Maturing of E-Commerce Education in Our Curricula, The

Journal of Information Systems Education, Spring 2005 by Ngai, Eric W T, Gunasekaran, Angappa (Guna), Harris, Albert L

ABSTRACT

When the power of e-commerce was unleashed for the benefit of the society, the evolution of the business world started. Businesses used electronic data interchange (EDI) to reduce costs, increase the speed, and increase the accuracy of business documents when doing business with other companies. Consumers were no longer tied to local stores or mail catalogues for retail purchases. E-commerce became a new retail outlet in the late 1990s. Educational institutions, for their part, responded by initiating e-commerce related research and curricula. Since those early days of e-commerce education, e-commerce education has matured. It has transformed from scattered courses and is now manifested in undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Keywords: E-Commerce, information systems education, information systems curriculum.

1. INTRODUCTION

E-commerce, in its broadest definition, is the exchange of goods, services, or transactions via electronic means. Most people consider electronic means to be telecommunications and telecommunications-based tools, especially the Internet. In our context, e-commerce and e-business are essentially the same thing.

E-commerce was started with the use of electronic data interchange (EDI). Although the exact start of EDI is unknown, it is thought to be sometime in the late 1960s. Different standards and expensive computers made it difficult for most companies to participate in e-commerce in the 1970s and early 1980s. 1984 was a banner year for ecommerce with the development of the X. 12 protocol, which standardized EDI and provided a consistent basis for the reliable exchange of business documents related to the buying and selling of goods and services. In the mid-1990s, e-commerce was extended to the consumer with dramatic results. First was the dot.com explosion of companies that wanted to be a part of the scene, followed by the dot.bomb collapse of many of the e-commerce companies.

E-commerce continues to grow rapidly, mainly because of the permeation of the Internet into homes and offices worldwide and because it offers many advantages, including cost savings for companies, convenience for consumers, easy comparison of goods and prices, and access to goods and services not available locally, just to name a few. Education institutions have responded to the e-commerce explosion with courses and then degrees that addressed the needs of e-commerce. Today most information systems programs address e-commerce in some way or fashion in their curricula. This is the basis behind this Special Issue on E-Commerce. In this lead paper, we will address the types of e-commerce, discuss e-commerce education, take a look at the papers in this Special Issue, and briefly look ahead at e-commerce education.

2. TYPES OF E-COMMERCE

The first e-commerce applications dealt with B2B (business to business) transactions using EDI. Although EDI existed in the 1970s and early 1980s, the development of the X. 12 protocol standardized EDI and provided a consistent basis for the reliable exchange of business documents. B2B e-commerce has become a necessity for companies that procure a large number of goods from many vendors or sources. The Internet has reduced the costs of B2B e-commerce and has allowed small companies to take advantage of its benefits. B2B e-commerce continues to be the biggest e-commerce application in terms of dollar volumes.

The second breakthrough in e-commerce came with the offering of products directly to the public. B2C (business to consumer) e-commerce applies to any business or organization that offers its goods and services directly to the public using the Internet as the electronic medium. Although there is evidence of B2C e-commerce as early as 1992, the concept of B2C e-commerce became a reality with the development of the Netscape browser in 1994 and the launching of Amazon.com in 1995. While the traditional sale of goods is most closely associated with B2C e-commerce, today B2C e-commerce has grown to encompass many different types of goods and services, including travel services (Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, and Priceline.com to name a few), online banking, life insurance sales, real estate marketing, educational services, and almost any other goods and services available to the public. In the late 1990s, many dot.coms sprang up to offer B2C e-commerce, only to collapse in the 2000-2001 time frame. Today B2C e-commerce sites of traditional brick and mortar and catalogue retailers (Wal-Mart, Barns and Noble, LL Bean, etc.) and specialty retailers (Best Buy, FTD, Wolfe Camera, etc.) are thriving in the e-commerce market. The Department of Commerce (2004) estimated that total e-commerce sales for 2004 were $69.2 billion. This represented an increase of 23.5 percent from 2003, whereas total retail sales in 2004 increased only 7.8 percent from 2003. B2C e-commerce sales continue to grow at a significant rate. B2C e-commerce will continue to rise as people become more comfortable with using computers and the Internet and more comfortable with security over the Internet.