COURSE GUIDE W xi

COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION

You must read this Course Guide carefully from the beginning to the end. It tells
you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through
the course material. It also suggests the amount of time you are likely to spend in
order to complete the course successfully. Please keep on referring to the Course
Guide as you go through the course material as it will help you to clarify
important study components or points that you might miss or overlook.

INTRODUCTION
BBED4103 E-commerce is one of the courses offered by the Faculty of Business
and Management at Open University Malaysia (OUM). This course is worth 3
credit hours and should be covered over 15 weeks.

COURSE AUDIENCE
This is a core course for students pursuing the degree in Bachelor of Business
Administration programme.

As an open and distance learner, you should be able to learn independently and
optimise the learning modes and environment available to you. Before you begin
this course, please confirm the course material, the course requirements and how
the course is conducted.

STUDY SCHEDULE
It is a standard OUM practice that learners accumulate 40 study hours for every
credit hour. As such, for a three-credit hour course, you are expected to spend
120 study hours. Table 1 gives an estimation of how the 120 study hours could be
accumulated.

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Table 1: Estimation of Time Accumulation of Study Hours

STUDY
STUDY ACTIVITIES
HOURS
Briefly go through the course content and participate in initial discussion 3
Study the module 60
Attend 3 to 5 tutorial sessions 10
Online participation 12
Revision 15
Assignment(s), Test(s) and Examination(s) 20
TOTAL STUDY HOURS 120

COURSE OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
1. Explain e-commerce business models;
2. Discuss the history and development of global e-commerce;
3. Apply skills to provide information via the Internet;
4. Consolidate basic knowledge of network security risk and solutions,
encryption and payment systems;
5. Organise skills to market people and organisations on the Internet; and
6. Explore the issues and problems surrounding e-commerce such as privacy,
intellectual property rights and e-commerce fraud.

COURSE SYNOPSIS
This course is divided into 10 topics. The synopsis for each topic is presented
below:

Topic 1 introduces e-commerce. It touches on traditional commerce, different

types of e-commerce business models, and e-commerce eras. It also describes the
three interrelated themes of e-commerce: technology, business and society.

Topic 2 describes the e-commerce business models. It also touches on the

concepts involved in both B2C and B2B firms.

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Topic 3 focuses on the Internet and the World Wide Web. You will learn on the
origin, concepts and roles of Internet in e-commerce. This topic also touches on
World Wide Web, intranet and extranet.

Topic 4 introduces wireless technologies underlying the development of m-

commerce. It discusses on major type of wireless telecommunications networks
and the applications of m-commerce in various areas. It also touches on security
and ethical issues in m-commerce.

Topic 5 focuses on the development of e-commerce website. It discusses on how

to choose software, hardware and other tools that can improve website
performance.

Topic 6 explores on online security. It defines on key dimensions, key security

threats and encryption technology of e-commerce. It also touches on the tools
used to establish secure Internet communications channels and to protect
networks, servers and clients.

Topic 7 identifies the various types of e-commerce payment systems. It describes

digital cash, digital wallets, stored-value cards, digital accumulating balance,
digital checking and electronic billing presentment and payment systems.

Topic 8 concentrates on marketing concepts in e-commerce. It touches on online

marketing, online market research and e-commerce marketing and branding
strategies.

Topic 9 focuses on e-commerce marketing communication. It explains on the

forms and advertising methods used in marketing communication.

Topic 10 explains the legal, ethical and social issues in e-commerce. It also
touches on privacy protection, intellectual property and e-commerce fraud.

TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE

Before you go through this module, it is important that you note the text
arrangement. Understanding the text arrangement will help you to organise your
study of this course in a more objective and effective way. Generally, the text
arrangement for each topic is as follows:

Learning Outcomes: This section refers to what you should achieve after you
have completely covered a topic. As you go through each topic, you should
frequently refer to these learning outcomes. By doing this, you can continuously
gauge your understanding of the topic.
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Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations

throughout the module. It may be inserted after one sub-section or a few sub-
sections. It usually comes in the form of a question. When you come across this
component, try to reflect on what you have already learnt thus far. By attempting
to answer the question, you should be able to gauge how well you have
understood the sub-section(s). Most of the time, the answers to the questions can
be found directly from the module itself.

Activity: Like Self-Check, activities are also placed at various locations or junctures
throughout the module. Compared to Self-Check, Activity can appear in various
forms such as questions, short case studies or it may even ask you to conduct an
observation or research. Activity may also ask your opinion and evaluation on a
given scenario. When you come across an Activity, you should try to widen what
you have gathered from the module and introduce it to real situations. You should
engage yourself in higher order thinking where you might be required to analyse,
synthesise and evaluate instead of just having to recall and define.

Summary: You can find this component at the end of each topic. This component
helps you to recap the whole topic. By going through the summary, you should
be able to gauge your knowledge and retention level. Should you find points
inside the summary that you do not fully understand, it would be a good idea for
you to revisit the details from the module.

Key Terms: This component can be found at the end of each topic. You should go
through this component to remind yourself of important terms or jargons used
throughout the module. Should you find terms here that you are not able to
explain, you should look for the terms from the module.

References: References is where a list of relevant and useful textbooks, journals,

articles, electronic contents or sources can be found. This list can appear in a few
locations such as in the Course Guide (at References section), at the end of every
topic or at the back of the module. You are encouraged to read and refer to the
suggested sources to elicit the additional information needed as well as to
enhance your overall understanding of the course.

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Learners of this course are required to pass BBPP1103 Principles of Management
course.

There is no prerequisite requirement for learners prior taking this subject.

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ASSESSMENT METHOD
Please refer to myINSPIRE.

REFERENCES
Schneider, G. P. (2009). Electronic commerce (8th ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning.

Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2010). E-commerce: Business, technology, society

(6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J., Liang, T. P., & Turban, D. (2010). Electronic
commerce: A managerial perspective (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Pearson Education.

TAN SRI DR ABDULLAH SANUSI (TSDAS)

DIGITAL LIBRARY
The TSDAS Digital Library has a wide range of print and online resources for the
use of its learners. This comprehensive digital library, which is accessible
through the OUM portal, provides access to more than 30 online databases
comprising e-journals, e-theses, e-books and more. Examples of databases
available are EBSCOhost, ProQuest, SpringerLink, Books24x7, InfoSci Books,
Emerald Management Plus and Ebrary Electronic Books. As an OUM learner,
you are encouraged to make full use of the resources available through this
library.

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Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)