IBM Institute of Advanced Commerce (IAC)
IBM Global Services (IGS)

Second Annual IBM Conference on Education in Electronic Commerce

October 11 & 12, 2000
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center,
Hawthorne, New York, USA

The IAC jointly with IBM Global Services sponsored a conference on Education in Electronic Commerce. It was held October 11 and 12, 2000 at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, New York. There were 55 attendees from 21 universities as well as from IBM.

With the explosion in e-commerce programs underway today, and in view of the severe shortage of faculty time and experience to develop these programs, the focus of this year's conference was on the activities that IBM and e-commerce educators can take to leverage the creation and sharing of teaching materials required for this dynamic subject.

INSTITUTIONS REPRESENTED:

    Bentley College - Graduate School of Business
    Budapest University (Hungary)
    Brigham Young University
    Columbia University
    Creighton University
    Dalhousie University (Canada)
    Florida International University
    Emory University
    Georgia State University
    University of Maryland - R H Smith School
    University of Massachusetts
    Michigan State University
    Monterrey Tech (Mexico)
    New York University
    University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
    North Carolina State University
    University of Notre Dame
    Ohio State University
    Pennsylvania State University
    University of Wisconsin

PRESENTATIONS:

The meeting (see agenda) began on Wednesday, October 11 with introductory remarks from Stuart Feldman of the IBM Institute for Advanced Commerce and continued with five presentations on e-commerce trends and technology by IBM Research.

Subsequently, Bobbie Landers, Director, University e-business Initiatives, IBM Global Services, presented the Conference Objectives, which included an overview of IBM Global Services and their University e-business Initiatives, as well as proposed ways IBM could assist with e-commerce curriculum content. Click here to view her presentation.

On Thursday, October 12, Ed Kilroy, IBM GM, Electronic Commerce, started the day off with a brief IBM E-Commerce Update. The agenda for the day continued with the following two panel discussions and presentations:

  • Panel 1: E-Commerce Program Updates/Materials to Share
  • Panel 2: Ideas for new E-Commerce Materials
    • Les Ball (University of Massachusetts)
    • Curtis Haugtved (Ohio State University)
    • John Weber (University of Notre Dame)

DISCUSSION GROUPS:

The attendees spent the afternoon split in discussion groups on the topics: Faculty Retention, Recruitment and Development, Curriculum and Research. The results of the discussion groups were presented at the end of the day. There were general discussions of community needs and problems, as well as some possible directions in which IBM might be able to help. We will follow up with participants on detailed proposals for IBM action.

Some high points were:

Discussion Group 1: Faculty Retention, Recruitment and Development

E-Commerce is an extremely hot market for everyone, and universities are fighting for the limited number of knowledgeable staff in this tight market against traditional competitors (such as other universities) as well as established companies and startups.

In addition, universities (especially management schools) have numerous faculty who have relevant business knowledge but are uncomfortable with technology and the implications of the "e-" world for their disciplines. As Howard Frank (University of Maryland) characterized people earlier in the meeting, there are those who get it, those who could get it with help, and those who just don't get it. Different approaches are relevant for these three groups. In addition, the changes require a truly multidisciplinary approach including technical and management fields.

Recruiting and retention of new economy experts is very difficult and requires creative approaches. Compensation is an important consideration but not the sole determinant of success. Borrowing people from industry with fresh experience and a desire to teach (or meet a class of possible recruits) can provide great value to the university. Faculty can be relieved of burdensome problems involving technology by providing sufficient computing staff and decent infrastructure, or outsourcing those problems to specialists.

We discussed a variety of areas in which IBM might help, including training and consulting experience for faculty, specialized seminars for e-business professors, campus visits, and technical support.

Discussion Group 2: Curriculum

The key areas of concern seemed to be
- access to technology and information about the most current software, including software running on campus computers or outsourced to a specialist
- real-world (especially cutting-edge) experience with e-business, including cases, survey results, and reports on hot topics
- student opportunities such as case study materials, mentoring, support of practicums.

There are opportunities for sharing between schools, and for industry to provide such information.

Discussion Group 3: Research

The discussion centered on ways to make important information available to researchers, either for their background information or for use as subject of projects and analyses. There should be easy access to the research literature in e-commerce (growing rapidly but not yet enormous).

There is a strong desire for reusable data sets on e-commerce, such as ones that have been enormously valuable in more traditional fields such as marketing. It will be difficult to get information that is not so out of date as to be uninteresting, but we will purse the possibility.

We discussed working together on special journal issues on E-Commerce and co-sponsorship of conferences (perhaps working through ACM SIGecom) and encouraging cross-disciplinary research by selected faculty members and competitions on special topics. We also discussed the possibility of a meeting of directors of e-business research institutes (there are about 50 already), and encouraging that group to support collaborative research.

Future steps

Overall, the discussions were refreshing and aimed at improving both faculty and student experiences in e-commerce education. We look forward to collaborating on new initiatives and also to the next workshop. The conference closed with enthusiastic remarks for a continued mutually beneficial partnership between IBM and Academia.


The following IBM websites have been recommended for further related information on e-business and university relations: