boo.com

boo.com TEACHING NOTES: Boo.Com (Theme 4, Part 2) A. SUMMARY OF THE CASE This two-part case discusses the rise and fall of Boo.com, a European venture founded by two e-business pioneers from Sweden that targeted customers of the high fashion industry by using thelatest in multimedia technology to create a cyber-sensory shopping experience. It also capturesthe excitement of the early days of business-to-consumer e-business by detailing the ease withwhich the founders of the venture were able to raise millions of investment dollars from a diverserange of capital sources. It then goes on to describe the manner in which the money was spent onimplementing a business plan using technology that was in a sense premature for the massmarkets. The case also highlights the critical need for adequate systems validation and userinterface testing before the launch of a high-profile e-business concept.B. TEACHING OBJECTIVES AND TARGET AUDIENCEThe ability to raise financing for a new e-business venture has o ften been highlighted as being themost critical factor in e-business implementation. This case is most suitable for helping studentsunderstand both the investment process as well as the variables that impact the success of raisinginvestment funding. The case will benefit students interested in the venture financing aspects ofe-business as it provides information about the process used by the founders to secure funding fortheir venture. This case can also be used for advanced undergraduate courses, graduate courses,and executive seminars in systems development for e-business to emphasize the need forstringent quality control in programming, interface testing, and systems configuration inimplementation. It also highlights to this target audience the need for close coordination betweenthe technical, marketing, and financial functions in a start-up e-business venture during the1implementation stage. Being a...