COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Required Courses

The brief descriptions of all six required course are provided below.

1. Fundamentals of Electronic Business (3 credits):

Electronic business is aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of an organization by developing innovative information and communications technology throughout an organization and beyond, through links to partners and customers. Managers and decision makers need to know not only how to use the new techniques to automate existing business processes, but also how to redesign and transform processes taking advantage of electronic business. The course introduces fundamentals and infrastructure of electronic business to familiarize students with related new technology development. It also discusses how electronic business differs from traditional business in terms of business processes and business activities, and how we can set business strategy with electronic business. How to implement electronic business in current business environment will also be discussed. The tentative topics include but are not limited to the introductory-level knowledge of Internet business models, electronic commerce infrastructure, E-procurement, E-marketing, E-CRM (Customer Relationship Management).

2. Supply Chain Management in eBusiness (3 credits):

The core competence in E-business is effective transaction fulfillment. Good e-business is synonymous with powerful logistics and good supply chain relation and management. This course introduces the fundamental concepts, key issues, and problem solving tools and techniques in logistics and supply chain management. It explains how networks of firms in a supply chain must work together to enable efficient flows of information, materials, and money so that product or service reaches customers at the right time and quantity to maximize customer value. It also examines how different e-business models are matched by different logistics and supply chain structures and solutions.

3. Accounting and Financial Technology (3 credits):

Accounting is frequently called as the language of business. This course is concerned with an understanding of how accounting records and reports economic activities for the use of creditors, shareholders, government agents and other stakeholders. We will lecture the conceptual framework of accounting and the operational aspects of financial reporting. In addition to the use of accounting information for the external users, students will learn the concepts and techniques that can be used to prepare accounting reports for internal users (such as manager and directors) for their management decisions. We will also teach the concepts and methods of organizing and analyzing accounting information to facilitate management decision makings, such as planning, control and problem solving. The course will provide understandings of accounting information system and how it is designed. The students will be introduced to the assurance of the integrity of accounting information. Latest trend in the development of accounting information system will also be highlighted.

4. Business Data Analytics (3 credits):

This course is designed to introduce data analytics and its applications in e-Business. Databases are valuable treasures containing data and hidden precious knowledge. Conventionally, the data are analyzed manually to explore the relationships among various variables. Even with powerful computers and software, analysts may not be able to recognize some hidden and potentially useful relationships. Nowadays, such problems are more acute as many organizations are performing their operations electronically and these organizations are capable of generating and collecting a huge amount of data in a relatively short period. The explosive growth of data requires a more efficient way to extract useful knowledge. Data analytics, which is an automated process of sifting the data to get the gold buried in databases, can fulfill this requirement.
E-Business is the conduct of business processes (E.g., buying and selling products and services, providing customer services, solidifying customer loyalty, identifying leads, processing payments, cooperating with business partners, etc.) on the Internet. E-Business organizations need huge information and knowledge from all data sources to give one holistic view of business partners, customers, products, services, and processes. This allows managers to make informed decisions to achieve effective cooperation among partners, customer acquisition and retention, cross selling, up selling, customer lifetime value maximization, appropriate marketing strategies, products and services optimization, innovations, and business process reengineering. The rapid accumulation of various kinds of data has prompted managers to use data analytics to extract knowledge for decision making.

5. Mobile Technology and Applications in eBusiness (3 credits):

This course introduces the foundation of mobile technology and the basics for developing mobile applications. The course is also designed for managers to appreciate the business value of innovations in mobile technology as well as the relevant ethical issues.

6. Best Practices in eBusiness and Supply Chain Management (3 credits):

This capstone course integrates various aspects of eBusiness and supply chain management, and applies the theories, concepts, and methods covered in relevant courses. Through the use of mini-lectures, case studies, and group projects, students will study current practices in various industries and identify strategies and approaches that give an organization a competitive advantage.

Elective Courses (Any 12 Credits)

The brief descriptions of all the elective courses are provided below.

1. Legal Issues for eBusiness (3 credits):

This course does not presume any legal knowledge on the part of the students. Students will be taught the salient features of the Hong Kong legal system, with particular emphasis on the sources of Hong Kong law, law courts and the two branches of the legal profession. Students will then be introduced to certain legal issues in eBusiness, including the definition of eBusiness and an explanation of how writing and signature requirements are fulfilled in the eBusiness environment. This is followed by a discussion on electronic contracts with regard to how the three essential requirements of a paper-based contract are satisfied in the Internet environment and the factors that affect the validity of a valid contract. Contract for the sale of goods will also be covered. Finally, certain other important issues with regard to eBusiness, such as consumer protection and domain name disputes will also be examined.

2. Electronic Marketing (3 credits):

This course is mainly about the impact of information technologies including the convergence of the Internet and mobile communications on consumer behavior, market segmentation, and communication strategies. It also discusses different marketing/promotion strategies for firms within a supply chain, which intend to take advantage of information technologies to expand their market shares and improve profitability.

3. E-Commerce Implementation: Planning, Platform Selection, and Execution (3 credits):

This course is designed to introduce students about e-Commerce implementation in planning, e-Commerce platform selection, and hands-on execution of the chosen e-Commerce software. Particularly, various approaches and software platforms in e-Commerce development as well as the associated technologies will be introduced. The state-of-the-art and easy-to-use e-Commerce platform in the marketplace will be used in the course to implement fully functioning e-Commerce stores. The essential steps involved in designing, developing, administering, analyzing, and promoting the constructed e-Commerce stores will also be explored. Besides, students will have exposure to the various supporting technologies such as databases, HTML, and CSS to customize the business rules and control transactional processing to improve the e-Commerce stores.

4. Social Media for eBusiness (3 credits):

This course is about the fundamentals of social media for eBusiness and the steps involved in incorporating social technology into an eBusiness platform. It equips students with a comprehensive understanding of social media applications and their contribution to the formulation and corporate strategies.

5. Project Management with Software (3 credits):

The principles of project management, largely developed and tested on engineering projects, are being successfully applied to projects of all sizes and types within the business world. Furthermore, the role of project management in a cross section of applications such as information technology, product development, and construction is now emphasized. This course addresses the fundamental principles of project management, and the tools and techniques at our disposal to help achieve our goals. Topics covered include: project definition and start up; project attribute estimation; planning and scheduling; resource selection and allocation, implementation; post-project evaluation; project management as a career; skills and knowledge required by professionals, including decision-making and resource allocation appropriate to project phases; integration with other disciplines, including accounting and finance. The Microsoft Project software tool will be introduced for project scheduling and management.

6. Service Operations Management (3 credits):

The service sector represents the largest component in most industrial economies. Operations management plays an important role in effectively improving the service organizations’ performance and competitiveness, and its importance is increasing due to global competition and rapidly evolving information technology.

This course provides an overview of service operations management. We will introduce the basic concepts, principles, and techniques that are applied to the design, planning, control, and improvement of service operations. After an introduction to service and service operations, the following topics will be explored: service strategy, new service development (including the design of service process), service process analysis and facility layout, service quality management and control, process improvement, managing capacity and demand, and managing waiting lines. We will also apply the principles and techniques discussed in the course to the analysis of cases from various service industries.

7. Purchasing and Logistics Management for eBusiness (3 credits):

This course explores the principles and practices of purchasing and logistics in the eBusiness context. It examines the potentials of strategic purchasing to increase profitability through quality-driven approaches to sourcing, buyer-supplier relationships, and cost and logistics management, with a focus on the use of information technology for efficient purchasing and logistics management. This course provides general and specific purchasing and logistics management information that will serve to strengthen the student’s ability to participate in today’s global business environment.

8. Information Systems Management (3 credits):

The course provides students with a conceptual framework for the application of information technology in a business organization, and prepares students for their specialization in different functional areas. Topics to be covered include: concepts and roles of IS, systems concept and systems approach, system life cycle, managerial overview of information technology, functional information systems, end-user computing, office automation, transaction processing, management information and decision support.

9. Business Decision Making with Software (3 credits):

Organizations often need to make decisions in their best interests in different situations, and Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular software that business people use to assist their decision making. This course introduces commonly used quantitative analysis techniques that facilitate scientific and systematic decision making. Students will learn how to employ appropriate decision-making techniques to obtain the best solutions for a variety of business problems, and learn about the best-practices of spreadsheet modeling for clarity and communication. Through practicing these techniques and Excel functions, students will develop analytical and computer-based problem-solving skills, which can help them improve their performance at work or in daily life.

10. Big Data Analytics (3 credits):

This course provides an understanding of the concept and challenge of big data.The focus is on the data analytic techniques to tackle the V’s (volume, velocity, variety, veracity, valence, and value) in big data, and how these impacts data collection, monitoring, storage, analysis and reporting.

The following topics across the big data domain will be introduced: distributed file systems; big data analysis techniques; high-performance processing algorithms for big data; big data search and query technologies. An example (Apache Spark) of big data management system to manage and process large-scale data is introduced in the course. Big data analytics applications in business will also be elaborated. Students will actively participate in the delivery of this course through assignments, portfolio development, and projects.

11.Foundation of Artificial Intelligence (3 credits):

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new technical  science that studies and develops theories, methods, techniques, and application systems for simulating and extending human intelligence. AI techniques and models have been widely employed in various domain-specific applications due to their promising performance compared to conventional methods.

This course focuses on  fundamental  concepts,  techniques,  and  potential  business  applications  of  artificial intelligence. The course provides an overview of waves of AI, intelligent agents, problem- solving, planning, reasoning, learning. It includes topics about search, logic, genetic algorithms, computational learning methods, and some potential business applications like expert systems, news analysis, and so on.

12. Integrated Marketing Communications (3 credits):

This is an application oriented course and it is designed to provide students with a theoretical and practical appreciation of the role of integrated marketing communications (IMC) in today’s business environment. The programe focuses on connecting the target customers with the brand and activating their needs by deploying the strategic mix of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, event marketing and direct response promotions along with mass and two-way communication.

Pre-entry Courses

The programme may require students to take the pre-entry course(s) of Information Systems Management and/or Statistics.

Online Application (The application period is from 1 October 2023 to 30 April 2024)