(Note, The Center for Electronic Business and Commerce was disbanded, as planned, in 2005)

STANFORD—Charles Schwab & Co., General Atlantic Partners, LLC, and eBay have become founding partners of the Center for Electronic Business and Commerce at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Dean Robert Joss announced on December 13, 1999. The first-round funding, which exceeded $20 million, will establish the Center to develop new research and education initiatives needed to understand the impact of information and communication technologies on firms, industries, and markets.

The founding partners of the Center for Electronic Business and Commerce are pioneers in electronic commerce. Charles Schwab & Co. is widely lauded as a leader in the electronic economy, providing services for investors that include the world's largest online trading operation. The firm first introduced online trading in 1984 and today handles the vast majority of its trades online. General Atlantic Partners, LLC, with more than $5 billion in capital under management, focuses exclusively on global information-technology and Internet-enabled businesses, such as Priceline.com and Tickets.com. The online auction company, eBay, founded in 1995, is the world's largest personal online trading community, currently providing some two million new auctions every day.

"The impact of electronic commerce on all aspects of business will be profound," Joss said. "Given our proximity to Silicon Valley – the heart and origin of these changes – the top priority for me is that we remain the leading school in the research and teaching of electronic commerce issues. These partnerships with corporate leaders will provide us with the financial resources as well as leadership in ideas to enable us to stay at the forefront."

The School's goal, Joss said, is to be the worldwide leader in research, curriculum development, and the dissemination of ideas about conducting business electronically and about electronic commerce. In addition to research and course development, the Center will encourage industry leaders to become involved in the School and its programs, and will disseminate research to the business community through seminars and educational programs for executives.

Other funders of the Center include BP Amoco, p.l.c., General Motors, Jeffrey S. Skoll, and Carl and Marilynn Thoma. The School anticipates it will secure further support in a subsequent round of funding.

Codirectors of the center are Garth Saloner, the Robert A. Magowan Professor of Strategic Management and Economics, and Haim Mendelson, the Theodore J. Kreps Professor of Information Systems and Management. Saloner is known for his pioneering work on network effects, which underlie much of the economics of electronic commerce and business. Mendelson is known for his work on the links between electronic business, organizational practices, and market structure. He is also coauthor of the recently released book Survival of the Smartest (Wiley, 1999).

"Electronic commerce will affect virtually every company and pervade almost every area of management," said Saloner. "There are opportunities for research in all of our existing disciplines. These funds will enable us to engage in the research that is so necessary for managers to fully understand the breadth and impact of the phenomenon and to quickly diffuse the ideas throughout the curriculum and back out to corporations."

The Center will emphasize developing new research and courses in all phases of the curriculum rather than establishing a separate degree in electronic commerce. "We believe that within five years the effects of electronic commerce and electronic business-to-business transactions will be ingrained into all aspects of our curriculum," said Saloner.

Stanford Business School is among a small number of leading business schools that have a required course on electronic business in the MBA core. Stanford’s course, Management in an Information Age, was developed by Mendelson and his colleagues. The School currently has 10 other elective courses that examine electronic business and commerce issues from different perspectives. The School is developing a new course, Electronic Commerce, offered for the first time in Winter 2000 and developed by Saloner and Michael Spence, the Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean, Emeritus. In addition, the course Evaluating E-Business Opportunities will be offered for the first time next academic year. A new executive program focused on electronic commerce will be offered for the first time next fall. New course development already has required researching and writing 15 new cases that will be revised frequently to reflect the rapid changes in the industry.

"To stay at the forefront of this fast-moving, information-rich area, we will focus our research and accelerate the creation and dissemination of knowledge," said Mendelson. The more than $20 million for the Center for Electronic Business and Commerce also will support new types of research. "The Internet captures data from customers, users, and website visitors in a volume and at a speed never before experienced," said Mendelson. "The Center will provide opportunities for groundbreaking research through the acquisition of unique data sets in this area."

The Center for Electronic Business and Commerce will act as a clearinghouse and library for faculty research and e-commerce case studies. In addition, the Center will provide support for curriculum development and student activities related to e-commerce. The Center will be managed by Executive Director Margot Sutherland. Center staff will include case writers, researchers, and administrative personnel.

FACT SHEET

Center for Electronic Business and Commerce

Mission
The Center for Electronic Business and Commerce will develop new research and coursework to understand the impact of information and communication technologies on firms, industries, and markets. Stanford Business School aims to be the worldwide leader in research, curriculum development, and the dissemination of ideas about electronic business and commerce.

Financial Support
First-round financing of more than $20 million comes from founding partners Charles Schwab & Co., General Atlantic Partners, LLC, and eBay. Other donors include BP Amoco, p.l.c., General Motors, Jeffrey S. Skoll, and Carl and Marilynn Thoma.

Codirectors
Garth Saloner, the Robert A. Magowan Professor of Strategic Management and Economics, and Haim Mendelson, the Theodore J. Kreps Professor of Information Systems and Management. Executive Director: Margot Sutherland, email CEBC@gsb.stanford.edu.

Stanford Business School Electronic Business and Commerce Activities

Classes include the MBA core course, Management in an Information Age, and 10 other elective courses with an electronic commerce and business focus, such as Internet Marketing and Information Technology and Supply Chain Management.

New course development includes two electives: Electronic Commerce, to be offered in 1999-2000, and Evaluating E-Business Opportunities, to be offered in 2000-2001.

A new Executive Education program on electronic commerce will be offered for the first time in the fall of 2000.

Teaching and case development have required the preparation of 15 new e-commerce cases. New cases include BabyCenter, America Online, Cisco Systems, Siebel Systems, and UPS.

Bi-weekly e-commerce seminars featuring industry and faculty speakers will begin January 12, 2000.

E-commerce conferences for chief executives. The first Chief Executive E-Commerce Conference will take place June 7-8, 2000, and is organized jointly by the Center for Electronic Business and Commerce and the Boston Consulting Group.

Conferences on future technologies, cosponsored by the Center for Electronic Business and Commerce and Stanford Business School student groups. The first conference, “The Future of Content,” will be held in April 2000.

Student projects involve research under faculty supervision. A recent study, Electronic Commerce and Its Impact on the Value Chains of Selected Vertical Markets, examined autos, music and books, stocks, healthcare, travel, discount stores, and apparel.

Faculty research projects in areas including:

Effects of the Internet on corporate strategy, competition, and organization
Global management of dot-com companies
Valuation models for Net-centric firms
“Virtual culture” and online communities
Behavioral aspects of online auctions
Experimental studies of purchasing behavior on the World Wide Web
Design rules for business-to-business auction markets
Electronic trading mechanisms in financial markets
Delivery costs for Internet channels
The impact of e-business on firms’ business models
Pricing and market structure for Internet transport services and information goods
Effects of the Internet on new product development
Managing customer interactions on the Web
Personalization
Effects of the Internet on supply chain management
Cyberspace and the law
Effects of the Internet on the political process
Coordinated activities with related research centers at the school include:

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