Introduction to electronic commerce

elective monographs

Computational social choice theory 1000-2M09OTW

Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, is one of the fundamental applications of the internet technology. To create an advanced e-commerce solutions one has not only be familiar with computer science but also with game theory, economics and other social sciences.

During the lecture we will discuss key aspects of e-commerce, including: mechanism design, auction theory, combinatorial auctions, etc.

The above theories and techniques are at the core of services and software developed by key IT companies like Google, Ebay, Microsoft and many others. Thus, this course is for all those who are interested not only how to write algorithms and software but also how to make business out of it.

Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, is one of the fundamental applications of the internet technology. To create an advanced e-commerce solutions one has not only be familiar with computer science but also with game theory, economics and other social sciences.

During the lecture we will discuss key aspects of e-commerce, including:

• Mechanism design – this is a key theory for electronic commerce. Choice mechanisms, including auctions, should be designed in a way that guarantees profits for both the seller and the buyer(s).

• Auction theory – there exists a few auction types: English Auction, Dutch Auction, First-Price Sealed-Bid Auction, Second-Price Sealed-Bid Auction. We will discuss and compare all of them.

• Combinatorial Auctions – whereas most auctions open to the public on the internet concern single goods, many business applications require auctioning multiple inter-related items. Such auction are called combinatorial and will be an important part of the course.

We will also present to international competitions related to e-commerce:

• TAC – Trading Agent Competition – the idea of this competition is to develop, study and popularize agent technologies in e-commerce. Participant of the competition are supposed to create and autonomous agent that is able to compete with others on a given electronic market by buying and selling.

• CAT Tournament – this is a reversed idea to TAC. Participants are supposed to create markets that attract given pool of buyers and sellers.

The above theories and techniques are at the core of services and software developed by key IT companies like Google, Ebay, Microsoft and many others. Thus, this course is for all those who are interested not only how to write algorithms and software but also how to make business out of it.

Literature and additional literature will be announced at the begining of the course.

Knowledge:

1. She/he knows the basic research studies in e-commerce, especially those in the area of ​​interest of the largest companies in the IT industry

2. She/he knows the basic concepts and issues of the theory of auctions, especially combinatorial auctions

3. She/he knows the most important concepts, issues and solutions in the theory of mechanism design regarding the theory of auctions

4. She/he knows the basic properties of the most important applications of the auction theory in real business solutions, including e-business, artificial intelligence and multi-agent systems.

Skills:

1. She/he can consider computational and combinatorial property of auctions, including combinatorial auctions

2. She/he can formally describe and indicate the optimal behavior of the seller and bidders in selected, actually functioning auctions.

3. She/he can prove properties of some auction mechanisms

Competencies:

1. She/he understands the need to transform his knowledge and IT and mathematical skills into specific business solutions

2. She/he knows the limitations of his own knowledge and understands the need for further education, including gaining extra-field knowledge

3. She/he can precisely formulate questions to deepen his own understanding of a given topic or to find missing elements of reasoning

Assessment criteria for laboratories:

1. Attendance - maximum 2 unexcused absences (neccessary condition)

and

2. At least 2 presentations - 90% of the final grade

and

3. Quizzes and activity in class discussions - 10% of the final score

Passing the lecture/course with grade: exam (there is a possibility of exemption from the exam for those who will be satisfied with the grade from laboratories and will want to have such a final grade for the entire course. If you take the exam, including the zero exam, your final grade will be the exam grade, even if it is lower than the laboratories grade).

The form of the exam: written exam at home, open-ended questions, duration 2 hours, photos of solutions immediatelly sent by e-mail after the exam.

Zero examination: same form of examination as above