Viral Marketing
Have you seen "Diet Coke and Mentos - Experiment 137" by EepyBird? Over six million have seen it on the EepyBird website and over six million on the ripped off version circulating on YouTube.
I use this video on the first day of class to get the students excited about the role of information technology in business. Experiment 137 dates back to the summer of 2006 and touted as the first widespread examples of viral marketing (hee hee - our marketing courses aren't aware of it). I also have the students discuss the initial reactions of Coca-Cola Company and Mentos to this unexpected form of visibility. I throw in ethics question as well (is it ethical for an unauthorized version to be posted on YouTube?). Finally, this is my first class mixer so students are forced to meet two other classmates because a few weeks later they have to select a group for the big project.
Update: After moving to team-based learning (requires lot of orientation time), I've moved viral videos as an introduction to E-commerce/E-marketing. You can see my collection in the Viral Video page of my Social Knowledge website.
E-commerce Business Process - Shoe Buying
I used a little exercise to demonstrate that the process of buying (and more important) returning shoes is different between each e-commerce website.
It was a good exercise until one of the two companies changed their process. Go to the online shoe buying exercise sub-page.
Identifying Components of PDA
Every BBA student takes a computer literacy course where they learn the components of a computer. This exercise requires the student to apply their knowledge to a different computer form factor (e.g., PDA). For each numbered PDA component the student has to assign the component type. The tricky one is of course the PDA screen. It is both an output device (screen) and an input device. This exercise helps me gauge their computing background.
Explaining SDLC
Last semester I walked through the creation of a decision support system to explain the steps of the system development life cycle (SDLC). The problem: your classmate wants to know how well they have to do on the final to get a certain course grade.
The assignment requires gathering the requirements, analysis (stumble on determining inputs and parameters), design, implementation (find out if they remember anything from computer literacy course), testing, and evaluation. This takes about two sessions and I usually ask for volunteers at the end to show what they created.
Our business school has now implemented standardization of grading so this exercise will be difficult because the algorithm to curve final grades to match the average score and standard deviation will be necessary. So my plan is to have the students develop a "money in the pocket" DSS.
There is a brain drain in Lebanon and the "get rich" mentality of the students draws them to jobs in the Gulf. The salaries are 2-3 times higher than in Lebanon. What students don't consider is the cost of living. A lucky few get jobs with multi-nationals and placed on temporary assignment in the Gulf that includes housing. The rest are lucky to get a housing allowance. Housing is 3-5 time higher and owning a car is expensive.
The development of this simple tool gives me an opportunity to help them (late sophomore/juniors) orient themselves to the decisions they must consider in choosing their first job. And of course they get to work through the steps of the SDLC rather than reading about them.
A complete description can be found on the page SDLC via Gulf Job Calculator.
Buying a Dell Laptop - an Integrated Application Environment
The identical laptop configuration but a different price depending on market segment?
I have the students configure (pretend to buy as first e-commerce experience for many) the identical laptop on three Dell market segment websites: Home, Small Business, Higher Education. I suggest an Inspiron laptop since Latitudes aren't offered on the Home website.
The first challenge is to find the identical configuration and the corresponding price. What is standard on one site is optional on another. I also ask them to compare the use of banner ads and placement of optional accessories on the different websites.
Finally, I ask them to explain how Dell can tell you when selection of a component (e.g., video card and high resolution screen resulted in several month delay this summer) will delay the shipping of the computer. I also talk about my support experiences (nightmare of outsourcing support to foreign countries).
Difference between Expert System and Decision Support System
Vanguard has a fund selector tool called Narrow your fund choices "Get a short list of Vanguard funds that can help you meet your investing goals." I use this tool to show them the difference between ES and DSS. Vanguard in fact mixes the two technologies.
I wish the finance students could appreciate the relevance of what is embedded in this Vanguard tool but I think it is over their head.
A tool from Vanguard that begins with an expert system to narrow the number of mutual funds that meet your investment objectives. Then a DSS is used to help you decide among this narrower set of funds. Note: The link may change