Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Freimut Bodendorf

Description

The course E-Business Strategy and Networking deals with foundations and the future development of business in the new digital economy. It provides a comprehensive overview of e-business strategies and business models. It emphasizes theory and practice of electronic markets and market engineering. In addition it deals with business and social networking between companies and their partners.

The course offers basic theories that lead to comprehensive concepts for application systems in different economic situations. Fields of special interest in E-Business Strategy and Networking that are introduced in separate modules are e. g. Levels of E-Business, E-Business Strategies, Theories of Organization, Electronic Markets, Market Engineering, and Electronic Network Management.

Basic theories are, according to the perspectives of analyses in the course:

• communication and coordination theories
• management theories, e.g. competitive theories and customer-oriented marketing theories
• economic theories like principle-agent theory and transaction cost theory

The course consists of 15 lessons, that comprise lectures and the study of additional resources. The time for studying the lessons is approximately four hours per week. In each lesson special forms of presentations and interactions are used according to their suitability for the specific contents. Additionally, periodical chats foster cooperation and communication between students and practical understanding of the discussed topics.

Outline

Module 1: E-Business Overview

• E-Business
• Digital Economy
• E-Business Characteristics
• Market of E-Business

Module 2: Levels of E-Business

• Communication
• Coordination
• Cooperation

Module 3 : E-Business Strategies

• Business IT-Alignment
• Strategic E-Business
• E-Business Management
• Situations in E-Business
• Relationship Management
• Partner Strategies
• Business Models
• Process Management

Module 4 : E-Business Networking

• Theories of Orgnaizations
• Transaction Cost Theory
• Property Rights Theory
• Principal Agent Theory
• Game Theory
•  Market Engineering
• Basic Concept of Electronic Market
• Types of Electronic Markets
• Types of Relationships in Electronic Markets
• Market Engineering
• Examples for specialized concepts
• Electronic Network Management
• Definition and Characteristics
• Emergence of Corporate Networks
• Network Design
• Network Management
• Inter-organizational Systems
• Outsourcing
• Telecooperation and Virtual Enterprises
• Social Networking

Learning Objectives

After completing this course successfully, students can expect to:

• understand the principles of E-Business Strategy and Networking
• have a theoretical background in the field of E-Business Strategy Networking, that consists of aspects of Management Science and Economics
• identify and explain business models for E-Business and E-Commerce
• know structures and examples of comprehensive Information Systems in E-Business-Networking
• have gained a specialized insight in important forward looking methods and concepts in E-Business
• have enhanced their abilities in distributed team work, structured problem solving and understanding of country-specific attitudes.

Method of teaching

During the course students have to take five assignments on the content of the lessons. The assignments consist of multiple choice and open questions.

Additionally, periodical chats are offered to reflect the discussed topics and to answer specific questions on the modules.

Students have to submit all assignments before the appointed deadlines. Only solutions submitted on time are considered for the grade.

Your final grade for this course is determined by your performance in the assignments. It is computed as the weighted average of all tests. If you fail to submit an assignment this exercise is counted with zero points.

It is a formal condition that you solve the exercises all by yourself, without other people's help. MBI students have to formally declare this at the end of the semester and submit written and signed declarations on paper.

Requirements

No formal prerequisites. However, students need a basic understanding of concepts like business processes, information systems, and business websites as provided in earlier MBI courses, in particular in "Management information systems", "Process modelling" and "Website engineering fundamentals".

For accessing the course materials you need a Web browser (recommended is an Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher as our websites are optimized for this browser) and Macromedia FlashPlayer and RealPlayerOne or higher.

Credits

6.0 credit points