ITECH7606
Faculty of Science and Technology
Team Assignment: E-Commerce/E-Business Global Implementation Project
Due Date: week 11, Friday, 12:00 pm
Marks: 25 marks (25% of course grade)
Submission format: Hard copy and soft copy (through Moodle) are required to submit to the lecturer! Double-sided printing for the hard-copy is encouraged in order to save paper.
Edit Format: Assignment Submission_Template.doc. This is available in moodle
Description of Assignment:
Student teams (3-4 students) will prepare a 5000 - 5500 word report (approximately 14 double-spaced pages not including references and graphics), and deliver a presentation in tutorials, based upon the country that has been assigned by their tutor/lecturer (Note: the same country is not assigned to two different groups. If there are many groups in the class, then countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and America should be assigned to different groups). This project will require you to analyse the country assigned within the parameters found below.
The purpose of this assignment is to for students to analyse the expansion capability of an existing Australian company, PRICELINE (http://www.priceline.com.au/) to another country using e-business and/or e-commerce, and to communicate these key issues through a written report and an in-class presentation.The country we have choosen is ITALY.
Written report (15 marks):
The team project will, in part, take the form of a well-researched academic report. The point of the exercise is to produce a report that is well supported with references from respected sources. You should include academic journals, books, theses, trade magazines and well-respected sources of related Internet material as you find is relevant. Wikipedia, due to the inability to substantiate the information provided within, is NOT considered a reliable academic research source. Remember that “cutting and pasting” from sources, including web sites, even if the source is references, is a serious offense. Please use the format below to write your report. The main heading for each section should be used as headings in your report as well.
Group Presentation (10 marks):
The team project will also include an in-class team presentation of your assignment findings. The point of the exercise is to develop skills and experience in presenting report findings to an audience in a concise, clear and professional manner. Your presentation must involve all team members, equally, not be longer than 20 minutes in total length, and be developed using
Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software. You will be required to include the script of the presentation as an appendix to your report document and the PowerPoint file must also be submitted with the report document. Name your PowerPoint file using the following format: itech7606_teamassign_studentname.ppt.
Preparing the Report
The following web sites may help your preparation of the report:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/
http://home.aisnet.org/associations/7499/files/Index_Markup.cfm
http://www.itmarketer.com.au/index.php
http://www.ibisworld.com.au/
http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/ema_uk_he_chaffey_ebus_2
http://www.davechaffey.com/E-business
1) Introduction
a) An introductory paragraph, restating in your team’s own words your understanding of the goals of the project
b) A description of your assigned country, including a variety of relevant statistics such as population, percent of Internet usage within the country, Internet infrastructure, political issues that may impact the project, and the possible increase in Internet presence in the past five years. Student teams should build a profile of the country of a type that could be used to present this country to the organisation in a meeting of a board of directors. This should include graphics (maps) and other visuals showing the information above.
c) A description of PRICELINEincluding a brief history, goals and mission, and relevant industry information.
2) Analysis of suitability of e-business venture in this country for your assigned organisation
a) Conduct the analysis using the information on the organisation as well as the country you have been assigned. This analysis should be performed using the following technique:
i) Competitive Environment Analysis: You are expected to research this technique as part of this assignment, and write this section up in a format in keeping with this sort of analysis.
b) Provide the name of another organisation of this type that is currently operating within your country using e-Commerce or e-Business. This organisation can be either local or global. Provide some details about this organisation, such as how long they have been in the country, if they are successful, etc.
3) Analysis of suitability of e-commerce implementation in your assigned country for your assigned organisation
a) Using the information gathered for part 2, as well as other sources, consider as many factors as you can that would impact on the ability or inability of PRICELINE to implement e-Commerce within this country. Factors will include items such as social, legal and ethical constraints within the country, and micro-environmental factors within PRICELINE.
b) Identify some of the barriers and constraints to e-Business & e-Commerce that must be considered in the match between your country and this company.
c) Outline the business challenges of introducing e-business and e-commerce within the assigned country with PRICELINE.
4) e-Supply Chain Management & e-Procurement
a) Provide a brief overview of how e-Supply chain management and e-Procurement are most likely to work within PRICELINEbased upon what you know from your research and from lectures.
b) Include a discussion of potential electronic supply chain management issues related to the implementation of e-Business and e-Commerce for PRICELINEin your assigned country. Be specific and provide solutions if possible.
c) Include a discussion of electronic procurement issues related to the implementation of e-Business and e-Commerce for your organisation in your assigned country.
5) e-Marketing & e-Customer Relationship Management
a) Outline a plan for the marketing of PRICELINEwithin your country. Be sure to include a discussion of the preferred advertising medium in that country and the reach that this preferred medium has within the country. This will require you to research the country enough to discover the preferred advertising medium.
b) Discuss e-CRM issues and opportunities with regard to your organisation and e-Business within this country.
6) Localisation Issues & Change Management
a) Do you plan to use any consultants from the country that you are expanding into during your implementation? If so, what will their role be?. Will they be IT experts, Organisation Development experts, or other types of consultants?
b) Discuss localisation issues within the country and environment that you are entering.
c) Discuss the need for change management for PRICELINEwith regard to the existing company. Provide a plan for communication and management of the changes most likely to occur within the company that will affect staff. Suggest strategies for effective management of this change.
7) Conclusion
a) Summarise and evaluate your analyses, the feasibility of success of an e-Business or e-Commerce initiative in this country for your organisation, your projections about the success of this project, the potential costs and benefits to the company. Discuss what is different about your country for implementation purposes, and why you think the initiative would be a success or failure.
b) Close the paper with a sentence or two summing up your report.
8) References - Only list references that you have cited within your report. Be sure to cite any references that you have used.
Plagiarism
It is important to learn from the work of others and you are encouraged to explore the library, World Wide Web resources and have discussions with other students. However, work for assessment must be entirely the student's own work.
Plagiarism is the presentation of the expressed thought or work of another person as though it is one's own without properly acknowledging that person.
You must not allow other students to copy your work and must take care to safeguard against this happening. In cases of copying, normally all students involved will be penalised equally; an exception will be if you can demonstrate the work is your own and you took reasonable care to safeguard against copying.
Plagiarism is a serious offence. As set out in University Regulation 6.1.1, students who are caught plagiarising will, for a first offence, be given a zero mark for that task. A second offence will result in a failing grade for the Unit(s) involved and any subsequent offence will be referred to the Student Discipline Committee.
University Referencing/Citation Style Guide:
The University has published a style guide to help students correctly reference and cite information they use in It is imperative that students correctly cite all sources of information.
Marking Guide for written assignment:
Section Topic Marks
1. Introduction 1
2. Analysis of suitability of e-business 1.5
3. Analysis of suitability of e-commerce 1.5
4. e-Supply chain & e-Procurement 2
5. e-Marketing & e-CRM 2
6. Localisation Issues & Change Management 2
7. Conclusion 1
9. References (correct format, matching with citations) 2
10. Style (Spelling, grammar, citations, length, originality)
(Points will be deducted for exceedingly long ( 16 pages) or short ( 12 pages) reports 2
TOTAL MARKS 15
Marking Guide for presentation:
Section Topic Marks
1. Introduction and conclusion (purpose and objectives, concluding remarks) 1
2. Evaluation and integration of existing literature 2
3. Significant insights and original thoughts dealing with the critical issues 3
4. Understanding of research methods 1
5. Quality of communication (audibility, liveliness and clarity of presentation, confidence and fluency in the use of English, appropriate use of body language, responsiveness to audience) 1.5
6. Quality of management (pacing of presentation, effective use of visual material, organisation/structure of materials etc) 1.5
TOTAL MARKS 10