Course Activities

Our approach to learning will include hands-on experiences, exposure to leading experts, in-class discussion and analysis, and in-depth research. We will engage a variety of individual and group activities to enhance your understanding of important Internet marketing issues and to advance your positioning as a master of utilizing the Internet in marketing situations.

Team E-Marketing Reports (Top of Page)

Your mantra for this assignment is to educate practitioners, your
classmates and me.

You will a) form a team of 4 or 5 people, b) research an important topic,
c) prepare a report and d) present your findings and recommendations.

Forming a team
You are free to team up with anyone of your choosing.

Relevant FAQs:
     1) Can I form a team of 3 people?
                  Answer: No
     2) Can I form a team of 6 people?
                  Answer: No.
     3) Does a team need to consist of a certain number of people?
                  Answer: Yes, either 4 or 5 people.

Researching an important topic
Identify and research well an eMarketing related issue or an eMarketing performance
aspect of a firm that is important to marketing practitioners or theoreticians. Your
report should provide meaningful lessons or insights.

Some examples of possible research topics:
  a) Online banking and bill payment.
  b) Online shopping at work (perspectives could be from that of the consumer, employer, or retailer).
  c) Online auction strategies and best practices of the Fortune 500.
  d) What is the value in blogs and blogging?
  e) Is There.com going anywhere?

Make sure you determine your area to focus on. It is not recommended
that you take a broad brush and try to identify and gloss over every aspect
related to an important issue. Stake out the terrain that you are going to
cover in an issue and then bore in on it and provide insight.

Research report
A professional looking report of approximately fifteen (15) single-spaced
pages of main text detailing your analysis, findings, recommendations or
lessons, conclusions, and references. Diagrams, tables, and other graphics should
be used to enhance the readability of the paper; these and any
exhibits or appendices would not be counted as part of the (15) pages of
main text. The ideal quality would be comparable to that of a report produced
by a leading consulting or research organization, such as Monitor, Accenture
or IDC.

In general, I will evaluate your report on how well I believe it would educate graduate
business students or professionals on your topic. Specific items
that I will consider when evaluating your report fall into two categories:

1) Presentation - the degree of how pleasing to the eye is your report's
                         appearance, and the ease in which I can read your report
                         and determine what you are trying to communicate.

2) Content -       includes research rigor, information & data collected
                        and presented, analysis, findings, recommendations or
                        lessons, and conclusions.

Research report oral presentation
Your team will educate the class and me about your topic in a presentation
of at most 20 minutes. This presentation will be followed by a question and
answer session of up to 10 minutes.

Methods
Secondary research and sources of information will likely be a staple. You
are welcome, however, to base part of your report on primary research,
using methods such as expert interviews, focus groups, personal interviews
and surveys.

Evaluation
The final project grade will be based on your written report and oral
presentation.

Each project report will receive a "team" grade. A person's "individual"
project grade, however, may not equal the "team" project grade. This is
because some people may not "pull their fair share" when making
contributions to the team. Contribution is a function of many elements.
Some of these elements are intellect, leadership, work performed, effort,
teamwork, inspiration, dedication, and commitment.

At the end of the semester, each individual will complete a peer review
evaluation. I am the only person who will ever read these peer reviews.
In each peer review, you will evaluate each of your team member, including
yourself, both quantitatively and qualitatively. I will consider these peer
reviews when assigning each person's "individual" project grade.

Important due dates
February 4    - Formulate a team by this date; email list of team members
                           to me (note: this is not a class meeting day).
February 11  - Identify research topic; email the topic and a project timeline
                           to me.
March 25       - Prepare a 1-2 page project progress/status report including work
                           completed and some preliminary findings.
April 22        - Final report due.

Your deliverable will be a report that details the firms problem situation,
your activities and your conclusions (e.g., findings, recommendations,
next steps). In addition, each team will present an oral report to the
class.

Each team will provide me with a timeline of activities, maintain regular
contact with me, and keep me apprised of its progress.

Case Analysis and Discussions (Top of Page)

The case experience enables the simulation of a realistic business
situation and the opportunity to practice and advance one's analytic and
managerial decision making. The fun and learning is dependent upon the
active and constructive involvement of all participants. Come to class
prepared and with opinions based on sound reasoning; and have the
guts and respect for others to share your analysis, comments and
criticisms. A definitive "right" answer is not the ultimate objective of a
case discussion, however, it is realistic to advance your position in an
effort to convince others that your analysis and recommendations are
of high quality. Active and constructive case engagement includes
good listening as well. Passion for an opinion is fine, however, willingness
to listen to and consider alternative analyses and recommendation is a
valuable trait.

My job is to facilitate the discussion and create an environment where
you can discover the important lessons of a case, however, the quality
and direction of a case discussion is the collective responsibility of the
entire class. It is the everyone's responsibility to encourage participants
with great ideas to speak and to curb blowhards who offer little of value
and slow the discovery process.

I use the Socratic method when teaching a case. Each person should be
prepared to start a case with a 5-10 minute introduction or to explore any
facet of the business situation.

Some style rules are as follows: respect each case discussion participant,
speak loudly enough for all to hear, listen carefully to others, keep the
discussion fluid, bite your tongue if you sense that you are about to make
a comment that may be nothing more than hot air, sneer politely at those
who do not appropriately bite their tongue (i.e., be an active participant in
managing the case discussion), smile gleefully at those who make valuable
contributions, agree, disagree, laugh, cry, and be engaged.

Online Explorations and Write-Ups (Top of Page)

Putting oneself in the shoes of a consumer is a valuable way for
understanding the nature of consumers. You will write a series of reports,
each about two (2) single-spaced pages in length, about a variety of online
experiences. In each paper, you will describe your behaviors, thoughts,
and feelings, as well as any important details or facts for understanding
the experience. In addition, you should analyze your experience with a
bent toward formulating lessons or important managerial questions. Each
paper need not have a separate section on lessons or important questions;
these items may be articulated anywhere throughout the report.

An informal writing style is fine. The most important aspect of a paper is
your meaningful analysis of an experience.

Papers are due before the start of class via email (as an attachment). Place
the topic of the experience in the subject field of your email.

I will evaluate each paper on its clarity, detail, analysis and educational
value. Each paper will receive a grade ranging from 0 to 10.

1)	Best & Worst Website Elements Write about website elements or processes that lead you to love a website and those that lead you to intensely dislike a website. You may chose to write about a single website that you love and a single website that you intensely dislike, or elements of websites that you love and elements of websites that you intensely dislike. You may find it easier to mostly focus on a particular type of website, such as retailer website(s), however, you are welcome to cover liked/disliked elements or processes from various types of websites. Due on February 4.
2)	Online Auction Bidding Engage an online auction website, such as eBay, Amazon Auctions, Yahoo! Auctions for a product (good or service) that you would consider buying or will buy, and then participate in an online auction for it. Discuss your consumer-perceptions about the experience of using an online auction to obtain the type of product you sought. What types of important decisions did you make during the online auction buying process, and how did you go about making them? (For example, how did you decide which type of product to bid on, and from whom you would purchase it?) Which aspects of the process did you like, and why? Which aspects of the process did you dislike, and why? Are there any conditions under which you would recommend that a consumer use online auctions to acquire products? Any "words of wisdom" to consumers who use, or might use, online auctions to obtain products? Some key notes about the exercise: a) You may use any online auction site desired for this exercise. b) Do not feel that you need to exceed any personal bounds associated with this experience. This assignment does not require that you place a winning bid. If a current bid exceeds your personal threshhold, then you need not bid in order to satisfy successful completion of this exercise. c) Put forth a sincere effort. Half-hearted bidding and the like will not cut it. Due on February 11.
3)	Online Gift Purchase Purchase online a gift for someone -- other than yourself -- and arrange for the gift to be delivered directly to the recipient by February 15. Only engage establishments that will deliver directly to an "other" person. In addition, if the delivery is to someone who lives with you, you may not open the parcel. Discuss for whom you purchased the gift, why you elected to purchase a gift for this person or other living entity, your decision process in selecting the good(s) or service(s) purchased, the merchant you selected and the rationale for selecting this merchant, any other important "though purchase stage" processes, thoughts or feelings, and "post purchase stage" processes, thoughts and feelings. In general, how did this gift giving experience differ from those which you have performed through other means, but still had the process of a gift being sent to a recipient? What aspects of online gift giving did you find were better and which did you find were worse than alternative methods? Did using a predominantly online process for gift giving constrain any of your gift giving decision making, e.g., the type of gift to purchase, for whom you would purchase the gift? What would you change about the online gift giving events that you experienced? Include a copy of your receipt and any emails or chats associated with the exchange experience. Due on February 18.
4)	eBay Selling Place up for auction on eBay an item that you would willingly sell. Prepare a write-up that details actions related to your auction such as item selection, relevant research, conditions/facts, results, analysis of results given the conditions/facts and what you would do similarly and differently were you to offer a similar auction again. The conditions/facts may be reported in an exhibit and are to include details such as item description, auction start date and time, auction end date, initial bid price, type of auction, whether reserve was selected, whether photo(s) were used, bid history, url of auction, any relevant emails, etc. Include a snapshot of your auction page after your auction is completed and any post auction details such as payment, shipping, and feedback. Your effort to sell the item is to be sincere. Faint efforts to sell the item will result in a grade of zero (0) for this assignment. This does not suggest that you need to select a selling strategy which may result in your "giving away" the item or selecting a strategy that is highly likely to result in an unreasonable outcome, however, do not select a strategy that at face value will knowingly be unsuccessful. Failure to sell an auction item given a sincere effort along with a sound strategy and process will not impact your grade. In addition, successfully selling an auction item does not the best possible assessment of your write-up. It is recommended that you participate as a "serious" bidder in at least one auction prior to carrying out this exercise. You should place your item up for auction by February 15 in order to give yourself enough time to allow the entire process to run its course. (Unless you have prior experience with eBay, I recommend that you wait to post your "selling" auction until after our class discussion on auction buying, which is scheduled for February 11.) Due on February 25.
5)	Privacy Policy This paper has two main parts. First, discuss how closely you typically review organizations' privacy policies and explain why; and discuss how an organization's privacy policy affects your decision to interact or transact with it and explain why. Second, list, in an exhibit, the privacy policy for a firm of which you are a happy customer; and discuss, in the paper, the effectiveness of the privacy policy to you. Due on March 4.
6)	Online Community Become an active and regular participant in online community of your choice. Describe the community. What prompted you to participate in this community? What are the benefits and costs of membership and participating in this community? In what types of activities do you engage? What types of topics, activities, or comments interest you most? What motivates you to contribute to and continue in this community? Are there any patterns to how you chose to contribution to this community? How has being a member of this community affected you? Due on March 25.
7)	Effective eCommunications Identify type(s) or form(s) of Internet communications that you have personally found effective. Discuss why they were effective, including situations or contexts in which these communications were or would be effective. Similarly, identify types or forms of Internet communications that you have personally found ineffective. Discuss why they were ineffective, including situations or contexts in which these communications were or would be ineffective. Include specific examples as exhibits when possible. Due on April 1.

 

Think & Share Community (Top of Page)

I created an online community space for our class on Blackboard (Once
signed in, select the Communication tab on the left and then select
Discussion Board). This is a space for us to think, share and interact
virtually about eMarketing related current events, people, organizations,
groups, experiences, articles, books and the like. For the semester, stay
up to date on community posts and post to the community at least once
per week.

Internet Marketing by Mohammed, Fisher, Jaworski and Cahill. This text
has the making of a great text in that it explores both important theoretical
concepts and managerial application. This text is available in the bookstore.

You may use any preferred Web development software. If you like pure HTML,
use it. If you like Microsoft Frontpage, then please use it. Instruction will be
offered, however, for Macromedia Dreamweaver as it is a high quality
development tool that is popular among Web development professionals
and is easy to learn.

Macromedia DreamWeaver MX is recommended for the class this semester.
It is available as a 30 day free trial at
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/. The 30 day period does
not commence until you "try" the software for the first time after you have
downloaded it. In addition, Dreamweaver 4.0, which is fairly similar to
Dreamweaver MX, is available on several machines in the computer lab in the
basement of Lindsay Hall. Finally, I have a trial version of Dreamweaver 2.0
that remains active for 90 days.

You are not required to purchase any Web development software package.
It could, however, make life easier if you adopted some package.
Dreamweaver is available with an academic price of approximately $99-$129;
this is a steal as it is list priced at $199 and can be priced higher if support
is desired.