IDSc 4441 -Electronic Commerce

Case Study Project

Project Description

Students will work in teams to develop a case study and analysis of a business application or key technology of electronic commerce. The student case study project will result in a written case study presented as an e-report. The final class meetings will consist of student presentations of their case study project findings to the entire class.

The idea of the project is for each team to develop an awareness of the business rationale behind an important electronic commerce application or technology, understand the major technology issues and choices, and view this in the social and political environment of the organization.

Project Deliverables

  1. The written case will be delivered electronically as a web-readable business report (your e-report). See the outline of an example report below. I would anticipate the e-report would be on the order of 10 pages, and that it will be available to be "read" either by printing the entire document or by looking at sections online via your "table of contents".
  2. Your team will give a presentation of your case study to the class, and deliver your slides as a .ppt file. The presentation plus discussion should not exceed 20 minutes. If appropriate, please invite the "case principal" to the presentation, which should prove of value to them. Please let me know who is coming so I can be ready to greet them and acknowledge their willingness to help the class.

Projects, project mentors, and NFL Draft
 

We will determine the makeup of teams during the first week of the course. Teams will draw a lottery number in class. We will then conduct a "NFL Draft" where each team will select their "project draft choice" based on the position of their lottery number. Each team may select a project from the list, or may propose a case study project to the instructor.  One option is to conduct your case study with a company where one of your team has had an internship or has an existing employment relationship.  Another option is to use the Internet as your primary source of information.

Example Case Study Report

Following is an outline of a typical case study prepared by students in a previous class. A good case study presents the authors' best, unbiased view of what they learned from materials they read and a series of interviews they conducted with IS, key business people and customers.

XYZ Corp. is a major book publisher. One week ago, Joe Smith (the case principal of XYZ) attended a presentation given by ABC Consulting recommending Option 2 of 3 possible solutions for XYZ to expand their publishing business with an e-publishing channel. Joe has just finished reading the Request for Funding, which recommends Option 2.  Why are we doing this? What is our objective with the new e-channel? Should Joe approve the Request for Funding? Is this investment in line with where the company is headed? What are the key technology issues, and is Option 2 really the best option?

XYZ Publishing Company, acquired by e-Publishers, Inc.
General information on products, financials, etc.

·         Current IS System

History
Architecture
Overview
Infrastructure
Customer complaints and system weaknesses

·         Project Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and Customer Needs (CNs)

·         Building the e-publishing channel

Key technology issues
Key management issues
Overview of solution options
Decision and rationale
Project outcome

·         Questions from Joe Smith and other questions

·         Exhibits

·         Teaching Notes

·         Major questions to raise in case discussion

·         Your Analysis and Recommendations

Rationale for decisions
Architecture Overview
Infrastructure
Limitations

·         Concepts, readings, etc. that relate to the major points of the case