Electronic Commerce

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements for this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Electronic commerce is changing existing industry structure and business relationships. This subject will provide an in-depth examination of inter-organisational business activities and information exchange. Models for basic transactions and richer forms of business collaboration will be created and evaluated. E-commerce business models will then be critically appraised for their success factors and value proposition. Information and communications technology (ICT) will be discussed, especially in its role of enabling infrastructure for e-commerce and security concerns. Case studies will provide the basis for a critical examination of how e-commerce can provide business benefits and enable new business opportunities.

• Describe how information and communications technology may be used in commercial relationships between businesses, their customers and/or other stakeholders;
• Develop processes that use electronic information exchange between businesses and/or their customers;
• Describe and discuss the limitations of electronic communication for commercial purposes and measures that may be used to overcome these limitations;
• Identify and model the core aspects of an e-commerce relationship between businesses, their customers and other stakeholders;
• Design and critically evaluate aspects of an e-commerce relationship;
• Explain contemporary practices and describe possible future trends in e-commerce.

• One 2-hour end-of-semester examination (50%)
• Two assignments of not more than 2500 words (20%)
• Seminar presentation (10%)
• Group assignment (20%)

You will be advised of prescribed texts by your lecturer.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On successful completion of this subject, students should have improved the following generic skills:

• Accessing and analysing contemporary information from on-line resources;
• Contributing constructively to seminar and/or electronic discussions that facilitate learning;
• Communicating orally and in writing about aspects of electronic communication for commercial relationships.