a new form of money—and explains why the latter may have a serious impact on money markets.

Chapter 13, The Future of E-Commerce, takes a look into the future of e-commerce and discusses what we may expect to see five to ten years from now in terms of new Internet technologies, customer-centric manufacturing, and buying patterns.

EMPHASIS ON REALITY

This is the only e-commerce book committed to portraying the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. Foundations of E-Commerce does not only marvel at the Internet, but also describes and analyzes failures. Many of these failures cost investors millions of dollars. These cases provide an important educational tool.

ILLUSTRATION BY EXAMPLES

The chapters are laced with current cases of success and failure of business models on the Web. At the end of each chapter the reader finds a recent case describing technology, business models, or events relevant to the chapter's discussion. These in-chapter and end-of-chapter examples bring to life the principles discussed in each chapter. All of the examples and cases are from the year 2000 and onward.

EMPHASIS ON ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

The book puts a great emphasis on some of the questionable and controversial uses of the Internet in general and of online commerce in particular. Students are required to weigh the positive and negative impacts of the Internet and to convincingly argue their own positions on important issues such as privacy and free speech. Many questions at the end of chapters solicit the students' ethical thought and argumentation.

CURRENT REAL-WORLD CASES

Real-world cases are given as examples throughout the book. The end-of-chapter case study is included to illustrate the chapter's discussion. The case is followed by several questjons designed to invoke the student's critical thinking. The questions ask not only what happened but also what the student would do differently or would do in addition to what was done.

EMPHASIS ON BUSINESS MODELS

A sound business model is imperative for the success of any business. This is doubly so on the Web, the technologies of which are, for the most part, available to all and therefore can be emulated. The text analyzes and explains what has worked and what has not worked in a variety of business models, both in business-to-business and business-to-consumer activities.

FEATURES

There are several features both in the text and at the end of each chapter:

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Each chapter opens with the chapter's learning objectives phrased as actions that students are able to perform after reading the chapter. These objectives help students focus on the chapter's overarching issues. The instructor can measure the extent to which the students have accomplished the objectives through the Review Questions and Discussion Questions provided at the end of the chapter. The learning objectives are followed by an illustrative brief story or by st4tistics that should pique the student's curiosity about the chapter.

INTERESTING...

Each chapter is peppered with Interesting..., boxed short vignettes of anecdotes and statistics that punctuate the subject matter covered in the chapter. These information capsules may be used to illustrate a phenomenon or give a realistic perspective to a topic discussed in the chapter.

END-OF-CHAPTER MATERIAL

Each chapter ends with features to help the student review and internalize the learned material:

Summary
The summary highlights the most important points of each chapter. It is presented in a bulleted list for easy review.

Key Terms
The summary is followed by a list of key terms. These are usually the terms boldfaced in the chapter. The list helps refresh the student's memory about the most important terms and concepts of the chapter.

Review Questions
Review questions test the student's knowledge of the material discussed in the chapter. While some simply enforce the understanding of the concepts and issues, others require that the student apply this understanding to situations somewhat different from those mentioned in the chapter.

Discussion Questions
Discussion questions help students determine if they have absorbed the material in the chapter and can be used by professors to initiate discussions in the classroom. Most of these questions do not directly address the concepts and terminology detailed in the chapter, but require that the student use the knowledge gained from the material and by applying his or her own judgment to technical, business, and ethical issues.

Assignments
Learning by doing is an important element in the teaching of any subject. The assignments require students to further research a topic, critique, analyze, and make a proper presentation. Many of these assignments send students to Web sites so they can observe and analyze a real business or concept.

END-OF-BOOK MATERIAL

At the end of the book you will find the following items:

Glossary
Often an instructor or a student may run into a term and not be sure of its meaning. The glossary at the end of the book is an alphabetical list of all the terms mentioned throughout the book and their meanings.

Measurement Units
Several measurement units are used both in telecommunications and electronic commerce. Both instructors and students can turn to this list at the end of the book for help with measurement conventions.

INSTRUCTOR'S PACKAGE

Foundations of E-Commerce includes teaching tools to support professors in the classroom. These supplements are designed to enhance the accessibility, versatility, and teachability of the text material.

Instructor's Resource CD-ROM (0130969745)
The Instructor's Resource CD-ROM includes the Instructor's Manual, Test Item File, PowerPoint slides, and Test Manager.

The Instructor's Manual
This supplement, prepared by the text's author, is available on the Instructor's Resource CD-ROM and for download from the password-protected instructor's section of www.prenhall.com/oz. The purpose of this manual is to provide materials to help instructors make their classes not only informative but also interesting and thought-provoking. The manual offers several approaches to teaching the material, with a sample syllabus and comments on different components. For each chapter, the manual includes a chapter outline, learning objectives, lecture notes (including discussion topics), teaching tips, and solutions to Review Questions and Discussion Questions, as well as the questions following each case study.

The Test Item File and Test Manager
The test item file contains multiple-choice, true-false, and essay questions. The questions are rated by difficulty level, and answers are referenced by section. For instructor convenience, the Test Item File and Prentice-Hall Test Manager are included on the Instructor's Resource CD-ROM.

PowerPoint Presentations
Prepared by Dr. Irina Newman of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the slides illuminate and build upon key concepts in the text. They are available to both students and instructors for download from www.prenhall.com/oz. They are also found on the Instructor's Resource CD-ROM.

MyPHLIP/Companion Website
There is a dedicated Web site for the text, located at www.prenhall.com/oz, that provides a dynamic ongoing complement and update to the book. The site includes an Interactive Study Guide for students, access to the Instructor's Manual, PowerPoint slides, and Internet links. Features of this new site include real-time news headlines and the ability to customize your home page.

Prentice Hall's Guide to E-Commerce and E-Business
This useful guide to e-business and e-commerce introduces students to many aspects of e-business and the Internet. It allows students to discover the role the Internet can play in continuing their education, distance learning, and looking for jobs. This guide is free when packaged with the Oz text.

Web Strategy Pro
Prentice Hall is pleased to offer this powerful educational version of Web Strategy Pro software. This Windows-based, easy-to-use program allows you to bring the entire process of planning an Internet strategy alive in your classroom in seven easy steps. Web Strategy Pro is not available as a stand-alone item but can be packaged with the Oz text at an additional charge. Contact your local Prentice Hall representative for more details.

Online Courses

BlackBoard www.prenhall.com/blackboard
Prentice Hall's on-line content, combined with BlackBoard's popular tools and interface, result in robust Web-based courses that are easy to implement, manage, and use, taking your courses to new heights in student interaction and learning.

CourseCompass www.prenhall.com/coursecompass
CourseCompass is a dynamic, interactive on-line course management tool powered exclusively for Pearson Education by B1ackBoard. This exciting product allows you to teach market-leading Pearson Education content in an easy-to-use customizable format.