Email: Nahum.Goldman@ARRAYdev.com
Web: http://www.ARRAYdev.com

Nahum Goldmann has been employed as an executive, scientist and lecturer at leading industrial high-tech firms and academia. He has published several critically acclaimed books that deal with knowledge transfer issues. Currently he leads the development of Extranet-based solutions for use in online procurement and electronic banking and commerce.

During the 2002 Winter semester, the University of Ottawa School of Management has conducted a Graduate Certificate in E-Commerce Course "Seminar in Administration: Electronic Marketing". This highly interactive hands-on course (see http://www.ARRAYdev.com/commerce/uottawa/uottawa-1.htm) intended to provide students with the theoretical and practical skills necessary to support marketing of an Internet commerce (iCommerce) enterprise.

In this intensive course, our lectures, class discussions and numerous student assignments mainly concentrated on analyzing the differences between e-marketing and conventional marketing methods. Why some models work and others fail have been discussed in the context of profitability, market positioning, business networking and transactions costs.

Electronic marketing does not necessarily mean increasing traffic to the corporate Web site. Our goal was to understand how to best make decisions regarding improving product positioning, as well as profitability, ROI, and chances for survival for the corporate profit center.

A limited number of lectures and self study presented a new fundamental concept of the Extranet Business Community and described what it consists of, what makes it different from conventional ways of marketing a business, and how much it might cost.

Class participation led to lively discussions and exchange of ideas. With the dot com bubble recently burst, we all have to look at stubborn facts and evaluate risk factors before making credible decisions that affect the livelihood of many people who depend on marketing for corporate survival.

This course was not for timid. To do well in it the students were required to proactively take part in class discussions and exercises; aggressively participate in all assignments and presentations; proactively reach out -- and even act entrepreneurial.

Among other demanding assignments, all students had to prepare brief PowerPoint presentations on several of the following research topics:

1) Introduction to E-marketing

1. What is emarketing?
2. New rules for the digital economy?
3. E-marketing challenges and opportunities
4. Comparing Web to other marketing channels

2) Internet User Characteristics and Behavior

1. Customers in the 21st century
2. Market segmentation
3. E-marketing segments
4. Consumer navigation behavior
5. Country profiles
6. Internet marketing research

3) Marketing Knowledge

1. Marketing databases and data warehouses
2. Data analysis and distribution
3. Online privacy

4) E-Marketing Strategies

1. B2C
2. B2B
3. B2B2C
4. G2B

5) Product and Pricing Online

1. Creating customer value online
2. E-marketing solutions based on new technology
3. Enablers, application service providers, VSPs (Vertical service providers)
4. Electronic data interchange,
5. Collaboration platforms,
6. E-learning
7. Multimedia, convergence
8. Branding strategies
9. Taxonomy for Internet products
10. Is the Internet an efficient market?
11. E-business pricing models: segmented pricing, negotiation
12. Online pricing strategies

6) Distribution

1. Distribution functions
2. Distribution channels online
3. Disintermediation and Reintermediation
4. Length of distribution channels
5. Power relationships among channel players
6. E-commerce models
7. Content sponsorship
8. Direct selling
9. Intermediary models: the brokerage model, agent models, e-tailing
10. Logistics

7) E-Marketing Communication

1. Integrated marketing communication online
2. IMC e-business models
3. Content publishing
4. Community building
5. Online advertising
6. Online sales promotions
7. Direct e-mail and viral marketing
8. The net as a medium, including measurement metrics

8) Customer Relationship Management

1. Building Customer Relationships
2. CRM Customization Tools: e-mail, Web site customization, Intranet, Extranet, data mining,
3. Real-time profiling, agents, Web log analysis, cookies, collaborative filtering
4. Building Partnerships through Community
5. Guarding customer privacy

9) The Internet Marketing Plan

1. A Multistep E-Marketing Plan
2. The Venture Capital E-Marketing Plan
3. Conducting a situation analysis
4. Designing e-marketing mix strategies
5. Creating an action plan
6. Budgeting for e-marketing
7. Evaluating the plan
8. Selling the Plan

10) Leveraging Technology

1. Product Technologies
2. Building a Web Site: Multimedia, Database Marketing, Computer Viruses, Denial of Service Attacks
3. Price Technologies: Shopping Agents
4. Distribution Technologies: Bandwidth and Market Opportunities, Content Filtering,
5. Transaction Security
6. IMC Technologies: Site Rating Services, Proxy Servers and Cache,
7. Leveraging Search Engines
8. Work, Privacy, Log Files, and Cookies, Rotating and Targeted Ad, Banners
9. Relationship Marketing Technologies

11) Applications: Success and failure?

1. Amazon.com and B2C
2. eBay and classified sales
3. Yahoo
4. E-trading

12) Online Ethics and Law

1. Codes of Conduct
2. Privacy: Background in Law and Ethics
3. Privacy: Digital Concepts
4. Copyright, Patent and Trademark Law
5. Hyperlinks, Metatags, and Framing
6. Cyber-Squatting, Domain Names and Site Development Issues
7. Expression and Defamation
8. Spam
9. Jurisdiction and other pending problems

We would like to hear from the Journal of Internet Marketing readers about similar courses at universities and colleges around the globe. As well, the author would much appreciate any feedback, corrections and additions to the above list of research topics.