Demonstrate awareness of ethical, social and legal aspects of e-commerce

Assessment Task 1: E-commerce Research Report
Length: Approx 3000 words (+/- 10%) for the report body, excluding any bibliography, cover page,
abstract, table of contents, etc.
Compant: CoffeePress
Website: www.coffeepress.com.au Objectives
This assessment task addresses the following objectives from the subject outline:
1. Discuss electronic commerce and the stakeholders and their capabilities and limitations in the strategic
convergence of technology and business.
2. Appreciate the global nature and issues of electronic commerce as well as understand the rapid
technological changes taking place.
3. Identify advantages and disadvantages of technology choices such as merchant server software and
electronic payment options.
4. Demonstrate awareness of ethical, social and legal aspects of e-commerce. Requirements
For this report, each student will be assigned a different company that engages in e-commerce. You
should approach this assignment from an Australian perspective. For example, if your company has
many offices, consider the Australian one. Or if your company name exists as different companies in
different countries, pick the Australian one.
This is an individual assessment task – your submission must be your own individual work. While you
can discuss the task with other students, every word you write must be your own.
Your task is to carry out research about your assigned company in relation to the topics covered in the
subject‟s textbook. As every company is different, not all the topics covered in the textbook will apply
equally to every company, but your job is to at least explore all of the topics to identify information
relevant to your company. Most importantly, your report must include topics that cover the three main
themes of business, technology and society.
You are required to use multiple sources for your research. In other words, you cannot just visit the
company‟s own web site and use that as your only source of information. You should also look for
articles written about the company, reviews or social media postings from customers, financial
information (particularly if it is a publicly listed company), and use tools such as those provided by
Netcraft and others to discover technical details about the company ‟s site(s) and hosting arrangements.
You should write your report as a neutral observer of the company. Your report should not read like
marketing or promotional material for the company itself, but should present a balanced perspective. For
example, where the company has made mistakes in the past, or where you find evidence of current areas
of the company‟s operations that could use improvement, these should also be included in your report. Example Topics
Examples of topics you should research about the company might include: Business overview Business model(s) Each aspect of the business model should also be discussed in more detail (which
may overlap with some of the topics below). For example, you should research and report on the
company‟s core value proposition, the customer segments or market opportunity, the channels, the
revenue model and cost structure, the competitive environment and competitive advantage, the
management team, the key partners, etc. Implementation technologies and/or infrastructure used Security Payment systems Marketing strategies Advertising / Marketing communications Use of social media Mobile support / mobile commerce Local marketing / local commerce Ethical and legal perspectives Use of online media
These are a guide only – not all of them are relevant for all companies, and there will be other important
topics that you will find through your research. Your ability to critically analyse the information you find
and structure it is one of the objectives of this assessment task. References
You are required to include a bibliography in the Harvard style. Your report must also include in-line
citations as well as the bibliography at the end. The in-line citations must refer to the specific page
number or section of the article you are referencing. Length of the Report
The body of the report should be 3000 words, plus or minus 10%. The word count excludes any
bibliography, cover page, abstract, table of contents, list of figures, etc that you may provide. Assessment Criteria Criterion
Research and/or evidence of independent inquiry
This criterion refers to the quantity and quality of research carried out in
preparing the report. One metric used will be the number, relevance and quality
of sources that you have chosen for your report, and how those sources have been
used within the report to support your statements or arguments. The number of
sources available will vary according to the company you have been assigned, so
there is no specific target number required. However in general, a larger number
of high quality, relevant sources will achieve higher marks.
Critical thinking and analysis
This criterion is about your ability not just to present information as you find it,
but to offer some analysis, or informed opinions, or critique (positive or negative)
on what you have discovered. It also includes your ability to integrate
information from multiple sources into presenting a coherent argument or point
of view.
Writing style
This criterion is about the technical abilities of your writing. It includes the
overall structure of your report with an introduction, body and conclusion, the
choice of subsections, correctly structuring subsections with their own
introduction, body and conclusion, and your ability to make the sections flow or
combine to read as a coherent report rather than a series of disjointed sections. It
also includes the mechanics of spelling, grammar and punctuation, and
appropriate choice of language to convey your message. Overall, it is about
whether the reader can gain a clear understanding of your topic by reading your
report. Reports that are outside the length requirement of 3000 words +/- 10%
may have marks deducted under this criterion if the writing style is too brief or
too verbose.
Total Weighting
8% 8% 4% 20%