Manajemen | Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji 08832320209599067
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Ferment in Business Education: E-Commerce
Master's Programs
Subhash Durlabhji & Marcelline R. Fusilier
To cite this article: Subhash Durlabhji & Marcelline R. Fusilier (2002) Ferment in Business
Education: E-Commerce Master's Programs, Journal of Education for Business, 77:3, 169-176,
DOI: 10.1080/08832320209599067
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320209599067
Published online: 31 Mar 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 22
View related articles
Citing articles: 6 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji]
Date: 13 January 2016, At: 00:21
Ferment in Business Education:
E-Commerce Master’s Programs
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
SUBHASH DURLABHJI
MARCELLINE R. FUSlLlER
zyxw
zyxwvuts
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Natchitoches, Louisiana
T
he astonishing business-world turmoil wrought by the Internet needs
no introduction: It has produced consumer purchases of over 130 billion dollars since 1998, trillions of dollars in
business-to-business transactions, and
the longest economic expansion in U.S.
history. Almost as remarkable as the ecommerce explosion is the phenomenal
growth in e-commerce education. Only
a couple of years ago, such programs
and course offerings were virtually
nonexistent, but today they are rapidly
proliferating (Briones, 1999). In this
research, we identified 67 graduate programs offering either concentrations or
majors in e-commerce at universities
across North America as of November
2000. Just as business school training
increased effectiveness for brick-andmortar businesses over the past decades,
e-commerce education has the potential
to improve the functioning of firms in the
new economy. But even as more universities rush to market with such offerings,
fundamental controversies remain unresolved surrounding the need for, and the
nature of, e-commerce education.
Our purpose in this study was to identify and describe e-commerce master’s
programs in higher education to illuminate some of these issues. We focused
on two aspects:
1. Description and enumeration of ecommerce to reveal distinctions
ABSTRACT. Business schools are
developing strategies to prepare students for the new digital economy. In
this study, the authors investigated
recently launched master’s programs
in e-commerce by reviewing the curriculum and course descriptions of 67
programs that had Web listings of their
programs. Findings suggest that the
programs offered more nontechnical
e-commerce courses than courses
focusing on e-commerce technology.
The authors explored the debate
between those who believe e-commerce is a new discipline requiring its
own degree programs and those who
would weave e-commerce content into
existing functional area courses.
have appeared in the popular press and
on the Internet. We did not evaluate the
programs for their effectiveness in
preparing students. Because these programs are so new, outcome measures
were not available. Accurate assessment
of outcome measures such as career
progress, salary, and promotions was
impeded by the small number of graduates from these programs.
Demand, Response, and
Controversies
Recruiters, students, and faculty are
demanding e-commerce course offerings with an urgency rarely seen before
in academia (Dash, 2000a; Lord, 2000).
In Fall 1999, the University of Chicago
Graduate School of Business had to post
monitors at the door after 225 students
tried to register for an e-business strategy class that had seats for 65. Similar
stampedes erupted at the University of
California at Berkely, where fire marshals intervened. At the MIT Sloan
School of Management, a third of the
student body signed up for the new ecommerce track (Lord). Demand for
employees with training in e-commerce
capabilities is exploding (Mangan,
1999),not only in the so-called dot-corn
companies but in all businesses. Corporate America is snapping up e-commerce graduates. For example, Dell
Computer’s online division hired 22
zyx
zyxwvut
between concentrations and majors.
These baseline data may be useful for
tracking development of this area in
higher education. We also examined a
number of issues regarding the growth
of these programs.
2 . The relative emphasis on technical
versus nontechnical content across the
programs. The point of this distinction
was to determine the relative emphasis
between general business and technical
concepts in e-commerce programs. It
may also suggest the extent to which
programs are developing new e-commerce courses as opposed to using
existing master’s level courses.
Few empirical studies of efforts in ecommerce higher education exist,
though numerous articles on the subject
January/February 2002
169
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
zy
zyxwvutsrqp
MIT Sloan e-commerce graduates in the
year 2000. The typical signing bonus
for e-commerce graduates in 1999 was
$22,611, 50% more than for graduates
in finance or marketing (Lord).
Educational institutions are working
overtime to respond to this rising tide of
demand for e-commerce education.
Dobbs (1999) noted that “universities
are scrambling to turn the study of electronic commerce into majors and
degrees” (p. 62). Gebler (2000) pronounced that e-commerce has arrived as
a central element of business school
training and professionalization. It is
increasingly becoming clear to faculty
and administrators alike is that not
responding is no longer an option.
Schools without such educational offerings may experience enrollment decreases (Dobbs).
However, the approach to offering
such course content varies across
schools. Controversy centers on
whether e-business represents an incremental modification of the capabilities
and strategies available to business or
whether we are witnessing the birth of a
new paradigm. Institutions of higher
education are debating whether they
should “patch” e-commerce perspectives into existing courses and programs
or offer new courses and majors.
Though some researchers have contended that e-commerce should be an integral part of the curriculum and that separate programs and degrees are
unnecessary, others have argued for specialized programs in the area (Leonhardt, 2000; Tabor, 1999).
Separate Majors
2000b; Williams, Kwak, Morrison, &
Oladunjoye, 2000).
Technical Versus Nontechnical Focus
Aside from the debate on whether to
integrate e-commerce into a business
program or offer it separately, there is
also a lack of clarity concerning the
extent to which such courses should
emphasize technology as opposed to
functional business areas. Should courses emphasize the technology that
enables e-business or focus on the effect
of technology on business strategy and
decisions? Do e-business capabilities
require a technological foundation, or
can students function effectively in ebusiness firms without knowledge of the
enabling technology? Who should initiate and “own” e-business educationthe computer information systems faculty or the management faculty?
E-business programs are being offered
by both business schools and, primarily,
technological schools such as the
Stevens Institute of Technology.
Kalakota and Robinson ( 1 999) suggested that technology could no longer be
an afterthought to business strategy but
an integral part of every phase of strategy development. But what this means in
terms of business education is not clear.
zyx
zyxwvutsrq
Examples of schools with separate
majors in e-commerce include Northwestern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and New York University. Their objective is to offer
intensive study of e-business and
address what might be a new approach
to doing business. Evidence of the need
for this different approach has come
from leaders in the new economy
(Kuchinskas, 2000; McKenna, 1997)
who have predicted, for example, that
marketing will be integrated into every
part of the new economy organization
rather than being a separate function, as
170
in the past. Furthermore, brand loyalty
will tend to disappear, and advertising
may not be as critical as it once was. An
Andersen Consulting study (Harris,
2000) addressed the definition of new
roles for successful management in ecommerce. These involve activities such
as accurate interpretation of the external
environment and traits such as being
flexible and fast. Brian Authur (Levy,
2000) summarized an apparent fundamental difference between the old and
new economies by pointing out that the
main goal of organizations is no longer
optimization, but rather cognization,
which means “defining a new problem
rather than iterating ever-better solutions to an old one” (p. 1). On the basis
of these arguments, it seems that e-commerce education programs should focus
on the production and management of
intellectual property such as research,
innovation, and design.
Curriculum Integration
The Web page of the Haas School of
Business at the University of California
at Berkeley bluntly states that separate
e-business education is patently ridiculous, akin to a degree in “Managing in
the World of the Telephone” (Haas
School of Business, 2000). Administrators at schools such as the University of
Virginia and Columbia University are
designing courses and programs that
treat e-business as an inseparable part of
the larger business curriculum. This
approach assumes that a basic grounding in business is still needed in the new
economy (Mitchell, 2000). In a recent
address at the Internet World convention
(Morrow, 2000), former U.S. Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin noted that basic
laws of economics still apply to e-business. A general business problem-solving framework might be the most
important contribution that an educational program can make in preparing
students for the new economy (Fitzpatrick, 2000a). E-commerce facts and
content may be obsolete sooner than
students can finish a program. Integration of e-commerce into established
business courses also may force students to examine the social, global, psychological, and ethical aspects of this
approach to commerce (Fitzpatrick,
Method
Web Searches
In February and November 2000, we
conducted exhaustive Web searches
using various search engines to analyze
Web page descriptions of e-commerce
programs and course offerings by institutions of higher education. Also, we
accessed particular Web pages of universities reputed in the popular press or
other publications to have an e-commerce program. Moran (1999)
described 10 successful new initiatives
at top-rated business schools for integrating students into the digital economy. We examined all the programs listed on the Web site of the American
Association of Colleges and Schools of
Business (AACSB, the national accreditation organization for business education; AACSB, 2000). Some established
e-commerce programs did not have a
zyxwvutsrqpo
Journal of Education for Business
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
clear Web presence or one that we were
able to locate.
These programs took the form of ecommerce concentrations in master’s
programs or degrees in e-commerce.
Others involved certificates in e-commerce. Most programs were at the master’s level, but a few were available for
undergraduates. They varied considerably in their focus, types of courses
offered, and degree requirements. We
chose master’s programs for this study
because they appeared to be the most
common and best established of higher
education e-commerce programs. We
chose only those programs that were
described in detail on the Web and
came up with a total of 38 programs in
February 2000 and 29 new programs
that were added between February and
November. The total number of
schools offering e-commerce graduate
education stood at 55. Some schools
had multiple e-commerce tracks or
programs.
zyxwvut
were classified as technical e-cornmerce.
3. The nontechnical e-commerce
designation was used for courses that
referred to e-commerce or the Internet
in their titles but were nontechnical; that
is, they focused on functional areas such
as e-marketing, e-management, and
legal issues in e-commerce.
4. Courses that traditional computer
information systems programs typically
offer and other courses that presume a
technical background were categorized
as technical courses. Examples include
Telecommunications Technology, Programming, and Systems Analysis.
sarily represent all the courses required
for the degree. This especially was the
case for the programs with e-commerce
concentrations. We computed percentages within each school’s individual
program to assess the composition of
each program with regard to types of
courses and whether they were required
or elective.
An examination of the percentages
within a given course type, across programs, permits assessment of the extent
to which that course type was represented in the sample. The lowest bound
across all the course categories was
zero, indicating that no program included all of the course categories. For
example, the percentage of required ecommerce technical courses in Allentown College’s program was zero,
which means that none of their courses
were coded as such.
The total number of courses identified under each category is listed at the
bottom of its column in Table 1. Out of
the 855 courses, 406 had a specific ecommerce focus, of which 292 were
coded as having a nontechnical focus
and 114 as having a technical bent. At
least one nontechnical elective e-commerce course was offered in 42 of the 67
programs. Thirty programs required at
least one technical e-commerce course.
Furthermore, it appears that nontechnical e-commerce courses were required
in more programs than were technical ecommerce courses.
We examined the highest percentages
of each course type across programs.
The highest proportion of required business courses (56.3%)appeared to be in
programs at Northwestern University,
Our Lady of the Lake University, and
the University of Colorado. The largest
percentage of business electives was at
Wharton University (69.7%). The program with the largest percentage of
required e-commerce technical courses
was Worcester Polytechnic Institute
(33.3%), and that with the largest proportion of electives was the University
of Maryland (37.5%). The nontechnical
e-commerce category was best represented at National Graduate School
(Massachusetts) for required courses
(100%) and Allentown College and
Duke University for electives ( 1 00% of
the program). For technical courses,
zyxwv
zyxwvutsrqpo
Course Coding
We examined programs for (a) type,
(b) number of technical courses included, (c) number of e-commerce courses,
and (d) number of business courses. The
e-commerce courses were further identified as being technical or nontechnical
in nature. Courses were also classified
as required or elective. The intent of the
coding scheme was to provide a general
picture of the types of courses offered in
this area and an idea about the extent to
which such programs had a technology
emphasis.
We used course titles and descriptions to place courses in categories.
Using the following guidelines, we designated the courses as either (a) business, (b) technical e-commerce, (c) nontechnical e-commerce, or (d) technical:
I . Business courses included regular
business offerings found in traditional
business programs, such as Accounting,
Finance, and so forth, with no systems,
Internet, e-commerce, or dominant
computer focus.
2. Courses specifically incorporating
e-commerce and the Internet in their
titles and that were also technical in
nature, such as Web Programming and
Security Systems for E-Commerce,
Findings
Program Types
In Table 1, we list the 67 programs
examined. The most prevalent strategy
among these programs was to offer an
e-commerce concentration (or track or
specialization) in existing MBA programs; 30 of the programs in the present
study used this strategy. These are identified in Table 1 by a “C” in parentheses
at the end of the program name. Two
other MBA programs called the concentration “Technology and E-Commerce.”
Other master’s programs with an e-commerce concentration included four in
CIS or MIS; four master’s of science
programs in management; and one each
in marketing, administration sciences,
networking, and quality. When counting
all of these as master’s programs offering an e-commerce concentration, we
found that a total of 44 programs or
66% of the sample used this route forecommerce coverage. Concentration
requirements typically comprised four
or five courses from a longer list of electives. Of the remaining 23 programs, 22
were billed as majors or degrees in ecommerce. One program was listed as
post-MBA.
Course Categories
In Table 1, we display the raw frequencies and percentages of courses in
each of the categories. The courses
included are those listed as available to
satisfy the e-commerce component of
the master’s programs and do not neces-
January/February 2002
171
zy
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
zyxwvutsrq
zy
zyxwvutsrq
zyxwvutsrqp
zyx
zyxwvuts
zyx
zyxwvutsrq
TABLE 1. Master’s E-Commerce Programs: November 2000
Business
Required
Elective
n
%
n
%
~~~~
School
State
Allentown College
Bentley College
Boston U Metropolitan College
Capella College
Capitol College
Camegie-Mellon U
Case Western U
Case Western Reserve U
Claremont
College of Notre Dame
Creighton
Dalhousie U
DePaul U
Duke U
Emory U
Georgia State U
Georgia State U
Georgia State U
Georgia State U
Golden Gate U
Illinois institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins U
Loyola U
Marlboro College
McMaster U
Mercy College
MIT
National Graduate School
National U
National U
North Carolina State U
North Carolina State U
PA
MA
MA
MN
MD
MA
OH
OH
CA
CA
NE
CAN
IL
NC
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
CA
IL
Program
MBA-EC(C)
MS-Emktg
MS-ADMN-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
MS-EC-MGT
MS-EC
MBA-EC(C)
M-MGT-EC(C)
MS-EC
MS-EC
MS-EC
M-EC
MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC
MBA-EC(C)
M-CIS-EC(C)
MS-EC
MBA-EC
MBA-EC(C)
IL
MS-EC
MD M-CIS-EC(C)
IL
MBA-EC(C)
VT
MS-E-Strategy
CAN MBA-EC(C)
NY
MS-EC
MA MBA-EC(C)
MA MS-Quality-EC(C)
CA
MBA-EC(C)
CA
MS-EC
NC
MS-MGT-EC(C)
NC
MS-NETWRKEC(C)
0
3
0
0
5
6
0
3
0
0
0.0
23.1
0.0
41.7
26.1
0.0
25.0
0.0
0.0
1
5.0
0.0
0 0.0
0
0.0
0 0.0
4 44.4
1
7.7
0
0.0
1 7.1
7 36.8
7 24.1
0 0.0
0 0.0
0 0.0
0
0.0
1
11.1
2
0
2
0
0
I
0
0
10.5
0.0
5.9
0.0
0.0
7.1
0.0
0.0
0
5
12
0
0
5
3
0
0
0
0
6
3
0
0
1
1
5
1
10
0
5
0
1
0
2
2
17
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
38.5
57.1
0.0
0.0
21.7
25.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
23.1
17.6
0.0
0.0
7.7
33.3
35.7
5.3
34.5
0.0
26.3
0.0
10.0
0.0
10.5
12.5
50.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Technical
e-commerce
Required Elective
n
%
n
%
0
0
1
0
2
3
0
3
2
2
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
4
0
0
2
1
2
1
0
1
4
0
0
0.0
0.0
4.8
0.0
16.7
13.0
0.0
25.0
25.0
20.0
10.0
7.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.1
0.0
3.4
20.0
21.1
0.0
0.0
22.2
5.3
12.5
2.9
0.0
14.3
28.6
0.0
0.0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
2
4
5
0
0
2
0
0
2
4
0
2
5
2
0
0
5
1
0
0
0
2
1
0.0
0.0
0.0
20.0
0.0
0.0
16.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
10.0
15.4
29.4
0.0
0.0
15.4
0.0
0.0
10.5
13.8
0.0
10.5
35.7
20.0
0.0
0.0
31.3
2.9
0.0
0.0
0.0
33.3
16.7
Courses
Nontechnical
e-commerce
Required
Elective
n
%
n
%
0
1
3
1
5
3
0
6
2
8
3
5
2
0
0
3
0
2
4
3
4
8
0
2
3
4
6
3
4
3
6
0
0
0.0
7.7
14.3
20.0
41.7
13.0
0.0
50.0
25.0
80.0
15.0
19.2
11.8
0.0
0.0
23.1
0.0
14.3
21.1
10.3
80.0
42.1
0.0
20.0
33.3
21.1
37.5
8.8
100.0
42.9
42.9
0.0
0.0
7 100.0
1
7.7
Technical
Required
Elective
n
%
n
%
0
3
0.0
1
3 60.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
5 41.7
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
2 10.0
2
7.7
2 11.8
5 100.0
5 55.6
5 38.5
2 66.7
4 28.6
4 21.1
2
6.9
0
0.0
0
0.0
2 14.3
4 40.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
1
6.3
4 11.8
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
3 50.0
2 33.3
0
0
4
0
0
3
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
3
4
0
2
0
3
3
0
3
0.0
23.1
4.8
0.0
0.0
17.4
0.0
0.0
37.5
0.0
10.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.7
0.0
7.1
5.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
10.0
33.3
21.1
0.0
5.9
0.0
42.9
21.4
0.0
50.0
0
0
4
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
7
6
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
7
0
0
5
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
19.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
16.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
35.0
23.1
29.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
6.9
0.0
0.0
50.0
0.0
0.0
26.3
0.0
8.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Lab
%Total
n
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.7
0.0
0.0
12.5
0.0
5.0
3.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
5.3
0.0
2.9
0.0
0.0
0.0
16.7
0.0
7
13
21
5
12
23
12
12
8
10
20
26
17
5
9
13
3
14
19
29
5
19
14
10
9
19
16
34
4
7
14
6
6
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
New Jersey Institute of
Technology
New Jersey Institute of
Technology
Northwestern U
Our Lady of the Lake U
Purdue U
Regis U
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Rutgers U
Southern Illinois U
Stanford U
Temple U
Temple U
Texas A&M U
Texas A&M U
Texas Christian U
U of Colorado
U of Dallas
U of Dallas
U of Dallas
U of Denver
U of Georgia
U of Maryland
U of Memphis
U of Michigan
U of New Brunswick
U of PA Wharton
U of Rochester
U of San Diego
U of Texas
U of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt U
Wake Forest U
Westchester
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
No. programs with at least
one course
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvut
zyxwvuts
zyxwvutsr
0
0.0
3
30.0
0
0.0
0
MS-MGT-EC( C)
9
M-MGT-TEC
9
MBA-EC
MBA-EC(C)
0
1
co MBA-EC(C)
0
NY MBA-EC(C)
0
MBA-EC(C)
NJ
MBA-EC(C)
IL
0
1
MBA-EC(C)
CA
MBA-EC
PA
10
1
MS-EC (Post MBA)
PA
MS-MIS-EC(C)
TX
0
4
MS-MKT-EC(C)
TX
MBA-EC(C)
TX
3
co MBA-EC
9
0
MBA-EC(C)
TX
M-MGT-EC
TX
1
M-MGT-EC(C)
TX
4
0
co MBA-EC(C)
M-CIS-EC(C)
GA
0
0
MD MBA-EC(C)
TN
1
MS-EC
MBA-EC(C)
MI
0
0
CAN MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
1
PA
MBA-EC(C)
NY
0
MS-EC
CA
0
1
MBA-EC(C)
TX
0
MS-EC
WI
MBA-TEC(C)
0
TN
MBA-EC(C)
0
NC
MBA-TEC(C)
PA
0
MA MBA-EC(C)
0
Total courses
99
0.0
56.3
56.3
0.0
9.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.1
45.5
10.0
0.0
17.4
50.0
56.3
0.0
10.0
40.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.3
0.0
0.0
3.0
0.0
0.0
5.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
4
0
0
40.0
0.0
0.0
11.1
9.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
50.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
34.8
33.3
0.0
0.0
30.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
0.0
0.0
45.0
0.0
69.7
60.0
8.3
26.3
39.1
0.0
36.4
0.0
50.0
0
5
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
2
0.0
31.3
0.0
11.1
0.0
0.0
11.1
0.0
0.0
9.1
10.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
6.3
0.0
10.0
20.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.3
0.0
4.3
0.0
0.0
14.3
33.3
NJ
NJ
IL
TX
IN
MBA-EC(C)
28
1
1
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
8
2
0
0
3
0
1
2
0
0
9
0
23
6
1
5
9
0
4
0
3
171
34
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
2
54
30
2
20.0
3
30.0
1
10.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
10
2
0.0
0
2
0.0
0
0
0.0
5
4
0
0.0
0
0
0.0
0.0
4
0
1
2 22.2
2
2 25.0
0
1 7.1
0.0
4
0
4
0
0.0
0.0
2
0
2
1 4.3
0.0
0
0
5
0
0.0
0
1 20.0
0.0
5
0
4
0
0.0
0.0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
3 37.5
0.0
3
0
0
2 10.0
0.0
0
0
0.0
0
0
2
0
0.0
3
0
0.0
1
1 5.3
6
1 4.3
0
5 29.4
1
0
0.0
4
0
0.0
1
0.0
0
163
60
20.0
12.5
31.3
44.4
0.0
100.0
11.1
25.0
0.0
18.2
40.0
20.0
8.7
0.0
31.3
0.0
50.0
40.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
25.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
20.0
25.0
5.3
26.1
0.0
9.1
57.1
16.7
3
0
0
3
4
0
5
4
4
0
0
0
2
30.0
0.0
0.0
33.3
36.4
0.0
55.6
50.0
28.6
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.7
16.7
0.0
80.0
0.0
0.0
40.0
20.0
37.5
0.0
25.0
85.7
6.1
0.0
25.0
10.5
4.3
17.6
18.2
14.3
0.0
1
0
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
5
4
3
1
0
10.0
0.0
12.5
0.0
9.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
22.7
40.0
30.0
4.3
0.0
6.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
41.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
25.0
31.6
0.0
0.0
36.4
14.3
0.0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
1
0
0
5
5
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
2
2
3
1
7
2
1
3
4
9
0
0
0
94
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
36.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.1
0.0
0.0
50.0
21.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
40.0
40.0
25.0
16.7
15.0
14.3
21.2
20.0
8.3
15.8
17.4
52.9
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
12
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
4.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.3
5.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
4.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
10
16
16
9
11
4
9
8
14
22
10
10
23
6
16
5
10
10
5
5
8
12
20
7
33
10
12
19
23
17
11
7
6
855
1
26
10.0
48
1
0
4
0
0
2
1
3
0
5
6
2
0
3
2
1
3
2
1
0
129
42
Nore. EC denotes e-commerce; (C) denotes an e-commerce concentration in existing MBA courses; TEC denotes telecommunications and e-commerce.
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
0
0
3
6
0
0
4
1
0
73
29
25
11
zyx
zyxwvutsrqp
zyxwvuts
zyxwvutsrqp
North Carolina State had the highest
percentage required (50%),and Vanderbilt University had the highest percentage in electives (52.9%).
Surprisingly few of the programs had
a Lab component. Lab courses were categorized as those that required hands-on
e-commerce experience such as internships or practicum. Courses listed as “ecommerce project” were classified as
nontechnical e-commerce unless they
specifically required a hands-on component in the course description.
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
Discussion
DifSerentiated Versus Integrated
Programs
Our study’s results indicate that a
large number of new courses have been
developed specifically for both technical and nontechnical e-commerce coverage. We identified at least 22 programs as majors or degrees in
e-commerce. The proliferation of new
courses and degrees reflects a conclusion by faculty and deans that e-commerce involves fundamentally new concepts and processes. Donald Jacobs,
dean of Northwestern’s Kellogg School
of Management, stated that “success on
the Internet calls for a very different
way of thinking than managers in traditional businesses are trained for” (Leonhardt, 2000, p. 7). Deans from schools
of business such as Wharton and Northwestern have claimed that integrating ebusiness into functional area courses is
too slow or just plain “crazy.” Joseph
Morone, president of Bentley College in
Massachusetts, justified the creation of
entirely new programs by declaring that
the Internet represents a revolution that
is literally transforming every kind of
company: “We have to rethink the guts
of the MBA” (Lord, p. 64).
Deans from other well-regarded business schools have pronounced the rush
to offer separate e-commerce programs
a moneymaking gimmick and a fad
(Leonhardt, 2000; Mitchell, 2000)
intended to attract students but potentially not providing what is needed to
succeed in the new economy. “You’re
missing the point if you set up a separate program,” stated Edward Snyder,
dean of the University of Virginia’s Dar-
174
den School (Leonhardt, p. 7). Snyder’s
views have been echoed by many professors and administrators who are convinced that e-commerce will not be considered a distinct area of study in the
future. Fitzpatrick (2000b) argued that it
will permeate the whole business curriculum. Leonhardt suggested that this
debate actually mirrors a dilemma that
brick-and-mortar companies are tackling: “Some companies, like General
Electric, have directed managers in
every department to rethink their business with the Internet in mind, while
others have set up separate Web divisions meant to stay free of corporate
bureaucracy” (p. 7).
Data from our study do not provide
us with information about the prevalence of this view of e-business education, because schools that have adopted
this integrated approach do not have
new programs to announce. Few of
these schools announced their philosophy explicitly on their Web pages. The
Haas School of Business at the University of Berkeley is an exception; it
devoted a separate page to “Why Haas
has an integrated e-business curriculum.” Amazingly, their integrated
approach was justified by the same
argument-that the Internet represents a
fundamental revolution in businessused to support the differentiated
approach: “The Haas School integrates
the study of e-business into the existing
MBA curriculum instead of creating a
separate track, as some schools have
done. Haas faculty members believe the
Internet is so fundamental that it must
be taught across the entire MBA curriculum” (Haas School of Business,
2000).
Technology-Centered or BusinessCentered Programs
E-commerce education appears accessible to MBA students in general, not
simply to those who are technically
inclined. Business and nontechnical ecommerce courses were well represented in the composition of the programs.
Kalakota and Robinson (1999) urged
CEOs to “think e-business design, not
just technology” (p. 53). Our study’s
results suggest that there is a greater
nontechnology emphasis in most of the
programs investigated. The ratio of total
nontechnical e-commerce courses to
technical e-commerce courses was 2.5
to 1. But it is unclear why the programs
are structured this way. Is it because
careful analysis and debate led to the
conclusion that this is the content that
students need? Or is this structure all
that business schools are able to offer
without a wholesale retooling of faculty
capabilities? That is, if the majority of
the faculty are not prepared to teach
technical e-commerce courses, then the
program could not emphasize this material. Regardless of the reason for the
prevalence of nontechnical courses, if
programs assume this focus, then it
makes sense to integrate e-commerce
into the existing curriculum. Such
course material probably does not entail
a radical technological departure from
what is currently being taught. However, for programs with a unique technical
emphasis, a separate degree plan might
be necessary.
Another perspective on the debate
over
technical-versus-nontechnical
emphasis comes from Mitchell (2000),
who suggested that degree programs
emphasizing technology appeal to different kinds of students than do MBA
programs with an e-commerce concentration. The former attract students who
have a greater technology bent and
interest in learning the business basics,
whereas MBA degrees with e-commerce concentrations tend to attract students who wish to dig deeper into the
business aspect and learn enough technology to give those business lessons
some context. An MBA with concentrations may also have other advantages: A
concentration can be developed into a
full program if the need should arise and
may provide the flexibility for schools
to accommodate both nontechnical and
technical specializations. In today’s turbulent environment, such flexibility
may be the most prudent approach.
Other Issues
To gauge the pace at which new ecommerce programs are being
launched, we compared the data collected in February 2000 with the data from
November 2000 (see Table 2). A new
program was announced almost on a
zyxwvutsr
Journal of Education for Business
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
nology professionals who may not have
an adequate understanding of the foundations of a successful business enterprise. Griffin (2000) reported that “the
business plan-endangered for the last
two and a half years-is making a
comeback” (p. 216), indicating that venture capitalists are beginning to require
evidence of managerial and marketing
competence from would-be dot-com
entrepreneurs.
In the future, accreditation standards
may incorporate e-business coverage. In
addition to the extensive e-business section on its Web page, the AACSB has
held conferences on the subject. Many
of the issues that we have addressed in
the present study may be debated within the AACSB before any new guidelines are issued. Budget constraints and
competition are also forcing universities
to limit the number of credit hours
required for completion of degrees,
which suggests that e-commerce coverage will come at the expense of, rather
than in addition to, current course work.
In any case, business faculty could be
faced with the need to retool in this area.
Furthermore, the nature of e-business
demands frequent changes to course
content and process, i n some cases
every time the course is offered. In spite
weekly basis-our research identified
29 new programs launched in the 8
months between February and November 2000. The total number of programs
grew from 38 to 67, a growth rate of
76% in 8 months. Interestingly, the
number of programs offering concentrations increased by 63%, whereas the
number of degree programs more than
doubled, suggesting that business
schools are increasingly convinced that
e-business represents a new discipline
rather than only a different aspect of
business.
The ratio of nontechnical e-commerce courses to technical e-commerce
courses remained unchanged between
February and November 2000 (see
Table 3), but there seemed to be a growing emphasis on requiring nontechnical
courses rather than on offering them as
electives. The level of required nontechnical e-commerce courses recorded in
November was 172% higher than the
February level, whereas elective nontechnical e-commerce courses increased
by only 36% during the same time. The
recent dot-com debacle in the stock
markets may be alerting educators to the
need for more attention to business
basics. Many of the failed dot-com startups were launched by information tech-
TABLE 2. Growth in E-Commerce Graduate Programs From February to
November 2000
of constant budget constraints, universities may be required to reduce or modify faculty teaching loads.
An alternative to continual course
content changes might be to focus on
teaching problem-solving skills for the
new economy. E-commerce facts often
become outdated before students can
even finish a program. Therefore, a
more effective focus for teaching might
be on logic and thinking processes concerning e-commerce strategy. There is a
great deal of literature that can be used
for development of course material on
environmental scanning, fast and accurate decisionmaking ( e g , Eisenhardt &
Bourgeois, 1988), and creativity. A
process emphasis may be more useful
than teaching content regarding business practice in turbulent environments.
Just as e-commerce seems to have
given rise to new and different ways of
doing business, it may do the same with
regard to education. For example, individual professors may decide to bypass
the university and offer their courses online directly. Traditional brick-and-mortar universities, on-line universities, private technology companies, and even
textbook publishers are already putting
reportedly high quality course materials
on-line (Dash, 2000b; Johnston, 2000).
Even MBA and MS degrees are now
fully available online, with no residency
requirements-examples
include the
Monterrey Institute for Graduate Studies and the University of Phoenix. A
new breed of “university” with no physical campus at all is also emerging, with
e-commerce education as a primary
focus. An example is the new Graduate
School of E-commerce, billed as the
first and only fully on-line program
exclusively dedicated to electronic commerce, and offering an MBA in electronic commerce.
Though all these options allow students more choices as consumers of ecommerce education, they also constitute escalating competition for
universities, potentially increasing the
likelihood that programs will be developed without adequate deliberation.
Arthur Levine, president of Columbia
University Teacher’s College, indicated
that this might be a scary situation for
students and educators (Johnston,
2000). The advent of e-commerce and
zyxw
zyxwvutsrq
zyxwvutsrqpo
Concentrations
Degrees
Total
27
44
63
11
23
109
38
67
76
February 2000
November 2000
Increase (%)
TABLE 3. Growth in Technical and Nontechnical E-Commerce Courses
From February to November 2000
Technical
Nontechnical
e-commerce
e-commerce
Required Elective Required Elective
February 2000
November 2000
Increase (%)
Increase (%)
(required plus electives)
25
54
116
36
60
67
87
60
163
172
95
129
36
88
Ratio:
Nontechnical
to technical
2.5 : 1
2.5 : 1
z
zyx
January/February 2002
175
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvutsrq
zyxwv
e-education may lead to more frequent
and radical changes in higher educational methods than anticipated even a year
ago. The rapid arrival of e-commerce
programs suggests that a revolutionary
change in business school education
may be at hand.
NOTE
An earlier version of this article was presented
at the Decision Sciences Institute annual conference in Orlando, Florida, November 2000.
www.ecommercetimes.com/news/arti-
Kuchinskas, S. (2000, November 14). The end of
marketing. Business 2.0, 134-1 39.
Leonhardt, D. (2000, January 16). At graduate
schools, a great divide over e-business studies.
The New York Times, Business Section, 7.
Levy, D. (2000). Managing the new economy
demands new skills, focus. Stanford News.
Retreived from http://www.stanford.edu/dept/
news/pr/OO/futureprof823.htmI
Lord, M. (2000, April 10).Suddenly, e-commerce
is the hot new specialty. U.S. News & World
Report, 62-64.
Mangan, K. S. (1999, April 30). Business students
flock to courses on electronic commerce.
Chronicle of Higher Education, A25-A26.
Mitchell, M. (2000, September 1 I ) . A difference
of degree. CIO Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.cio.com/archive/O9O 100-degree.
html
McKenna, R. (1997). Real time: Preparing for the
age of the never satisfied customer. Boston:
Harvard Business School Press.
Moran, S. (1999, October 1). MBA.com. Business
2.0, 123-149.
Morrow, J. M. (2000,October 27). Rubin: New
economy subject to old rules. NewsFactor Network. Retrieved from http://www.newsfactor.
com
Saracevic, A.T. (2000, October 10). Hope for the
holidays. Business 2.0, 146-152.
Tabor, M. B.W. (1999, September 22). Latest hit
on campus: Crescendo in E-major. New York
Times, p. 12.
Williams, H. J., Kwak, Y.,Morrison, J. L., &
Oladunjoye, G . T. (2000). Teaching the effects
of electronic commerce on business practices
and global stability. Journal of Education for
Business. 75, 178-1 86.
zyxwvutsrqpon
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvu
REFERENCES
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
Politics of strategic decision making in highvelocity environments. Academy of Management Journal, 31, 737-770.
Fitzpatick, M. (2000a, May 29). A new kind of
teamwork in e-business education. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com
Fitzpatrick, M. (2000b, May 29). Education on the
fly: Creating the new e-business curriculum.
Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.
chicagotribune.com
Gebler, D. (2000). The future of e-commerce 101.
E-Commerce Times. Retrieved from http://
American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of
Business (AACSB). (2000). E-business education. Retrieved from http://www.aacsb.edu/ebusiness/index.html
Briones, M. G. (1999, March 29). E-commerce
master’s programs set to explode. Marketing
News, 19-20,
Dash, J. (2000a. August 7). MBA programs
expand e-commerce course offerings. Computenuorld, 20. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/O, 1 199,NAV47_STO
4819 1,OO.html
Dash, J. (2000b, September 4). IT leaders give
online universities high marks. Computerworld.
Retrieved from .http://www.computerworld.
com/cwi/story/O, 1 199,NAV47_ST049475,00.
html
Dobbs, K. (1999). New rage on campus: E-commerce degrees. Training, 36, 62-64.
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Bourgeois, L. J., 111. (1988.)
cles2000/000809-2.shtml
Griffin, J. (2000, October 24). Back to business
plans and sanity. Business 2.0, 216.
Harris, J. G. (2000). Information and the manager
in the new economy. “Sidebar” in J. D. Rollins,
D. A. Marchand, & W. J. Kettinger, The information edge: How to get the full value of information in the new economy. Outlook Special
Edition: The eSeries II, Andersen Consulting.
Retrieved from http://www.ac.com/ideas/OutlooWspecia12000-2/se2-sidebar3. html
Haas School of Business. (2000). Why Haas has
an integrated e-business curriculum. Retrieved
from http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/mba/programguide2000/studentadvantage/technology6.htm
Johnston, M. (2000).Web may undermine universities, says college pres. The Standard: Intelligence for the Internet Economy. Retrieved from
http://www.thestandard.com/articIe/display/
0.1 15 1.13 132,OO.html
Kalakota, R., & Robinson, M. (1999). E-business:
Roadmap for success. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley.
zyxwvutsrqpon
176
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Ferment in Business Education: E-Commerce
Master's Programs
Subhash Durlabhji & Marcelline R. Fusilier
To cite this article: Subhash Durlabhji & Marcelline R. Fusilier (2002) Ferment in Business
Education: E-Commerce Master's Programs, Journal of Education for Business, 77:3, 169-176,
DOI: 10.1080/08832320209599067
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320209599067
Published online: 31 Mar 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 22
View related articles
Citing articles: 6 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji]
Date: 13 January 2016, At: 00:21
Ferment in Business Education:
E-Commerce Master’s Programs
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
SUBHASH DURLABHJI
MARCELLINE R. FUSlLlER
zyxw
zyxwvuts
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Natchitoches, Louisiana
T
he astonishing business-world turmoil wrought by the Internet needs
no introduction: It has produced consumer purchases of over 130 billion dollars since 1998, trillions of dollars in
business-to-business transactions, and
the longest economic expansion in U.S.
history. Almost as remarkable as the ecommerce explosion is the phenomenal
growth in e-commerce education. Only
a couple of years ago, such programs
and course offerings were virtually
nonexistent, but today they are rapidly
proliferating (Briones, 1999). In this
research, we identified 67 graduate programs offering either concentrations or
majors in e-commerce at universities
across North America as of November
2000. Just as business school training
increased effectiveness for brick-andmortar businesses over the past decades,
e-commerce education has the potential
to improve the functioning of firms in the
new economy. But even as more universities rush to market with such offerings,
fundamental controversies remain unresolved surrounding the need for, and the
nature of, e-commerce education.
Our purpose in this study was to identify and describe e-commerce master’s
programs in higher education to illuminate some of these issues. We focused
on two aspects:
1. Description and enumeration of ecommerce to reveal distinctions
ABSTRACT. Business schools are
developing strategies to prepare students for the new digital economy. In
this study, the authors investigated
recently launched master’s programs
in e-commerce by reviewing the curriculum and course descriptions of 67
programs that had Web listings of their
programs. Findings suggest that the
programs offered more nontechnical
e-commerce courses than courses
focusing on e-commerce technology.
The authors explored the debate
between those who believe e-commerce is a new discipline requiring its
own degree programs and those who
would weave e-commerce content into
existing functional area courses.
have appeared in the popular press and
on the Internet. We did not evaluate the
programs for their effectiveness in
preparing students. Because these programs are so new, outcome measures
were not available. Accurate assessment
of outcome measures such as career
progress, salary, and promotions was
impeded by the small number of graduates from these programs.
Demand, Response, and
Controversies
Recruiters, students, and faculty are
demanding e-commerce course offerings with an urgency rarely seen before
in academia (Dash, 2000a; Lord, 2000).
In Fall 1999, the University of Chicago
Graduate School of Business had to post
monitors at the door after 225 students
tried to register for an e-business strategy class that had seats for 65. Similar
stampedes erupted at the University of
California at Berkely, where fire marshals intervened. At the MIT Sloan
School of Management, a third of the
student body signed up for the new ecommerce track (Lord). Demand for
employees with training in e-commerce
capabilities is exploding (Mangan,
1999),not only in the so-called dot-corn
companies but in all businesses. Corporate America is snapping up e-commerce graduates. For example, Dell
Computer’s online division hired 22
zyx
zyxwvut
between concentrations and majors.
These baseline data may be useful for
tracking development of this area in
higher education. We also examined a
number of issues regarding the growth
of these programs.
2 . The relative emphasis on technical
versus nontechnical content across the
programs. The point of this distinction
was to determine the relative emphasis
between general business and technical
concepts in e-commerce programs. It
may also suggest the extent to which
programs are developing new e-commerce courses as opposed to using
existing master’s level courses.
Few empirical studies of efforts in ecommerce higher education exist,
though numerous articles on the subject
January/February 2002
169
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
zy
zyxwvutsrqp
MIT Sloan e-commerce graduates in the
year 2000. The typical signing bonus
for e-commerce graduates in 1999 was
$22,611, 50% more than for graduates
in finance or marketing (Lord).
Educational institutions are working
overtime to respond to this rising tide of
demand for e-commerce education.
Dobbs (1999) noted that “universities
are scrambling to turn the study of electronic commerce into majors and
degrees” (p. 62). Gebler (2000) pronounced that e-commerce has arrived as
a central element of business school
training and professionalization. It is
increasingly becoming clear to faculty
and administrators alike is that not
responding is no longer an option.
Schools without such educational offerings may experience enrollment decreases (Dobbs).
However, the approach to offering
such course content varies across
schools. Controversy centers on
whether e-business represents an incremental modification of the capabilities
and strategies available to business or
whether we are witnessing the birth of a
new paradigm. Institutions of higher
education are debating whether they
should “patch” e-commerce perspectives into existing courses and programs
or offer new courses and majors.
Though some researchers have contended that e-commerce should be an integral part of the curriculum and that separate programs and degrees are
unnecessary, others have argued for specialized programs in the area (Leonhardt, 2000; Tabor, 1999).
Separate Majors
2000b; Williams, Kwak, Morrison, &
Oladunjoye, 2000).
Technical Versus Nontechnical Focus
Aside from the debate on whether to
integrate e-commerce into a business
program or offer it separately, there is
also a lack of clarity concerning the
extent to which such courses should
emphasize technology as opposed to
functional business areas. Should courses emphasize the technology that
enables e-business or focus on the effect
of technology on business strategy and
decisions? Do e-business capabilities
require a technological foundation, or
can students function effectively in ebusiness firms without knowledge of the
enabling technology? Who should initiate and “own” e-business educationthe computer information systems faculty or the management faculty?
E-business programs are being offered
by both business schools and, primarily,
technological schools such as the
Stevens Institute of Technology.
Kalakota and Robinson ( 1 999) suggested that technology could no longer be
an afterthought to business strategy but
an integral part of every phase of strategy development. But what this means in
terms of business education is not clear.
zyx
zyxwvutsrq
Examples of schools with separate
majors in e-commerce include Northwestern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and New York University. Their objective is to offer
intensive study of e-business and
address what might be a new approach
to doing business. Evidence of the need
for this different approach has come
from leaders in the new economy
(Kuchinskas, 2000; McKenna, 1997)
who have predicted, for example, that
marketing will be integrated into every
part of the new economy organization
rather than being a separate function, as
170
in the past. Furthermore, brand loyalty
will tend to disappear, and advertising
may not be as critical as it once was. An
Andersen Consulting study (Harris,
2000) addressed the definition of new
roles for successful management in ecommerce. These involve activities such
as accurate interpretation of the external
environment and traits such as being
flexible and fast. Brian Authur (Levy,
2000) summarized an apparent fundamental difference between the old and
new economies by pointing out that the
main goal of organizations is no longer
optimization, but rather cognization,
which means “defining a new problem
rather than iterating ever-better solutions to an old one” (p. 1). On the basis
of these arguments, it seems that e-commerce education programs should focus
on the production and management of
intellectual property such as research,
innovation, and design.
Curriculum Integration
The Web page of the Haas School of
Business at the University of California
at Berkeley bluntly states that separate
e-business education is patently ridiculous, akin to a degree in “Managing in
the World of the Telephone” (Haas
School of Business, 2000). Administrators at schools such as the University of
Virginia and Columbia University are
designing courses and programs that
treat e-business as an inseparable part of
the larger business curriculum. This
approach assumes that a basic grounding in business is still needed in the new
economy (Mitchell, 2000). In a recent
address at the Internet World convention
(Morrow, 2000), former U.S. Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin noted that basic
laws of economics still apply to e-business. A general business problem-solving framework might be the most
important contribution that an educational program can make in preparing
students for the new economy (Fitzpatrick, 2000a). E-commerce facts and
content may be obsolete sooner than
students can finish a program. Integration of e-commerce into established
business courses also may force students to examine the social, global, psychological, and ethical aspects of this
approach to commerce (Fitzpatrick,
Method
Web Searches
In February and November 2000, we
conducted exhaustive Web searches
using various search engines to analyze
Web page descriptions of e-commerce
programs and course offerings by institutions of higher education. Also, we
accessed particular Web pages of universities reputed in the popular press or
other publications to have an e-commerce program. Moran (1999)
described 10 successful new initiatives
at top-rated business schools for integrating students into the digital economy. We examined all the programs listed on the Web site of the American
Association of Colleges and Schools of
Business (AACSB, the national accreditation organization for business education; AACSB, 2000). Some established
e-commerce programs did not have a
zyxwvutsrqpo
Journal of Education for Business
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
clear Web presence or one that we were
able to locate.
These programs took the form of ecommerce concentrations in master’s
programs or degrees in e-commerce.
Others involved certificates in e-commerce. Most programs were at the master’s level, but a few were available for
undergraduates. They varied considerably in their focus, types of courses
offered, and degree requirements. We
chose master’s programs for this study
because they appeared to be the most
common and best established of higher
education e-commerce programs. We
chose only those programs that were
described in detail on the Web and
came up with a total of 38 programs in
February 2000 and 29 new programs
that were added between February and
November. The total number of
schools offering e-commerce graduate
education stood at 55. Some schools
had multiple e-commerce tracks or
programs.
zyxwvut
were classified as technical e-cornmerce.
3. The nontechnical e-commerce
designation was used for courses that
referred to e-commerce or the Internet
in their titles but were nontechnical; that
is, they focused on functional areas such
as e-marketing, e-management, and
legal issues in e-commerce.
4. Courses that traditional computer
information systems programs typically
offer and other courses that presume a
technical background were categorized
as technical courses. Examples include
Telecommunications Technology, Programming, and Systems Analysis.
sarily represent all the courses required
for the degree. This especially was the
case for the programs with e-commerce
concentrations. We computed percentages within each school’s individual
program to assess the composition of
each program with regard to types of
courses and whether they were required
or elective.
An examination of the percentages
within a given course type, across programs, permits assessment of the extent
to which that course type was represented in the sample. The lowest bound
across all the course categories was
zero, indicating that no program included all of the course categories. For
example, the percentage of required ecommerce technical courses in Allentown College’s program was zero,
which means that none of their courses
were coded as such.
The total number of courses identified under each category is listed at the
bottom of its column in Table 1. Out of
the 855 courses, 406 had a specific ecommerce focus, of which 292 were
coded as having a nontechnical focus
and 114 as having a technical bent. At
least one nontechnical elective e-commerce course was offered in 42 of the 67
programs. Thirty programs required at
least one technical e-commerce course.
Furthermore, it appears that nontechnical e-commerce courses were required
in more programs than were technical ecommerce courses.
We examined the highest percentages
of each course type across programs.
The highest proportion of required business courses (56.3%)appeared to be in
programs at Northwestern University,
Our Lady of the Lake University, and
the University of Colorado. The largest
percentage of business electives was at
Wharton University (69.7%). The program with the largest percentage of
required e-commerce technical courses
was Worcester Polytechnic Institute
(33.3%), and that with the largest proportion of electives was the University
of Maryland (37.5%). The nontechnical
e-commerce category was best represented at National Graduate School
(Massachusetts) for required courses
(100%) and Allentown College and
Duke University for electives ( 1 00% of
the program). For technical courses,
zyxwv
zyxwvutsrqpo
Course Coding
We examined programs for (a) type,
(b) number of technical courses included, (c) number of e-commerce courses,
and (d) number of business courses. The
e-commerce courses were further identified as being technical or nontechnical
in nature. Courses were also classified
as required or elective. The intent of the
coding scheme was to provide a general
picture of the types of courses offered in
this area and an idea about the extent to
which such programs had a technology
emphasis.
We used course titles and descriptions to place courses in categories.
Using the following guidelines, we designated the courses as either (a) business, (b) technical e-commerce, (c) nontechnical e-commerce, or (d) technical:
I . Business courses included regular
business offerings found in traditional
business programs, such as Accounting,
Finance, and so forth, with no systems,
Internet, e-commerce, or dominant
computer focus.
2. Courses specifically incorporating
e-commerce and the Internet in their
titles and that were also technical in
nature, such as Web Programming and
Security Systems for E-Commerce,
Findings
Program Types
In Table 1, we list the 67 programs
examined. The most prevalent strategy
among these programs was to offer an
e-commerce concentration (or track or
specialization) in existing MBA programs; 30 of the programs in the present
study used this strategy. These are identified in Table 1 by a “C” in parentheses
at the end of the program name. Two
other MBA programs called the concentration “Technology and E-Commerce.”
Other master’s programs with an e-commerce concentration included four in
CIS or MIS; four master’s of science
programs in management; and one each
in marketing, administration sciences,
networking, and quality. When counting
all of these as master’s programs offering an e-commerce concentration, we
found that a total of 44 programs or
66% of the sample used this route forecommerce coverage. Concentration
requirements typically comprised four
or five courses from a longer list of electives. Of the remaining 23 programs, 22
were billed as majors or degrees in ecommerce. One program was listed as
post-MBA.
Course Categories
In Table 1, we display the raw frequencies and percentages of courses in
each of the categories. The courses
included are those listed as available to
satisfy the e-commerce component of
the master’s programs and do not neces-
January/February 2002
171
zy
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
zyxwvutsrq
zy
zyxwvutsrq
zyxwvutsrqp
zyx
zyxwvuts
zyx
zyxwvutsrq
TABLE 1. Master’s E-Commerce Programs: November 2000
Business
Required
Elective
n
%
n
%
~~~~
School
State
Allentown College
Bentley College
Boston U Metropolitan College
Capella College
Capitol College
Camegie-Mellon U
Case Western U
Case Western Reserve U
Claremont
College of Notre Dame
Creighton
Dalhousie U
DePaul U
Duke U
Emory U
Georgia State U
Georgia State U
Georgia State U
Georgia State U
Golden Gate U
Illinois institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins U
Loyola U
Marlboro College
McMaster U
Mercy College
MIT
National Graduate School
National U
National U
North Carolina State U
North Carolina State U
PA
MA
MA
MN
MD
MA
OH
OH
CA
CA
NE
CAN
IL
NC
GA
GA
GA
GA
GA
CA
IL
Program
MBA-EC(C)
MS-Emktg
MS-ADMN-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
MS-EC-MGT
MS-EC
MBA-EC(C)
M-MGT-EC(C)
MS-EC
MS-EC
MS-EC
M-EC
MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC
MBA-EC(C)
M-CIS-EC(C)
MS-EC
MBA-EC
MBA-EC(C)
IL
MS-EC
MD M-CIS-EC(C)
IL
MBA-EC(C)
VT
MS-E-Strategy
CAN MBA-EC(C)
NY
MS-EC
MA MBA-EC(C)
MA MS-Quality-EC(C)
CA
MBA-EC(C)
CA
MS-EC
NC
MS-MGT-EC(C)
NC
MS-NETWRKEC(C)
0
3
0
0
5
6
0
3
0
0
0.0
23.1
0.0
41.7
26.1
0.0
25.0
0.0
0.0
1
5.0
0.0
0 0.0
0
0.0
0 0.0
4 44.4
1
7.7
0
0.0
1 7.1
7 36.8
7 24.1
0 0.0
0 0.0
0 0.0
0
0.0
1
11.1
2
0
2
0
0
I
0
0
10.5
0.0
5.9
0.0
0.0
7.1
0.0
0.0
0
5
12
0
0
5
3
0
0
0
0
6
3
0
0
1
1
5
1
10
0
5
0
1
0
2
2
17
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
38.5
57.1
0.0
0.0
21.7
25.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
23.1
17.6
0.0
0.0
7.7
33.3
35.7
5.3
34.5
0.0
26.3
0.0
10.0
0.0
10.5
12.5
50.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Technical
e-commerce
Required Elective
n
%
n
%
0
0
1
0
2
3
0
3
2
2
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
4
0
0
2
1
2
1
0
1
4
0
0
0.0
0.0
4.8
0.0
16.7
13.0
0.0
25.0
25.0
20.0
10.0
7.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.1
0.0
3.4
20.0
21.1
0.0
0.0
22.2
5.3
12.5
2.9
0.0
14.3
28.6
0.0
0.0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
2
4
5
0
0
2
0
0
2
4
0
2
5
2
0
0
5
1
0
0
0
2
1
0.0
0.0
0.0
20.0
0.0
0.0
16.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
10.0
15.4
29.4
0.0
0.0
15.4
0.0
0.0
10.5
13.8
0.0
10.5
35.7
20.0
0.0
0.0
31.3
2.9
0.0
0.0
0.0
33.3
16.7
Courses
Nontechnical
e-commerce
Required
Elective
n
%
n
%
0
1
3
1
5
3
0
6
2
8
3
5
2
0
0
3
0
2
4
3
4
8
0
2
3
4
6
3
4
3
6
0
0
0.0
7.7
14.3
20.0
41.7
13.0
0.0
50.0
25.0
80.0
15.0
19.2
11.8
0.0
0.0
23.1
0.0
14.3
21.1
10.3
80.0
42.1
0.0
20.0
33.3
21.1
37.5
8.8
100.0
42.9
42.9
0.0
0.0
7 100.0
1
7.7
Technical
Required
Elective
n
%
n
%
0
3
0.0
1
3 60.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
5 41.7
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
2 10.0
2
7.7
2 11.8
5 100.0
5 55.6
5 38.5
2 66.7
4 28.6
4 21.1
2
6.9
0
0.0
0
0.0
2 14.3
4 40.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
1
6.3
4 11.8
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
3 50.0
2 33.3
0
0
4
0
0
3
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
3
4
0
2
0
3
3
0
3
0.0
23.1
4.8
0.0
0.0
17.4
0.0
0.0
37.5
0.0
10.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.7
0.0
7.1
5.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
10.0
33.3
21.1
0.0
5.9
0.0
42.9
21.4
0.0
50.0
0
0
4
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
7
6
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
7
0
0
5
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0.0
19.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
16.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
35.0
23.1
29.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
6.9
0.0
0.0
50.0
0.0
0.0
26.3
0.0
8.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Lab
%Total
n
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.7
0.0
0.0
12.5
0.0
5.0
3.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
5.3
0.0
2.9
0.0
0.0
0.0
16.7
0.0
7
13
21
5
12
23
12
12
8
10
20
26
17
5
9
13
3
14
19
29
5
19
14
10
9
19
16
34
4
7
14
6
6
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
New Jersey Institute of
Technology
New Jersey Institute of
Technology
Northwestern U
Our Lady of the Lake U
Purdue U
Regis U
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Rutgers U
Southern Illinois U
Stanford U
Temple U
Temple U
Texas A&M U
Texas A&M U
Texas Christian U
U of Colorado
U of Dallas
U of Dallas
U of Dallas
U of Denver
U of Georgia
U of Maryland
U of Memphis
U of Michigan
U of New Brunswick
U of PA Wharton
U of Rochester
U of San Diego
U of Texas
U of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt U
Wake Forest U
Westchester
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
No. programs with at least
one course
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvut
zyxwvuts
zyxwvutsr
0
0.0
3
30.0
0
0.0
0
MS-MGT-EC( C)
9
M-MGT-TEC
9
MBA-EC
MBA-EC(C)
0
1
co MBA-EC(C)
0
NY MBA-EC(C)
0
MBA-EC(C)
NJ
MBA-EC(C)
IL
0
1
MBA-EC(C)
CA
MBA-EC
PA
10
1
MS-EC (Post MBA)
PA
MS-MIS-EC(C)
TX
0
4
MS-MKT-EC(C)
TX
MBA-EC(C)
TX
3
co MBA-EC
9
0
MBA-EC(C)
TX
M-MGT-EC
TX
1
M-MGT-EC(C)
TX
4
0
co MBA-EC(C)
M-CIS-EC(C)
GA
0
0
MD MBA-EC(C)
TN
1
MS-EC
MBA-EC(C)
MI
0
0
CAN MBA-EC(C)
MBA-EC(C)
1
PA
MBA-EC(C)
NY
0
MS-EC
CA
0
1
MBA-EC(C)
TX
0
MS-EC
WI
MBA-TEC(C)
0
TN
MBA-EC(C)
0
NC
MBA-TEC(C)
PA
0
MA MBA-EC(C)
0
Total courses
99
0.0
56.3
56.3
0.0
9.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.1
45.5
10.0
0.0
17.4
50.0
56.3
0.0
10.0
40.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.3
0.0
0.0
3.0
0.0
0.0
5.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
4
0
0
40.0
0.0
0.0
11.1
9.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
50.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
34.8
33.3
0.0
0.0
30.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
0.0
0.0
45.0
0.0
69.7
60.0
8.3
26.3
39.1
0.0
36.4
0.0
50.0
0
5
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
2
0.0
31.3
0.0
11.1
0.0
0.0
11.1
0.0
0.0
9.1
10.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
6.3
0.0
10.0
20.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.3
0.0
4.3
0.0
0.0
14.3
33.3
NJ
NJ
IL
TX
IN
MBA-EC(C)
28
1
1
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
8
2
0
0
3
0
1
2
0
0
9
0
23
6
1
5
9
0
4
0
3
171
34
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
2
54
30
2
20.0
3
30.0
1
10.0
0
0.0
0
0.0
10
2
0.0
0
2
0.0
0
0
0.0
5
4
0
0.0
0
0
0.0
0.0
4
0
1
2 22.2
2
2 25.0
0
1 7.1
0.0
4
0
4
0
0.0
0.0
2
0
2
1 4.3
0.0
0
0
5
0
0.0
0
1 20.0
0.0
5
0
4
0
0.0
0.0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
3 37.5
0.0
3
0
0
2 10.0
0.0
0
0
0.0
0
0
2
0
0.0
3
0
0.0
1
1 5.3
6
1 4.3
0
5 29.4
1
0
0.0
4
0
0.0
1
0.0
0
163
60
20.0
12.5
31.3
44.4
0.0
100.0
11.1
25.0
0.0
18.2
40.0
20.0
8.7
0.0
31.3
0.0
50.0
40.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
25.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
20.0
25.0
5.3
26.1
0.0
9.1
57.1
16.7
3
0
0
3
4
0
5
4
4
0
0
0
2
30.0
0.0
0.0
33.3
36.4
0.0
55.6
50.0
28.6
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.7
16.7
0.0
80.0
0.0
0.0
40.0
20.0
37.5
0.0
25.0
85.7
6.1
0.0
25.0
10.5
4.3
17.6
18.2
14.3
0.0
1
0
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
5
4
3
1
0
10.0
0.0
12.5
0.0
9.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
22.7
40.0
30.0
4.3
0.0
6.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
41.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
25.0
31.6
0.0
0.0
36.4
14.3
0.0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
1
0
0
5
5
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
2
2
3
1
7
2
1
3
4
9
0
0
0
94
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
36.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
7.1
0.0
0.0
50.0
21.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
40.0
40.0
25.0
16.7
15.0
14.3
21.2
20.0
8.3
15.8
17.4
52.9
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
12
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
4.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
8.3
5.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
4.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
10
16
16
9
11
4
9
8
14
22
10
10
23
6
16
5
10
10
5
5
8
12
20
7
33
10
12
19
23
17
11
7
6
855
1
26
10.0
48
1
0
4
0
0
2
1
3
0
5
6
2
0
3
2
1
3
2
1
0
129
42
Nore. EC denotes e-commerce; (C) denotes an e-commerce concentration in existing MBA courses; TEC denotes telecommunications and e-commerce.
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
0
0
3
6
0
0
4
1
0
73
29
25
11
zyx
zyxwvutsrqp
zyxwvuts
zyxwvutsrqp
North Carolina State had the highest
percentage required (50%),and Vanderbilt University had the highest percentage in electives (52.9%).
Surprisingly few of the programs had
a Lab component. Lab courses were categorized as those that required hands-on
e-commerce experience such as internships or practicum. Courses listed as “ecommerce project” were classified as
nontechnical e-commerce unless they
specifically required a hands-on component in the course description.
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
Discussion
DifSerentiated Versus Integrated
Programs
Our study’s results indicate that a
large number of new courses have been
developed specifically for both technical and nontechnical e-commerce coverage. We identified at least 22 programs as majors or degrees in
e-commerce. The proliferation of new
courses and degrees reflects a conclusion by faculty and deans that e-commerce involves fundamentally new concepts and processes. Donald Jacobs,
dean of Northwestern’s Kellogg School
of Management, stated that “success on
the Internet calls for a very different
way of thinking than managers in traditional businesses are trained for” (Leonhardt, 2000, p. 7). Deans from schools
of business such as Wharton and Northwestern have claimed that integrating ebusiness into functional area courses is
too slow or just plain “crazy.” Joseph
Morone, president of Bentley College in
Massachusetts, justified the creation of
entirely new programs by declaring that
the Internet represents a revolution that
is literally transforming every kind of
company: “We have to rethink the guts
of the MBA” (Lord, p. 64).
Deans from other well-regarded business schools have pronounced the rush
to offer separate e-commerce programs
a moneymaking gimmick and a fad
(Leonhardt, 2000; Mitchell, 2000)
intended to attract students but potentially not providing what is needed to
succeed in the new economy. “You’re
missing the point if you set up a separate program,” stated Edward Snyder,
dean of the University of Virginia’s Dar-
174
den School (Leonhardt, p. 7). Snyder’s
views have been echoed by many professors and administrators who are convinced that e-commerce will not be considered a distinct area of study in the
future. Fitzpatrick (2000b) argued that it
will permeate the whole business curriculum. Leonhardt suggested that this
debate actually mirrors a dilemma that
brick-and-mortar companies are tackling: “Some companies, like General
Electric, have directed managers in
every department to rethink their business with the Internet in mind, while
others have set up separate Web divisions meant to stay free of corporate
bureaucracy” (p. 7).
Data from our study do not provide
us with information about the prevalence of this view of e-business education, because schools that have adopted
this integrated approach do not have
new programs to announce. Few of
these schools announced their philosophy explicitly on their Web pages. The
Haas School of Business at the University of Berkeley is an exception; it
devoted a separate page to “Why Haas
has an integrated e-business curriculum.” Amazingly, their integrated
approach was justified by the same
argument-that the Internet represents a
fundamental revolution in businessused to support the differentiated
approach: “The Haas School integrates
the study of e-business into the existing
MBA curriculum instead of creating a
separate track, as some schools have
done. Haas faculty members believe the
Internet is so fundamental that it must
be taught across the entire MBA curriculum” (Haas School of Business,
2000).
Technology-Centered or BusinessCentered Programs
E-commerce education appears accessible to MBA students in general, not
simply to those who are technically
inclined. Business and nontechnical ecommerce courses were well represented in the composition of the programs.
Kalakota and Robinson (1999) urged
CEOs to “think e-business design, not
just technology” (p. 53). Our study’s
results suggest that there is a greater
nontechnology emphasis in most of the
programs investigated. The ratio of total
nontechnical e-commerce courses to
technical e-commerce courses was 2.5
to 1. But it is unclear why the programs
are structured this way. Is it because
careful analysis and debate led to the
conclusion that this is the content that
students need? Or is this structure all
that business schools are able to offer
without a wholesale retooling of faculty
capabilities? That is, if the majority of
the faculty are not prepared to teach
technical e-commerce courses, then the
program could not emphasize this material. Regardless of the reason for the
prevalence of nontechnical courses, if
programs assume this focus, then it
makes sense to integrate e-commerce
into the existing curriculum. Such
course material probably does not entail
a radical technological departure from
what is currently being taught. However, for programs with a unique technical
emphasis, a separate degree plan might
be necessary.
Another perspective on the debate
over
technical-versus-nontechnical
emphasis comes from Mitchell (2000),
who suggested that degree programs
emphasizing technology appeal to different kinds of students than do MBA
programs with an e-commerce concentration. The former attract students who
have a greater technology bent and
interest in learning the business basics,
whereas MBA degrees with e-commerce concentrations tend to attract students who wish to dig deeper into the
business aspect and learn enough technology to give those business lessons
some context. An MBA with concentrations may also have other advantages: A
concentration can be developed into a
full program if the need should arise and
may provide the flexibility for schools
to accommodate both nontechnical and
technical specializations. In today’s turbulent environment, such flexibility
may be the most prudent approach.
Other Issues
To gauge the pace at which new ecommerce programs are being
launched, we compared the data collected in February 2000 with the data from
November 2000 (see Table 2). A new
program was announced almost on a
zyxwvutsr
Journal of Education for Business
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
nology professionals who may not have
an adequate understanding of the foundations of a successful business enterprise. Griffin (2000) reported that “the
business plan-endangered for the last
two and a half years-is making a
comeback” (p. 216), indicating that venture capitalists are beginning to require
evidence of managerial and marketing
competence from would-be dot-com
entrepreneurs.
In the future, accreditation standards
may incorporate e-business coverage. In
addition to the extensive e-business section on its Web page, the AACSB has
held conferences on the subject. Many
of the issues that we have addressed in
the present study may be debated within the AACSB before any new guidelines are issued. Budget constraints and
competition are also forcing universities
to limit the number of credit hours
required for completion of degrees,
which suggests that e-commerce coverage will come at the expense of, rather
than in addition to, current course work.
In any case, business faculty could be
faced with the need to retool in this area.
Furthermore, the nature of e-business
demands frequent changes to course
content and process, i n some cases
every time the course is offered. In spite
weekly basis-our research identified
29 new programs launched in the 8
months between February and November 2000. The total number of programs
grew from 38 to 67, a growth rate of
76% in 8 months. Interestingly, the
number of programs offering concentrations increased by 63%, whereas the
number of degree programs more than
doubled, suggesting that business
schools are increasingly convinced that
e-business represents a new discipline
rather than only a different aspect of
business.
The ratio of nontechnical e-commerce courses to technical e-commerce
courses remained unchanged between
February and November 2000 (see
Table 3), but there seemed to be a growing emphasis on requiring nontechnical
courses rather than on offering them as
electives. The level of required nontechnical e-commerce courses recorded in
November was 172% higher than the
February level, whereas elective nontechnical e-commerce courses increased
by only 36% during the same time. The
recent dot-com debacle in the stock
markets may be alerting educators to the
need for more attention to business
basics. Many of the failed dot-com startups were launched by information tech-
TABLE 2. Growth in E-Commerce Graduate Programs From February to
November 2000
of constant budget constraints, universities may be required to reduce or modify faculty teaching loads.
An alternative to continual course
content changes might be to focus on
teaching problem-solving skills for the
new economy. E-commerce facts often
become outdated before students can
even finish a program. Therefore, a
more effective focus for teaching might
be on logic and thinking processes concerning e-commerce strategy. There is a
great deal of literature that can be used
for development of course material on
environmental scanning, fast and accurate decisionmaking ( e g , Eisenhardt &
Bourgeois, 1988), and creativity. A
process emphasis may be more useful
than teaching content regarding business practice in turbulent environments.
Just as e-commerce seems to have
given rise to new and different ways of
doing business, it may do the same with
regard to education. For example, individual professors may decide to bypass
the university and offer their courses online directly. Traditional brick-and-mortar universities, on-line universities, private technology companies, and even
textbook publishers are already putting
reportedly high quality course materials
on-line (Dash, 2000b; Johnston, 2000).
Even MBA and MS degrees are now
fully available online, with no residency
requirements-examples
include the
Monterrey Institute for Graduate Studies and the University of Phoenix. A
new breed of “university” with no physical campus at all is also emerging, with
e-commerce education as a primary
focus. An example is the new Graduate
School of E-commerce, billed as the
first and only fully on-line program
exclusively dedicated to electronic commerce, and offering an MBA in electronic commerce.
Though all these options allow students more choices as consumers of ecommerce education, they also constitute escalating competition for
universities, potentially increasing the
likelihood that programs will be developed without adequate deliberation.
Arthur Levine, president of Columbia
University Teacher’s College, indicated
that this might be a scary situation for
students and educators (Johnston,
2000). The advent of e-commerce and
zyxw
zyxwvutsrq
zyxwvutsrqpo
Concentrations
Degrees
Total
27
44
63
11
23
109
38
67
76
February 2000
November 2000
Increase (%)
TABLE 3. Growth in Technical and Nontechnical E-Commerce Courses
From February to November 2000
Technical
Nontechnical
e-commerce
e-commerce
Required Elective Required Elective
February 2000
November 2000
Increase (%)
Increase (%)
(required plus electives)
25
54
116
36
60
67
87
60
163
172
95
129
36
88
Ratio:
Nontechnical
to technical
2.5 : 1
2.5 : 1
z
zyx
January/February 2002
175
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvutsrq
zyxwv
e-education may lead to more frequent
and radical changes in higher educational methods than anticipated even a year
ago. The rapid arrival of e-commerce
programs suggests that a revolutionary
change in business school education
may be at hand.
NOTE
An earlier version of this article was presented
at the Decision Sciences Institute annual conference in Orlando, Florida, November 2000.
www.ecommercetimes.com/news/arti-
Kuchinskas, S. (2000, November 14). The end of
marketing. Business 2.0, 134-1 39.
Leonhardt, D. (2000, January 16). At graduate
schools, a great divide over e-business studies.
The New York Times, Business Section, 7.
Levy, D. (2000). Managing the new economy
demands new skills, focus. Stanford News.
Retreived from http://www.stanford.edu/dept/
news/pr/OO/futureprof823.htmI
Lord, M. (2000, April 10).Suddenly, e-commerce
is the hot new specialty. U.S. News & World
Report, 62-64.
Mangan, K. S. (1999, April 30). Business students
flock to courses on electronic commerce.
Chronicle of Higher Education, A25-A26.
Mitchell, M. (2000, September 1 I ) . A difference
of degree. CIO Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.cio.com/archive/O9O 100-degree.
html
McKenna, R. (1997). Real time: Preparing for the
age of the never satisfied customer. Boston:
Harvard Business School Press.
Moran, S. (1999, October 1). MBA.com. Business
2.0, 123-149.
Morrow, J. M. (2000,October 27). Rubin: New
economy subject to old rules. NewsFactor Network. Retrieved from http://www.newsfactor.
com
Saracevic, A.T. (2000, October 10). Hope for the
holidays. Business 2.0, 146-152.
Tabor, M. B.W. (1999, September 22). Latest hit
on campus: Crescendo in E-major. New York
Times, p. 12.
Williams, H. J., Kwak, Y.,Morrison, J. L., &
Oladunjoye, G . T. (2000). Teaching the effects
of electronic commerce on business practices
and global stability. Journal of Education for
Business. 75, 178-1 86.
zyxwvutsrqpon
zyxwvutsr
zyxwvu
REFERENCES
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 00:21 13 January 2016
Politics of strategic decision making in highvelocity environments. Academy of Management Journal, 31, 737-770.
Fitzpatick, M. (2000a, May 29). A new kind of
teamwork in e-business education. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com
Fitzpatrick, M. (2000b, May 29). Education on the
fly: Creating the new e-business curriculum.
Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.
chicagotribune.com
Gebler, D. (2000). The future of e-commerce 101.
E-Commerce Times. Retrieved from http://
American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of
Business (AACSB). (2000). E-business education. Retrieved from http://www.aacsb.edu/ebusiness/index.html
Briones, M. G. (1999, March 29). E-commerce
master’s programs set to explode. Marketing
News, 19-20,
Dash, J. (2000a. August 7). MBA programs
expand e-commerce course offerings. Computenuorld, 20. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/O, 1 199,NAV47_STO
4819 1,OO.html
Dash, J. (2000b, September 4). IT leaders give
online universities high marks. Computerworld.
Retrieved from .http://www.computerworld.
com/cwi/story/O, 1 199,NAV47_ST049475,00.
html
Dobbs, K. (1999). New rage on campus: E-commerce degrees. Training, 36, 62-64.
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Bourgeois, L. J., 111. (1988.)
cles2000/000809-2.shtml
Griffin, J. (2000, October 24). Back to business
plans and sanity. Business 2.0, 216.
Harris, J. G. (2000). Information and the manager
in the new economy. “Sidebar” in J. D. Rollins,
D. A. Marchand, & W. J. Kettinger, The information edge: How to get the full value of information in the new economy. Outlook Special
Edition: The eSeries II, Andersen Consulting.
Retrieved from http://www.ac.com/ideas/OutlooWspecia12000-2/se2-sidebar3. html
Haas School of Business. (2000). Why Haas has
an integrated e-business curriculum. Retrieved
from http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/mba/programguide2000/studentadvantage/technology6.htm
Johnston, M. (2000).Web may undermine universities, says college pres. The Standard: Intelligence for the Internet Economy. Retrieved from
http://www.thestandard.com/articIe/display/
0.1 15 1.13 132,OO.html
Kalakota, R., & Robinson, M. (1999). E-business:
Roadmap for success. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley.
zyxwvutsrqpon
176
Journal of Education for Business