More than 600 delegates are expected to attend this week's second World Congress on the Management of Electronic Commerce, sponsored by the Management of Innovation and New Technology (MINT) Research Centre at McMaster.

Organized by McMaster business students, the congress runs from Wednesday, Jan. 17 to Friday, Jan. 19 at the Hamilton Convention Centre concurrently with the fourth World Congress on the Management of Intellectual Capital. Researchers from more than 30 countries will present reports and studies that demonstrate what succeeds on Web sites as well as what fails.

The presentations will assist delegates in developing sites, in understanding more about e-commerce, and in learning how consumers interact with the Web. This in turn could help companies become more efficient and better able to compete in Canada and abroad.

“The sessions provide a unique opportunity by bringing together the academic and business sides,” says co-chair Meaghan Stovel, a fourth-year honours commerce student.

Academic studies often go unnoticed but research is an important key component in this new field, she says.

Topics under discussion include: the critical success factors for e-commerce, the importance of service quality and customer satisfaction in e-commerce, new technologies and their impact on the management of electronic commerce, privacy and security issues, and the future of e-commerce.

In addition, the organizers have amassed an impressive lineup of corporate executives from blue-chip organizations like IBM and Cisco who will discuss their experiences in the wired world.

Cyber guru Don Tapscott, author of the best-selling book
Digital Capital, president of New Paradigm Learning Corporation and chair of Digital 4Sight, is the keynote speaker.

More and more, ideas and information are becoming a valued commodity, much like manufactured products were in the old economy.

Intellectual property refers to such products of the mind as a formula or business plan, any intangible that combines ideas and creativity. “Many of the e-commerce businesses are being valued more on the ideas behind them – their intellectual capital,” Stovel notes.

The event is an opportunity for McMaster to showcase its programs which emphasize innovation in business education, including the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business and the MINT centre. McMaster is one of the first universities in the world to offer an MBA in e-commerce.