The core is compose of eighteen credits comprising the following three-credit courses:

EC 511 E-commerce Basic IT Infrastructure
EC 512 E-commerce Software Services
EC 521/MBA 603 Managerial Economics and Decisions of the Firm
EC 522/MBA 613 Financial Reporting and Decision Making
EC 531/PUBP 726 Law and Public Policy in E-commerce
EC 541 Integrative Case Studies in Electronic Commerce or MBA 734 Electronic Commerce

EC 511 E-commerce Basic IT Infrastructure (3:3:0) This course discusses the basic networking infrastructure used in E-commerce environments as well the typical multi-tiered E-commerce architectures of E-commerce sites. The ISO OSI Reference Architecture. Functions and main features of the IP protocol. Functions and main features of the TCP protocol: connection establishment, error control, congestion control. The HTTP protocol. Load balancers, Web servers, application servers, and databases servers in an E-commerce site architecture. Software architecture elements such as servlets, transaction processing services, remote method invocation, cgi scripts, and active server pages are discussed.

EC 512 E-commerce Software Services (3:3:0). Pre-requisite: EC 511. Flow analysis of E-commerce transactions and the role of the various software servers (web servers, application servers, and database servers) in executing E-commerce transactions. Examples of various technologies are used to illustrate typical designs. Protocols used for authentication and payment in E-commerce. Introduction to symmetric and public-key encryption. Digital signatures. Digital certificates. The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. The Transport Layer Service (TLS) protocol. Secure electronic payment protocols.

EC 521/MBA 603 Managerial Economics and Decisions of the Firm (3:3:0). Provides a fundamental understanding of how microeconomics concepts are usefully applied to managerial decision making. Principles of microeconomic theory are explored fully, including market supply and demand, production and cost functions, industry structure, and product and resource pricing.

EC 522/MBA 613 Financial Reporting and Decision Making (3:3:0). Foundation course focusing on the economics and analysis of business transactions and related financial reporting issues. Topics include an introduction to the accounting framework used in financial reporting, analysis of economic events and their impact on financial reports, analysis of the impact of accounting method choices on financial reports, and financial statement analysis.

EC 531/PUBP 726 Law and Public Policy in E-commerce (3:3:0) This course explores the developing legal and policy framework applicable to the use of advanced communications and information technology. The foundation for this course will be a rapid review of the history of electronic communications regulation in the United States in this century and the transformation of that legal system which is already rapidly well underway. Although it is necessary to consider international aspects of global networks, including recent WTO and WIPO international agreements, and European privacy directives, the course will lean heavily on United States experiences. Overview of salient public policy issues associated with Electronic Commerce deployment: Internet taxation, regulatory issues, digital divide, transborder data flow, spectrum allocation, privacy, authentication, policy, use of fixed wireless, UCITA, Bluetooth and others. Lecture, guest speakers from government EC regulators, practical exercises, hands-on demonstrations.

EC 541 Integrative Case Studies in Electronic Commerce (3:3:0). Open to EC majors only. Prerequisites: EC 511, 521, and 531. Students apply knowledge and skills from core courses to manage the complexity of e- commerce in specialized applications. Using case study methods, students analyze and synthesize the requirements for successful e-commerce program development and management in industry-specific applications in healthcare, banking, retail and government.

MBA 734 Electronic Commerce (3:3:0) Applies skills and knowledge in designing and building a business-to-business or business-to-consumer web commerce site. Emphasis is on products, strategies, and web site design.