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B2B or not B2B?
MET's new e-commerce program integrates business and technology

By Hope Green

Bill Gates didn't become the world's richest man merely through an aptitude for business or technology. His genius lies in understanding how they work together.

Metropolitan College's new undegraduate program in electronic commerce offers students a mix of courses that integrates both worlds. It gives them the practical skills they need to advance their careers, whether they work at Internet startups or established brick-and-mortar firms. Even the oldest corporations, such as Sears and United Parcel Service, are launching online divisions at a rapid rate to stay competitive.

	Vijay Kanabar Photo by Blake Fitch

"There is a clear need for professional training in e-commerce," says Vijay Kanabar, a MET associate professor of computer science, who directs the program in collaboration with Kip Becker, associate professor and chairman of MET's administrative sciences department.

"We try to explain to people that this is not a get-rich-quick idea," Kanabar says. "If you're going to succeed in e-commerce, you have to talk about profits and loss like professional businesspeople."

The 36-credit program, leading to a bachelor of science in management studies with a concentration in electronic commerce, is unique in New England and one of the first of its kind in the nation. It has been in the pilot stage for the past two years but began officially in January. Topics covered include Web design, Web languages, and database security, as well as business law, marketing, and project management.

Students can enroll full-time or pursue their degree part-time in the evenings. Current participants represent a range of industries and career paths.

"This is going to put me in a much more marketable position as a midcareer executive," says Brian Strawbridge, a Cape Cod-based marketing consultant. "It will give me a chance to combine my 20 years of business experience with state-of-the-art technology."

Every student is required to create a Web business prototype using the principles learned in the classroom. Strawbridge is developing a dotcom that supplies consumers with coupons for small businesses, organized by geographic region.

"This site would cost a major corporation $40,000 to build, and I did it myself," he says. "I will continue to use the site to increase my knowledge, and it will evolve with me."

But Strawbridge knows that he needs a well-researched strategy if he wants to turn his class project into a viable business.

"The idea that if you build it, people will come just doesn't hold true for e-commerce," he says. "The underlying premise of the BU program is that the Internet is a component of business; it's not the whole package. That's a very important concept to understand when you're looking at the realities of the economy."

Kanabar notes that while the failures of business-to-consumer Internet companies such as Pets.com and vitamin retailer MotherNature.com have been making headlines, the business-to-business sector of the economy, or B2B, is growing. The curriculum reflects the fact that 80 percent of e-commerce industry dollars are now spent on B2B projects.

Student Andrey Vegger is familiar with that sector: he runs a software consulting firm and has clients such as Gillette and Lucent Technologies.

"I heard a radio commercial for the MET program a year ago and applied immediately," he says. "I realized I needed more business skills."

Vegger and some of his classmates are developing Internet-based software for restaurant management, with help from a student in MET's School of Hospitality Administration. Their B2B business plan calls for a Web site where restaurateurs find a menu of services that can be ordered electronically, from employee benefits management to pots and pans.

"Our classes include businesspeople and technology people," Vegger says. "We're learning from one another."

To find out more about MET's e-commerce program, contact the administrative sciences department at 353-3016.

8 February 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations