• Understand and apply the theoretical concepts introduced in the course;
• Identify and critically assess the contextual environment shaping e-commerce in China;
• Compare and reflect on the innovative potential of e-business models in China and on their development trajectories;
• Analyse a real-life case of e-commerce in the Chinese market and provide managerial recommendations based on the analysis.

On September 18, 2014 the world witnessed the largest IPO in history, carried out by the Alibaba corporation, a Chinese ecommerce platform that is an online marketplace, a software vendor, a search engine, and a bank, all in one. Today, Alibaba manages more transactions on its online sites than eBay and Amazon combined.

The emergence of China as a new economic superpower is having implications not only in the way we look at global economic competition but, most importantly, it provides unprecedented opportunities to understand and leverage the creation of groundbreaking innovative business models in the digital world.

This course provides an understanding of the development and the characteristics of ecommerce in China, with the aim of providing students with practical and theoretical skills to understand the impact of unique social, economic, political, and technological factors shaping ecommerce, and envision innovative approaches to traditional ecommerce

challenges.

Through active learning based on reallife cases, the course explores the peculiarities of the Chinese ecommerce environment, provides tools for understanding the development of ecommerce strategies, and identifies emerging opportunities and challenges of the Chinese digital landscape in a globalized world.

The course will emphasize the unique factors influencing the use of digital tools for ecommerce in China, focusing on the innovation potential of unique ecommerce solutions.

The goal of the course is twofold: 1) to equip students with knowledge about the ecommerce landscape in China, which allow them to solve practical problems when dealing with the Chinese market; 2) to present students with innovative and successful ecommerce cases in China, which will shed light on how to engage in ecommerce practices in general.

For eBuss students, this course will be offered as a B (business) course.

Expected literature

(List may still be altered until course beginning)

Journal Articles/Reports:

• An internet with Chinese characteristics. (2011, July 30). The Economist. Retrieved from http:/​/​www.economist.com/​node/​21524821
• Avgerou, C., & Li, B. (2013). Relational and institutional embeddedness of Web‐enabled entrepreneurial networks: case studies of netrepreneurs in China. Information Systems Journal, 23(4), 329-350.
• Bell, D. R., Gallino, S., & Moreno, A. (2014). How to Win in an Omnichannel World. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(1), 45.
• Beck, N., & Rygl, D. (2015). Categorization of multiple channel retailing in Multi-, Cross-, and Omni‐Channel Retailing for retailers and retailing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 27, 170–178.
• Chen, Y., Seong, J., and Woetzel, J. (2015) China’s Rising Internet Wave: Wired Companies MicKinsey Quarterly, January 2015
• Chen, J., Zhang, C., Yuan, Y., & Huang, L. (2007). Understanding the emerging C2C electronic market in China: an experience‐seeking social marketplace. Electronic Markets, 17(2), 86-100.
• E-commerce in China: A Guide for Australian Business (2015, June). Austrade.Gov. http:/​/​www.austrade.gov.au/​ArticleDocuments/​1353/​ecommerce_in_china_brochure.pdf.aspx.
• Gawer, A. (2014). Bridging differing perspectives on technological platforms: Toward an integrative framework. Research Policy, 43(7), 1239-1249.
• Gawer, A., Cusumano, M. A., & Strategy, D. S. (2008). How companies become platform leaders. MIT/Sloan Management Review, 49(2).
• Leong, C. M. L., Pan, S. L., Newell, S., & Cui, L. (2016). The Emergence of Self-Organizing E-Commerce Ecosystems in Remote Villages of China: A Tale of Digital Empowerment for Rural Development. MIS Quarterly, 40(2), 475-484.
• Lu, B., Zhang, S., & Fan, W. (2015). Social Representations of Social Media Use in Government An Analysis of Chinese Government Microblogging From Citizens’ Perspective. Social Science Computer Review
• Marchi, A., and Parekh, E. (2015). How the Sharing Economy Can Make its Case, McKinsey Quarterly, December 15
• Martinsons, M. G. (2008). Relationship‐based e‐commerce: theory and evidence from China. Information Systems Journal, 18(4), 331-356.
• Meyer, E. & Shen, E.Y. (2010). China Myths, China Facts, Harvard Business Review, 88(1/2): 24
• Ou, C. X., & Davison, R. M. (2009). Technical opinion Why eBay lost to TaoBao in China: the Glocal advantage. Communications of the ACM, 52(1), 145-148.
• Schlæger, J., & Jiang, M. (2014). Official microblogging and social management by local governments in China. China Information, 28(2), 189–213. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1177/​0920203X14533901
• Tan, B., Pan, S. L., Lu, X., & Huang, L. (2015). The Role of IS Capabilities in the Development of Multi-Sided Platforms: The Digital Ecosystem Strategy of Alibaba. com. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 16(4), 248-280.
• Zheng, L. (2013). Social media in Chinese government: Drivers, challenges and capabilities. Government Information Quarterly, 30(4), 369–376.
• Zheng, L., & Zheng, T. (2014). Innovation through social media in the public sector: Information and interactions. Government Information Quarterly, 31, Supplement 1, S106–S117

Cases:

• Chen, X. (2015). The Alibaba Group and Online to Offline (O2O) Sales. Ivey Publishing.
• Chu, M., Ji, J.S., and Dai, N. H. (2016). CunCunLe: Empowering China’s Rural Villages
• Cui, M. Guo, Y., Peng, F., Wang, J., Wang, L., and Yang, T. (2015). Beijing XiaoMi Technology Co.: Growth via Online Channels
• Kirby, W., Eby, J.W., Lu, S., and Mitchell, A. (2016) Uber in China: Driving in the Gray Zone. Harvard Business Case
• Lu, J., Tao, Z. & Chan, I. (2007). eBay’s Strategy in China: Alliance or Acquisition? University of Hong Kong.
• Mohanty, D. (2014). Sina Weibo: China’s Twitter? Amity Research Centers
• Shih, W., Yu, H., & Liu, F. (2015). WeChat: A Global Platform? Harvard Business School Cases
• Yang, Y., Su, N., and Fang, Y. (2016). Didi, KuaiDi, and Uber China. Ivey Publishing
• Zhu, F. & Smith, A. (2015). Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent: The Three Kingdoms of the Chinese Internet. Harvard Business School Cases

Textbook (optional)

• Gervasi, M. (2016). EastCommerce, A Journey through China Ecommerce and the Internet of Things, Wiley, ISBN: 978-1-119-23088-5