The Internet technology has opened a floodgate for businesses to explore and experiment new ways of doing business, especially in the field of marketing. As an inexpensive, interactive, and vastly networked communication medium, Internet allows businesses to:

However, the technology only makes these marketing amenities possible. To turn the possibilities into reality and to produce results require a lot more than technical know-how and Web design skills. In this class, we are going to study and answer many related what, why, and how questions with regard to Internet-based marketing. In addition, we are also going to examine promotion challenges many dot-com companies are currently facing, offline as well as online.

Through lectures, guest speeches, classroom discussion, case studies, hands-on group projects, and term paper, this class will help you achieve the following goals:

This class is primarily a discussion class. Students’ questions, comments, opinions, and more importantly creative ideas are extremely valuable to everybody’s learning. Students are therefore required to get well prepared before coming to class.  Needless to say, attendance counts.  Occasional absence may be compensated by extra work, and frequent absences will be penalized.

This class is also a project-driven class. A series of individual and team projects that will eventually lead to a complete e-Business Web site will take much of your time. Sharing knowledge and helping each other are essential in your learning.

Term Paper/Project Proposal: Each team is to choose a business, preferably an existing business, to develop an Internet marketing solution for it. In this proposal, you need to: (1) describe the nature of the business, (2) explain problems or dissatisfaction current customers are experiencing, and (3) discuss briefly how you are going to employ the Internet to help resolve the problems/dissatisfaction. Also in the proposal, you should explain how the team is going to work on the project: task breakdowns, individuals’ responsibilities, time table, etc. The proposal is due on Feb 12.  Only hard copy is accepted.

News Brief in Internet Marketing - Oral Presentation: Teams will take turn, starting from Feb 5, to present and lead discussion on Internet marketing-related news. Prepare a brief presentation, 10 minutes maximum, to cover significant news items regarding latest development in market research, product offering, promotion, distribution, etc. on and/or about Internet.  A PowerPoint slide show is recommended, which should also be emailed to the instructor for course Web site posting before the presentation takes place.

Review of Team Members' Web Site Critique - Oral Presentation: On March 19 and March 26, every team shall present to the class your members' individual Web Site Critiques (see "Web Site Critique" in the "Individual Assignments" section below for further detail).  The presentation should be no more than 10 minutes for each team, followed by a 5-min Q&A session.  The purpose of this presentation is to openly share opinions on competing sites' effectiveness so that you can further improve your team's Web site.  Showing the site being critiqued with your comments will suffice.  No written materials need to be turned in on the presentation day.

Final Term Paper: Depending on the nature of your project, this paper may be a complete Internet marketing plan, a structural design of a Web customer interface, or a proposal of an entirely new business model. The paper has to have a strong analytical component explaining why what you try to replace is not satisfactory, and why what you plan and propose should work. The paper is due on May 14.  Only hard copy is accepted.

Team Web Site - An Internet Marketing Solution for the Team Paper: This is an execution of your Term Paper. You may not be able to completely implement the plan/design/proposal presented in your term paper, but you should do as much as you can to make it a reality, or at least to demonstrate that the plan/design/proposal is feasible.  This Web site construction should be completed by May 14 as well, by sending the instructor a simple email stating the fact.

Term Paper/Project Presentation: A 20-minute presentation will be given in class by every team to give highlights of the Team Paper/Project.  This will take place on May 7 and May 14.  A PowerPoint slide show is recommended, which should also be emailed to the instructor for course Web site posting before the presentation takes place. 

Case Summary/Analysis: There will be five (5) cases. Every student is required to turn in a case summary/analysis of 1- to 2-page for each of the cases.  There is no format requirement, i.e., bullet points format or any other formats are acceptable.  (Ideas and insights are more important than format.)  All case papers, in hard copy, shall be turned in on the day of in-class case discussion, which are Feb 5, Feb 26, March 19, April 2, and April 16. 

Constructing Your Personal Web Site: This is your experimental site, mainly for you to get familiarize with Web page designing, construction, and publishing skills.  Requirements: put up a simple file that briefly describes yourself as your home page, named as index.htm, by Feb 26.  You may later add more contents to this home page (e.g., more detailed description), fancy graphics (e.g., your photos), links (e.g., leading to your favorite sites and/or leading to your separate resume page), pages (e.g., your course homework), etc. as you wish.  Enjoy the fun!

Web Site Critique: Every student is to critique one Web site that is similar to what your Team Paper/Project is trying to tackle.  In the written critique, you need to specify the Web site you are critiquing, build a link to that site, state what you consider as good and bad features of the site, explain why, and recommend fixes. For the links to work, you need to post the document at your personal Web site, and email the instructor the url.  This assignment is due on March 5.

No exam will be given in this class.

The course grade will be based on the following weights:

1. Use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Do not depend solely on your software’s spelling check. (Misuse of "it’s" for "its," "their" for "there," etc., are now common and annoying to your readers.)
2. Neatness counts. All assignments are expected to be legible with 12-point type.
3. Label the first page with the title, author’s name or names in alphabetical order (by last name), course number, and date. Subsequent pages should include author name(s), date and page numbers in the footer.

Your Web Site Critique and presentation slides should be posted on the Web.  To notify the instructor that such an assignment is completed, email the url of that posted material to fu@usfca.edu. Please use the following convention to describe your email in the "subject" line:

For example, John M. Doe of Group 3, submitting the homework that is due on Feb 12, the subject line should show "b469021203jmd."

Any materials quoted from another source (including Web sites) must be properly identified as a quote and cited properly. The USF Policy on Academic Honesty applies to this course.

Class participation is essential. Students who miss more than two classes may be penalized.

The instructor’s lecture notes, guest speakers' slides, student presentation slides, and other relevant materials will all be posted to the course Web site before each class, provided that they are available. Students may submit other materials for posting at the course Web site, subject to the instructor's judgment of suitability. All the student needs to do is to send an email with a Web publishable file as attachment, or an url if the document is already posted elsewhere on the Web.

Any paper that includes confidential information should be clearly marked as such. Confidential papers will not be posted on the Web site.

The following tentative class schedule provides a general plan for the course. Changes may be necessary to accommodate guest speakers, new events in the industry, etc.  Check the course Web site, at least once a week, for the latest information.