TY - JOUR
T1 - Environment and policy factors shaping global e-commerce diffusion
T2 - A cross-country comparison
AU - Gibbs, Jennifer
AU - Kraemer, Kenneth L.
AU - Dedrick, Jason
N1 - Funding Information:
This research has been supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (CISE/IIS/DST) and is part of a multiyear, multicountry study being conducted with scholars from 10 participating countries. The authors acknowledge the helpful comments of T. J. Chen, Juan Palacios, Rolf Wigand, and the anonymous reviewers on an earlier version of this article.
Funding Information:
This research is part of the Globalization and E-Commerce Project of the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO) at the University of California, Irvine. The material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 0085852. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
PY - 2003/1
Y1 - 2003/1
N2 - This article examines the key global, environmental and policy factors that act as determinants of e-commerce diffusion. It is based on systematic comparison of case studies from 10 countries - Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States. It finds that B2B e-commerce seems to be driven by global forces, whereas B2C seems to be more of a local phenomenon. A preliminary explanation for this difference is that B2B is driven by global competition and MNCs that "push" e-commerce to their global suppliers, customers, and subsidiaries. This in turn creates pressures on local companies to adopt e-commerce to stay competitive. In contrast, B2C is "pulled" by consumer markets, which are mainly local and therefore divergent. While all consumers desire convenience and low prices, consumer preferences and values, national culture, and distribution systems differ markedly across countries and define differences in local consumer markets. These findings support the transformation perspective about globalization and its impacts. In terms of policy, the case studies suggest that enabling policies such as trade and telecommunications liberalization are likely to have the biggest impact on e-commerce, by making ICT and Internet access more affordable to firms and consumers, and increasing pressure on firms to adopt e-commerce to compete. Specific e-commerce legislation appears not to have as big an impact, although inadequate protection for both buyers and sellers in some countries suggests that mechanisms need to be developed to ensure greater confidence in doing business online.
AB - This article examines the key global, environmental and policy factors that act as determinants of e-commerce diffusion. It is based on systematic comparison of case studies from 10 countries - Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States. It finds that B2B e-commerce seems to be driven by global forces, whereas B2C seems to be more of a local phenomenon. A preliminary explanation for this difference is that B2B is driven by global competition and MNCs that "push" e-commerce to their global suppliers, customers, and subsidiaries. This in turn creates pressures on local companies to adopt e-commerce to stay competitive. In contrast, B2C is "pulled" by consumer markets, which are mainly local and therefore divergent. While all consumers desire convenience and low prices, consumer preferences and values, national culture, and distribution systems differ markedly across countries and define differences in local consumer markets. These findings support the transformation perspective about globalization and its impacts. In terms of policy, the case studies suggest that enabling policies such as trade and telecommunications liberalization are likely to have the biggest impact on e-commerce, by making ICT and Internet access more affordable to firms and consumers, and increasing pressure on firms to adopt e-commerce to compete. Specific e-commerce legislation appears not to have as big an impact, although inadequate protection for both buyers and sellers in some countries suggests that mechanisms need to be developed to ensure greater confidence in doing business online.
KW - EDI
KW - Globalization
KW - ICT
KW - IT economic impacts
KW - IT education
KW - Information technologies
KW - Internet legislation
KW - National ICT policy
KW - Technology diffusion
KW - Telecommunication infrastructure
KW - e-commerce
KW - e-government
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037239876&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0037239876&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01972240309472
DO - 10.1080/01972240309472
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0037239876
SN - 0197-2243
VL - 19
SP - 5
EP - 18
JO - Information Society
JF - Information Society
IS - 1
ER -