Course: B2b Electronic Commerce - Company Business and Marketing - Brief Article

Industry Standard, The, Oct 30, 2000 by Kathi Black

LOCATION: Kogod School of Business, American University

INSTRUCTOR: Erran Carmel

CLASS SIZE: 40

DESCRIPTION: You may remember the early promise that the Internet would be an engine of "disintermediation," knocking out middlemen in every industry. Well, it turns out intermediation is hurtling right along. And even though business-to-business sites are somewhat accursed in the venture capital world at the moment, companies are continuing to do business with other companies. And they are doing it increasingly over the Web.

In this introductory course, Carmel, an associate professor, Looks at the many new forms of intermediation that are developing as a result of new technologies -- from auctions and exchanges to catalogs -- and how those forms are changing the b-to-b environment. All is not rosy, of course. "We discuss the success and failures," Carmel says. The course also covers information security and organizational issues specific to the b-to-b world.

Most people are exposed to business-to-consumer commerce in their daily lives, but they are not as aware of b-to-b, Carmel adds, so there's a learning curve for the students. "The workings of the chemical industry aren't [so] sexy," he explains.

As usual among profs at the cutting edge of e-commerce, Carmel has a limited reading list. "This is such a fast-moving area that there really [aren't] that many books yet." But he notes that the publishing industry is catching up now and that he's eager to review new books coming out in the next few months.

READING

B2B Exchanges: The Killer Application in the Business-to-Business Internet Revolution, by Arthur Sculley and William Woods (ISI Publications)

CASE STUDY

Pricing and Market Making on the Internet, by R.J. Nolan and Y. Moon (Harvard University Press)

GUEST SPEAKERS

Paul Calkin, senior director e-commerce, American Management Systems; Judy Cohen, senior principal, American Management Systems; Jonathan Spector, chief e-business officer, American Management Systems