E-MARKETING (MKTG 265)

FALL 2004. Class: GLNN 314

PROFESSOR: Nitish Singh

Office: Tehama 469

Office Hours: 11:30 – 12:30 pm Tuesday & Thursday, 12:00 – 3:00 pm Wednesday (By Appointment)

Phone: 898-6090

Course Objective:

The focus of this course is to help you develop practical web-marketing competencies, which you can use in the real world. To this end we will explore the strategic and operational aspects of information-based marketing programs on the Internet:

· for a variety of products and service

· in countries around the globe

· using integrated marketing strategies that include the Web as either an informational or a

transactional medium or both.

The course will provide you skills for developing interactive web sites, designing culturally sensitive global web sites, and promoting the web sites.

Course Material:

The required text for this course is E-Commerce Management: Text and Cases, by Sandeep Krishnamurthy 2003. In addition students are encouraged to consult the following sources for class discussions and projects:

http://e-newsletters.internet.com/

www.techweb.com

http://www.idg.net/subscribe

www.alexaresearch.com

Further readings and material will be provided for this class on regular basis.

Class Participation (10 points):

Class participation will involve verbal and electronic contributions.

Verbal contributions: will involve active participation in class discussions, willingness to share ideas and experiences, and providing new insights into latest developments in E-marketing. Most of all, I expect all students to be proactive and be willing to make contributions at every given opportunity. (5 points)

Electronic Discussion: This is a platform, which gives you an opportunity to show your enthusiasm about the class in general and E-marketing in particular. Instructor will welcome e-mail contributions that expand on chapter readings, and relevant web sites with brief summary of the content. I also look forward to receiving interesting articles, print ads, and news clippings that contribute to the class discussions. (3 points).

Instructor will also welcome your personal opinions, insights, and experiences related to the course, class discussions, and your day-to-day activities in context of the class. You are encouraged to please see me personally on individual basis so we can maintain an interactive dialogue about your progress in the class. Personal meetings are also important if you need advice, help or resources to perform better in the class. (2 points).

Attendance Policy (10 points):

Mere attendance in the class is not sufficient to achieve a passing grade. Repeated failure to prepare for the class will affect your participation and attendance grade. Class participants are expected to do the assigned readings for each class. More than two absences or repeated failure to prepare for the class will result in a loss of 2 points per incidence. Instructor also expects students to be punctual for the class. If more than five minutes late, please talk to the instructor after the class. In every class an attendance sheet will be passed, and it is each student’s responsibility to check the attendance, failure to do so would result in an absence.

Midterms, Final’s and Projects.

There will be one midterm written exam (October 12^th) and one final written exam (Final Week). Both exams will involve multiple choice type questions. In addition to the exams there will be one minor project due on November 16^th and one major project due at the end of the semester (December 9^th). (Option: Instead of Minor and Major project students can choose to do only one research paper)

Minor Project:

Students will be required to design their own web site and promote it on the web. (5 points)

Major Project:

Students will be required to analyze 3 international web sites and give recommendations to improve them. Also each student will calculate web site interactivity for 3 American web sites and make recommendations to improve interactivity and promote it. The report should be no more than 15 pages typed 12 font double space. (20 points)

Research Paper

Students also have an option to work in teams or individually and do one major research paper (25 points), instead of a minor and major project. The instructor would encourage voluntary submission of research paper for consideration in an academic conference to be held in San Francisco. Details of the conference and paper requirements for the conference can be found at www.iaeb.org.

The Research paper should be based on a unique and under-researched topic in e-commerce, which the instructor would be happy to suggest. Students can work in teams of 3-4 members. Writing the research paper will involve defining the research problem, doing the literature search, developing the hypotheses, collecting the data, analyzing the data, and then presenting the results. Data collection is not a pre-requisite for paper submission. The paper can be conceptual or even managerial. The final paper should include:

An introduction: which shows the importance of the subject area you want to investigate. The introduction should logically lead to your research objectives.
Literature Review: The second section is the Literature review, which includes a survey of previous research in your area of investigation. You should be able to show what types of studies have been done in your area and how is your study adding value and new direction to previous work.
Hypotheses or Conceptual Development section will involve you clearly stating the hypotheses and the rationale behind them. If you are not collecting data, then you will develop your conceptual model in this section.
Analysis and Results: section will involve writing the methodology you have used for this study and the data analysis. You will then present the results of the study.
Discussion and Implications: will involve you writing what insights have we gained from your study and how will your study be helpful to managers.

Length of the Paper: If a single person chooses to do the paper then the length of the research paper should be 10 pages or more. For team of 2 students the length should be around 15 pages or more, and for teams with 3 –4 members the length should be around 20 pages or more.

Team Evaluation: To make sure each member of the team contributes equally towards the report, there will be 5 points for peer evaluation. You will be required to maintain a weekly log of your contribution to the group and your peer’s contribution.

Time Line:

· October 2^nd. One page outline of your research project that clearly specifies your research objectives, sample, and the methodology you will use for the study. (1 point)

· October 25th. A 5 page report that should include the literature review (2 points)

· October 25^th. Peer evaluation log (2 points)

· December 2^nd. The full project report (17 points)

· December 2^nd. Peer evaluation log (3 points)

The final Report:

I will grade your research paper on following criteria: -

Clarity of research objectives (2 points)
Literature review (5 points)
Discussion of the data analysis or conceptual model (5 points)
Results and implications of the study. (5 points)

I will encourage all of you to write high quality research papers and then submit them for review in academic conferences (Voluntary). I will update you on upcoming academic conferences and guide you through the paper submission process. Having an academic conference presentation would be a great achievement on your part and a terrific thing to put in your resume.

Class Participation: 10 points

Attendance: 10 points

Midterms: 25 points

Major project: 20 points

Minor Project: 5 points

Final exams: 30 points

GRADING SCALE

90 - 100% A

86 - 89% B+

80 - 85% B

76 - 79% C+

70 - 75% C

60 - 69% D

< 60% F

Miscellaneous But Important Caveats:

Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date specified unless previous arrangements have been made. Late papers may be assessed a penalty or may not be accepted for credit. Rewrites or additional assignments are not permitted.
All papers must be carefully prepared and proofed. If outside sources are used, they must be cited in the paper where necessary and a complete bibliography must be included.
Please keep all cell phones and paging devices off during class sessions.
Please do not submit any assignments by email unless arrangements have been made prior to the due date.

Class Schedule:

Week 1 Introduction and Chapter 1

Week 2 Chapters 2 & 3

Week 3 Chapters 4 & International web site design

Week 4 International web site design

Week 5 Designing web sites

Week 6 Web site Interactivity

Week 7 Chapter 6

Week 8 Chapter 6 and Midterms

Week 9 Chapter 8

Week 10 Chapter 7

Week 11 Chapter 9 and 10

Week 12 Chapter 11

Week 13 Chapters 11 & 12

Week 14 Thanksgiving break

Week 15 Cases

Week 16 Revision

Final exams week.