C 2 4 5  E - C o m m e r c e  P r o j e c t

Rich Wersinger - Heald College

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 Project, assigned Monday, Sep. 17, 2001.

• Project due on Friday, Sep. 21, 2001.
  

The objective of this project is to learn about e-commerce in general and some of the myths and realities of e-commerce.

For background information read the following material:

• Your textbook, "How the Internet Works," Chapter 44, Shopping on the Internet," page 260.
• The "How Stuff Works" online article, "How E-commerce Works."

The project explores a December 7, 1998 article in the online version of Information Week magazine.

The article, "Myths and Realities" by Clinton Wilder, in part observed in December, 1998:

Web commerce is changing the way a lot of companies do business, but it's not everything it's pumped up to be. We separate fact from fiction.

Few IT trends have been hyped more than electronic commerce--and considering the industry's penchant for hyperbole, that's saying a lot. Stock valuations of E-commerce players defy fundamentals. Predictions of triple-digit market growth abound.

There's no question that the Internet has emerged as an enormous force for change over the past four years--in IT, in business relationships, and in the way millions of people receive and communicate information. But the resulting gold-rush atmosphere has produced the typical gold-rush side effects: exaggeration and oversimplification of the real issues. It's time for a reality check.

Wilder examined what he considered the eight biggest myths about E-commerce, and how they are debunked by those best qualified to do so--IT and industry professionals trying to make E-commerce work for them.

Expected outcomes:

Student will be able to identify the following:

• What are eight big e-commerce myths?
• Instead of those myths, what is closer to reality?

Tasks:

Read the online magazine InformationWeek Online News in Review article entitled "Myths and Realities"

Find the article at the link above or at http://www.informationweek.com/712/12iumyt.htm

• Students may work together on this project.
• Each student, however, must submit their own work for Instructor review.
• Work can be completed in a Word document, or on Web Pages.
• As much as possible, I am looking for your own words, rather than a simple" cut and paste." I am looking for some student analysis of the author's point of view.

Answer the following questions?

1. According to the author of this article, Wilder, what are eight biggest E-commerce myths?
   
2. For each of those eight E-commerce myths, identify the following: (This means you will have eight sets of answers.)
   1. What is the primary reason, or reasons, the myth is not reality?
   2. If that reason was true in December 1998, do you think it is true today? Can you cite some evidence to substantiate your position?
   3. Give me the definition of any technical terms used in the article which you were not immediately familiar.

 

For Question 2.b. above, here's a tip. You might review InformationWeekOnline's June 5, 2000 column, "E-commerce: Reality Bites" by Bob Evans for a more current perspective.

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