Question #2: Why should MBA students study E-Commerce today?

Respondent 1: Because deploying E-Commerce is an important strategic issue and is a major task that is sitting on the desks of CIOs. B2B will be used more and more as more and more fat is squeezed out of supply and value chains.

Respondent 2: Because it is a fact of business, and IS/IT is incorporating these technologies and processes into the companys infrastructure.

Respondent 3: Technology is just one of the tools that

all MBAs should have in their "bag of knowledge".

The application of Internet-based tools to

business will continue to be important.

Respondent 4:

Respondent 5: Because of the business value it offers. They need to be aware of it even if they do not use it in their business.

Respondent 6: A separate study of e-commerce is appropriate today, to focus attention, and to alter mind sets that were developed in a non-e-eommcerce world.

Respondent 7: same answer as #1, plus - I just came home from teaching a group of honors undergraduate business majors (not MIS majors) and one of the student groups presented the class with the question, "Has the Internet had a positive or negative effect on businesses?" I was surprised how many students in the class felt that the effects are negative. Students, esp. non-MIS majors, need to be exposed to the value of e-commerce as it relates to the various functional areas of a business (of various sizes/industries)

Respondent 8: Why should they study finance? accounting? It will be a major factor in the short, medium and long term planning and success (or failure) iof their organization.

Respondent 9: Becuase they should have knowledge of every area of management and that includes e-commerce.

Respondent 10: I think ecommerce still has a great potential and future.

Respondent 11: Because many companies need to manage their online operations alongside their offline ones, assuming we are talking about a click-and-mortar company

Respondent 12: Do you need to ask? Why do MBA students need to study commerce?

Respondent 13: --Because they will have to lead their companies into this world of digital commerce.

--I use to tell my MBA students that the EC elective was the most important. Why? Because not all of them will interact daily with accounting or marketing or finance, but each and every one of them will interact daily with e-commerce applications.

Respondent 14: More in-depth coverage.

Respondent 15: It probably is unnecessary to consider e-commerce as a separate discipline since it is linked so fully to virtually every business.

Respondent 16: It acts as a useful focus for asking questions and challenging assumptions about business in general. It offers the possibility of testing existing ideas of marketing etc in a new context. It raises ethical and international issues, time zones, culture etc etc all of which a student should at least be aware of

Respondent 17: As with early introduction of AC, we are figuring out what the implications are...AC made *tall* sky scrappers possible, but those using the building needn't know much about AC.

Respondent 18: Because it does add some new dimensions to the interaction between buyers and sellers which marketers need to understand.

Respondent 19: because the most efficient firm all do some of their business electronically

Respondent 20: Because if they don't they will be religated to the dust corner in the same way as those executives who refused to learn how to use a computer in favour of a girl friday and a typewriter. Its not that long ago.

Respondent 21: Because that is the reality of doing business in the 21st Century - a bit like teaching people how to use calculators in the 20th

Respondent 22: To understand how electronic technologies are changing the business environment and to accept these technologies as a part of the new marketplace

Respondent 23: They shouldn't. e-Commerce should be diffused throughout the cirriculum and treated in the same way as any other medium for communication and exchange.

Respondent 24: because its something they will have to know about alongside every other part of business

Respondent 25: Because e-commerce will be a logical part of any business in future.

Respondent 26: There's a need for highly qualified professionals in the eCommerce era, to take the mistakes learnt from the early movers, and apply them to businesses today. By educating MBA's on this, learning institutions are meeting the demands of employers who are looking for experienced graduates.

Respondent 27: How can a manager operate effectively and efficiently without an understanding of the potential that e-commerce delivers now or in the future

Respondent 28: to better understand the benefits that their employers can receive in terms of reduces costs as the enhance their supply chains

Respondent 29: Because the information support and retailing components are part of 21 century selling.

Respondent 30: If you mean as a seperate subject I don't believe they should study e-commerce. If you mean as a integrated subject within marketing, finance, operations, etc. I believe they should study e-comerce because it represents an important 2-way channel to the market and indiviual customers. It is a powerful tool that students need to understand how to use effectively

Respondent 31: This is where a stand-alone course is most needed. My undergrads have enough knowledge of the internet that the material could be integrated into more traditional courses. My MBAs (many of whom have engineering degrees) are weaker internet users, and therefore still have a "They can do that?" responses to many of the issues that we discuss. (e.g. the use of cookies, web bugs, etc to collect individual information and how that can allow firms to individualize web sites and pricing).

Respondent 32: Most (and probably at some point all) companies have some level of e-commerce presence. At minimum, E-commerce is a distribution option, which certainly falls under Marketing.

Respondent 33: E-commerce should occupy a few sessions in the intro course and a few more in any direct marketing classes that are offered.

Respondent 34: The topics considered are fairly abstract. MBA student have a better overview of the e-commerce issues. (see Q #1)

Respondent 35: In such a changing technological environment, MBA students, who are largely, going to occupy positions of middle to senoir management, must appreciate E-Marketing. It is imperative, to say the least.

Respondent 36: Whether or not there should be a separate course is debatable but...given the answer to Q1, future marketers need to be prepared to maximize the important communication tool. It's part of how consumers shop, search, buy.

Respondent 37: Since business processes have undergone this change, MBA students need to be aware of the tools and terminology in digital support of processes--they need to be able to talk intelligently with IT people to get the best outcomes for their organization.

Respondent 38: Ignorance is more costly than knowledge.

Respondent 39: The only reason they should study it is to be up with current fashion. They would be better served by a thorough grounding in commerce which they can apply to any situation

Respondent 40:

Respondent 41: For reasons articulated in 1. above. The more they understand about the phenomenon, the better they'll be able to help the organizations they join to leverage the relevant technologies to their advantage.

Respondent 42: Why NOT?!

Respondent 43: MBA students should study e-Business because it IS business. There is virtually no part of the organization that is not currently affected by changes in communications and networking technologies and this situation will not be changing as time moves forward. Employers will expect (if they do not already) MBA's to have studied e-Business and to be familiar with its impact on the firm.

Respondent 44: There really isn't a choice. Most firms do or will have an e-business component.

Respondent 45: They shouldn't, as a separate subject. Normal part of doing business

Respondent 46:

Respondent 47: so they can learn what the tool will and will not do for them

Respondent 48: See above, its a major part of the company's

strategy. I have teenage kids and they use many

"freebie" products provided on-line. I don't think consumers will walk away from these services if they have grown up with them.

Also, because of increased concern over children's

welfare, more kids are chatting on-line rather than going to physical locations. Most teenagers have very busy schedules and this lets them communicate when it fits with their schedule. It avoids phones ringing and bothering parents late at night.

Respondent 49: E-commerce is an important new and evolving channel of distribution, B2B commerce, and retailing. While many of the same marketing principles hold in the ecommerce arena, there are also some new issues and changes in behavior resulting from ecommerce that are very important to understand.

Respondent 50: Because it represents both a new and major communication technology that will eclipse even television as an important means of conveying information to consumers, and because it likewise represents a new and major channel for concluding sales and, in some cases, even for delivering goods and services.

Respondent 51: growing need to understand and manage e-communications in all forms,

the integration of technology in business and government (e.g call centres, information etc)

Respondent 52: Real world needs

Digital economy across the globe

Efficiency and effectiveness due to e-business acting as a catalyst or conduit

Respondent 53: Cant imagine why except that it does exist but as door to door peddling.

Respondent 54: If they don't, they will be regarded as technological "dinosaurs" within industry and commerce within 2 years.

It's too important to be left to the "techos", just as politics is too important to be left to the politicians

Respondent 55: First of all because it is a up-to-date, very popular research stream. Second, this recency has important implications: every day new things are 'discovered' (investigated). This should make it also interesting to them because (perhaps on a small scale), their research can provide valuable information for future researchers (if it is done accurately and "according to the rules"; off course).

Respondent 56: Internet technology still allows business to do things better, faster, and cheaper. It also opened up new markets; now that the gold rush is over, we can get back to business.

Respondent 57: see q1. Plus, as adoption increases, firms will want to (or be required to) change more and more business processes to be e-enabled an/or e-efficient.

Respondent 58: e-commerce (B2B) is becoming important even if without the exposure it got two years ago. With upcoming web-services will be part of the future supply chain in most companies.

Respondent 59: So they can help to lead their companies' e-commerce efforts, so they can understand the many factors and disciplines which must be orchestrated to achieve successful e-commerce, and so they can identify opportunities and risks attendant with e-commerce.

Respondent 60: necessary to understand because businesses are using it

Respondent 61: It is a significant new distribution/communication channel that is changing how we interact with our customers.

Respondent 62: It represents the latest legitimate way to transmit information to consumers. It will grow in importance over time.

Respondent 63: See above - E-Commerce is becoming commerce. It is IT. It's tough to imagine an IT discipline that can avoid e-commerce issues.

Respondent 64: Because it is a communications medium and in some cases a distribution channel also