Electronic Commerce Issues for Business Education

he advent of the information T superhighway, or the Internet, has changed human communications forever. It has made instantaneous global communications possible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, this global network of networks has also given rise to the phenomenon of electronic commerce. By its very nature, electronic commerce has changed or is going to change business operations, product marketing, financing, expense accounting, product distribution, and the way that stakeholders are informed about business activities. These profound changes are having significant implications for business education. Our special section, “E-Commerce Issues in Business Education,” is devoted to articles that examine several dimensions of electronic commerce and their implications for business education. The authors examine privacy issues in the context of electronic commerce, the need for Renaissance employees in an era of convergence between information technology and business strategy, the state of accuracy in Web-based advertising, rapid curriculum development strategies, e-business programs in AACSB-accredited institutions, and state-of-the-art content in ecommerce courses. Farah and Higby discuss online consumer privacy, the conflict between the e-business community’s need to collect data and customers’ desire to protect their privacy, and the privacy tools that are available to deal with these issues. They report on the state of privacy regulations in the United States and compare it with that in the European Union. They also discuss the importance of privacy as a component of any e-commerce course. Celsi and Wolfinbarger observe that the use of Internet-based technologies is pervasive and more customer oriented than traditional business tools and that it has resulted in a greater integration between business strategy and information technology. They propose that the new business world requires Renaissance employees who are able to function in a crossfunctional economy and that business schools will need to retool in order to produce such employees. Celsi and Wolfinbarger conclude that, because specialty schools can provide skills training more cost effectively than business schools do, business schools should focus instead on knowledge development and crossfunctional education. The authors believe that business schools should attempt to integrate ecommerce and technology issues into the curriculum and not develop separate areas of study in e-commerce. Educators and students routinely turn to the Internet to find useful information. Businesses also report that gathering information is one of the most important activities that they perform on the Internet. If businesses and consumers are so dependent on information gleaned from the Internet, the accuracy of that information is an important issue. After all, if the quality of this information is poor, then decisions made on the basis of such information will also be of questionable quality. Williams, Watters, and Jones studied information presented on the Web sites of attorneys and accountants to investigate its accuracy as related to the area of family-limited partnerships, a controversial estateand tax-planning tool. They found that only 10% of the Web sites investigated presented a balanced and objective view on the subject. The authors suggest that, because Web pages are an important advertising and publiccommunications tool, confidence in a firm may be damaged by presentation of erroneous or out-of-date information. They emphasize the need for regular maintenance and updating of Web pages and advise data seekers to verify information gathered from the Internet. The developments in the field of ebusiness have been very rapid. This has made it difficult for faculty members to