University
of Illinois at Chicago Office of Public Affairs (MC 288)
601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7113, (312) 996-3456, www.uic.edu/depts/paff
| April 18, 2000 | Contact: Jeffron Boynés (312) 413-8702; jboynes@uic.edu |
FRENCH TO RAISE THEIR INTERNET IQ AT UIC
A group of 13 French business leaders will gather at the University of Illinois at Chicago April 30 to May 6 to learn strategies to broaden their share of the e-commerce universe.
The group will attend the International E-Business E-Commerce Certificate Program, part of the office of professional development programs in the UIC College of Business Administration. With its growing reputation and experienced line-up of e-commerce lecturers, the program is designed to bring together aspiring online marketers and key Internet experts across geographies to share their Web acumen.
"Participants in the program will receive customized training that is more current by coming to the United States, because the United States is ahead of other countries on the learning curve when it comes to e-commerce," said Rod Shrader, UIC professor of management and one of the program's instructors. "We're beginning to see what works and what doesn't work, so business people from other countries can learn from our mistakes and not have to re-invent the wheel."
Shrader said the French visitors will gain a general understanding of the Internet and strategic guidance during their one-week stay so they can be out in front of the e-commerce revolution. Program topics include: "E-entrepreneurship," "Global E-commerce" and "Behind the E." Corporate site visits are planned to Carr Futures, for a presentation of their Internet strategy, and Agency.com, a leading Internet professional services firm in Chicago.
As more countries flock to the Internet for commerce, it's reasonable that the French would want to position themselves to reap the value of accelerated growth, but they must overcome obstacles like online communication system weaknesses to realize their full economic potential, Shrader noted.
"It's extremely hard to have e-commerce if you don't have a customer base online. One of the limiting factors to e-commerce in Europe is their phone system," said Shrader. "Unlike the United States where we pay a nominal fee for local phone service, Europeans get charged by the minute when they're online. Right now, although the expense of surfing the Net is limiting Europe's Internet growth, everybody sees the possibilities and are working together to gear up in anticipation of the future."
Local e-commerce practitioners and UIC faculty expected to participate in the program include: Marshall Marcovitz, founder and former CEO of Chef's Catalog; Daniel Spillane, IBM Global Services consultant; Tom Lumpkin, UIC assistant professor of managerial studies; Wes Helms, IBM Global Services e-business project manager; Rod Shrader, UIC assistant professor of management; Joel Warady, president and CEO, OralCare.com; and Eric Perler, UIC webmaster and database administrator.
In September 2000, UIC will take its International E-Business E-Commerce Certificate Program to France. For more information on the certificate program, contact Cindy Atchley, director of program development, at (312) 996-4278; catchley@uic.edu
Since its launch last year, the E-Business E-Commerce Certificate Program has been in the spotlight. Intended to address the growing demand by those who want to excel in the dot.com economy, the program has taught more than 100 business professionals to date.
With several nationally recognized programs - including the Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, ranked among the nation's Top 10 programs by Success magazine - the UIC College of Business Administration is rising rapidly to even greater prominence in business and technology.
With 25,000 students, the University of Illinois at Chicago is the largest and most diverse university in the Chicago area and one of only 88 national Research I universities. Located just west of Chicago's Loop, UIC is a vital part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of the entire metropolitan region.
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