MA in INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Joint Programme of the Anglia Polytechnic University (Cambridge, UK) and of the Budapest Business School (Hungary)
2004 Spring

Lecturer

István ESZES Ph.D.
senior lecturer,
Vice-Rector

Phone

4696-727

Contact hours

Tuesday, 14.00 - 15.30

Facsimile

4696-797

Office

E220

e-mail 
(proposed way of communication)

eszes.istvan@bgf.hu

Pre-requisites

Welcome to the Internet Marketing Module. The content assumes a basic knowledge of Marketing Principles, and also a basic experience of accessing the Internet. We will review those topics during the early part of the course.

Course description

E-commerce is perhaps the most exciting development in business-to-business marketing, and consumer marketing, in the last 50 years. In only 5 years the amount of business transacted electronically has developed from minimal to a significant part of transactions - particularly in books, software, music and travel. Given this rate of growth, the future development promises to be even more dramatic and an essential tool without which businesses will wither. This module deals with both the Marketing aspects of e-commerce (such as communications, differentiation, delivery strategy) and the Information Technology aspects (Website creation, credit interchange mechanisms, performance monitoring).
 

General Learning Objectives

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

• Understand the role of information technology in establishing and maintaining different forms of competitive advantage within a range of key business sectors,

• Compare, contrast and distinguish critically between traditional Marketing Communications methods and digital applications such as the Internet, E-commerce, and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange),

• Propose strategic approaches that businesses can use to exploit the Internet and compile a typical Internet/e-commerce marketing plan,

• Construct a Corporate Website suitable for use in e-commerce applications, with reference to objective definition, graphic design, best practice construction techniques, uploading using FTP protocols, maintenance of the site,

• Critically appraise Internet and e-commerce activities of companies, from using the Website as a communications tool to the impact of the Internet on distribution channels, marketplaces and relationships with business partners.

Course Requirements

• Check your e-mail for course communication
• Check the course Web site weekly – the online schedule is law (www.eszes.net/intmarkeng.htm)
• No late papers will be accepted in this class.
• This is a paperless course, most of the resources for this module will be available only electronically.

Learning Resources

• lectures
• Chaffey, Mayer, Johnston, Ellis-Chadwick: Internet Marketing, Prentice Hall, 2^nd Edition, 2003 (core manual)
• additional reading indicated on the course web site

Recommended reading

• Brad A. Kleindl:  Strategic Electronic Marketing, Thomson Learning, 2001
• Jeffrey F. Rayport – Bernard J. Jaworski :  e-Commerce, McGraw-Hill, 2001
• Efraim Turban: Electronic Commerce 2002, Prentice Hall, 2002
• Daniel S. Janal : Online marketing kézikönyv I-II., Bagolyvár, 1998
• Bill Gates:  Üzlet @ gondolat sebességével, Geopen, 1999
• Wally Bock - Jeff Senné:  Internet kalauz üzletembereknek, Bagolyvár, 1998
• Eszes I. - Bányai E: Online m@rketing, Műszaki Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 2002 (see: www.onlinemark.hu)
• Robert Spector: amazon.com, Alexandra Kiadó Pécs, 2003
• R. Levine et al.: Cluetrain, a hagyományos üzletmenet végnapjai, Információs társadalom A-tól Z-ig sorozat, Budapest, 2001 (or online readable / download: http://www.cluetrain.com/book/index.html )
• Perjés László: Internet marketing magyar szemmel, Bagolyvár Könyvkiadó, 2001 ( or online readable / download:: http://www.lezlisoft.com/internet/imkonyv/p1.shtml )
• Further recommended reading

 http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
 

Assignment

The assignments must be received by no later than 1 pm on Saturday, 15th May 2004.

Answer BOTH of the following TWO parts.

1.      Development of an e-commerce strategy for a company.
Either using an actual example or a fictional paradigm, prepare an Internet Marketing Plan demonstrating how to secure competitive advantage through the benefits of the Internet. The plan should comprise the SOSTACE* components essential to Marketing Communication, in an Internet context.
Written report 2000 words or  - alternatively - a set of PowerPoint presentation slides (15 - 25 in numbers - appropriate for a 30-40 minutes presentation) complete with accompanying narrative. In the PowerPoint alternative, the PPT file should be submitted in two read-only copies on a floppy disk, and in addition a printout of the PowerPoint presentation should be submitted with the disk, in case there are problems with transcription and also for verification and external marking purposes.
Weight: 50%, Pass required: Yes (40%), outcomes: 1-5

2.      Development of a prototype e-commerce website to support recommendations
Following on the first part of the assignment, construct a completed website (on disk) illustrating best practice in design and implementation, and based on sound theoretical principles. Thes site should consist of at least 12 pages and be viewable by the majority of Internet users.
The website should comprise around 12 pages, presented on a disk in two-read-only copies plus a printout of the web pages, in case there are problems with transcription and also for verification and external marking purposes. An Index or home page should be included as a starting point. Students are reminded that the disk should contain imagaes as well HTML files.
Weight: 50%, Pass required: Yes (40%), outcomes: 1-5
Examples
Minimum requirement, visit: http://www.aspects.net/~stephenginns/education/treeplant/
Higher level mark: http://www.ginns.info/samplewebsite/

Written assignments must not exceed the specifiied maximum number of words. All assignemnts which do so will be penalised. The penalty will be the deduction of 10% of the maximum marks available. Assignments will not be accapted without a word count on the cover sheet.

The assignments must be received by no later than 1 pm on Saturday 15th of May 2004.

Work submitted after the published deadline will be penalised by the deduction of 10% points if submitted within three working days of the deadline and will be awarded a amrk of zero thereafter. Work submitted late and awarded a mark of zero will then be marked as if it were reassessment and will be capped at 40%.

This assignment must be completed individually. This assignement must be attached to a completed University Assignment Cover Sheet and accompanied by a completed University Assignment Receipt beforse submission. Any attachements (such as your computer discs) must be marked with your SID numbers and securely attached to your assignment before submission.

 * What the hell is SOSTACE? Follow the link!

Seminar Activity

 Each topic will be two parts. The first part will be a dissemination of the theory underlying Internet Marketing. It will generally be in the form of Power Point presentations.  I will put a simplified version of the slides on the Internet (www.eszes.net) in case you miss them. Do not rely on this and take the opportunity to miss a lecture as the actual lecture content will be substantially more than the framework on PPTs.

The second part of each session will be more interactive. We will have structured discussion groups on a related topic, or a session in the computer suite to evaluate some of the relevant websites.

At the first meeting the group will be structured into 4 subgroups (A,B,C,D). The tasks to be solved will be distributed among the 4 subgroups.

 Projects

 For all the subgroups there is a small case study to be answered:

Subgroup A: Google
Subgroup B: eBay
Subgroup C: Amazon.com
Subgroup D: Coolsavings

The case studies are a little bit different from the usual ones. Not a prepared problem should be solved but you have to look after the information indicated in the text. Click to the project title and you will be linked to the description of the individual tasks. It comprises a short description of the concerning company, a collection of useful related links and some questions. Visit all the places and answer the questions.

To present your findings you have two choices:

1. a presentation described in the time schedule of the seminars (max. 15 minutes)

2. a written form of the presentation (max. 5 pages) handed in at the beginning of the presentation.