Q: How can I keep up with the material? It changes so rapidly.

A: The preparation time for electronic commerce courses is high because of the evolving technology, infrastructure, and regulatory environment. Fortunately, the authors of this textbook will continuously monitor the environment and post updates to the web site on a chapter by chapter basis so that adopters of the textbook can bookmark the site and check it before preparing lectures for each chapter. The instructors are encouraged to use the links provided on their own course web sites for their students to read.

Q: Who should teach e-commerce courses?

A: Because of its interdisciplinary nature, electronic commerce truly is a course that is "owned" by no single discipline. Regardless of whether the course(s) is(are) offered as a stand-alone course(s) or integrated into the curriculum (see next question), academics from various fields, such as accounting, business law, information systems and technology, marketing, and management, have a lot to offer in the delivery of rich electronic commerce courses.

Q: Should electronic commerce be a separate course or integrated throughout the curriculum business degree programs?

A: Because electronic commerce is an evolution of traditional business models, it must ultimately be integrated throughout the curriculum. This type of global integration typically takes time in academic settings. In a response to provide business students with crucial and timely knowledge, most universities and colleges are responding by adding courses in this area. For those schools successful in integrating electronic commerce throughout the curriculum (see the sample course syllabus for one suggestion regarding how this textbook can be used in an integrated fashion), at least one or two stand-alone electronic commerce courses, focusing on overall electronic commerce strategies and/or technical skills, still add a lot of value, especially for information systems and information technology programs.