E-Government Evolution in Ireland

E-government provides unparalleled opportunities for governments to streamline processes and improve customer service. As a result, achieving successful citizen-centred e-government has become a key concern for many governments. This chapter analyses the Irish government’s evolutionary path to the provision of successful e-government. The success factors and stages of evolution of e-government are identified and a detailed examination of how the Irish government successfully implemented its e-government strategy is presented. The lessons learned from this case provide a valuable road map for the successful attainment of citizen-centred e-government in other jurisdictions.

An Interventionist Approach to E-Commerce Implementation in SMEs

SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) make a vital contribution to the economic and social well being of most European nations. Many SMEs have invested in an e-commerce presence on the Internet. They are motivated by the potential benefits, which include increased competitiveness and efficiency. In the U.K. there are many examples of entrepreneurial SMEs that have successfully embraced e-commerce. However, there are also many more SMEs that could benefit from Web-based e-commerce but have not yet done so. This chapter sets out the main factors that are inhibiting SMEs from adopting e-commerce. It then reports on a two-year teaching company scheme (TCS) between the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School (MMUBS) and Partwell Ltd., a U.K.-based manufacturing SME. This TCS was designed to improve the competitiveness of Partwell by establishing an e-commerce Web presence. The chapter highlights the philosophy and objectives of the TCS programme and describes the process of technology transfer between Partwell and MMUBS. One of the authors became immersed in the company for the two-year duration of the project, and the data presented here are based on his experience as an initiator of change. The action learning method by which e-commerce was introduced into the company is described and the results are evaluated against contemporary technology diffusion literature. It is shown that gaining the trust of key employees at Partwell, coupled with the adoption of a soft approach to e-commerce implementation, is a critical success factor. Finally, the chapter reports on the benefits that Partwell has gained through the TCS experience.

The Strategic Importance of E-Commerce in Modern Supply Chains

Considering some aspects of the motor industry as an example, this paper outlines strategic opportunities for e-commerce-enabled supply chains and, hence, greatly improved responses to customers. The authors demonstrate that there will be resulting strategic advantage for firms that become enabled to take a further step of making changes to their much wider manufacturing process philosophies. The developed knowledge associated with these changes will not be easily copied by competitors, and as such, provides the basis for a sustainable competitive advantage for those firms that are able to lead the way with the enabling technology of e-commerce in supply chains. However, leadership and change management are identified as key issues requiring further investigation.

Personalization of E-Commerce Applications in SMEs

Personalization of e-commerce applications is an issue that is gaining increasing importance with the advancing maturity of such systems. There is already e-commerce software on the market offering integrated e-shop and personalization functions. However, the available software is too time-consuming and expensive for SMEs. With this in mind we saw a need to investigate the potential for personalization from the particular angle of SMEs. In addition to some theoretical fundamentals of personalization, this paper presents the results of an empirical study. With the help of a survey, we investigated the application potential for personalization tools in Swiss companies. The conclusions show that SMEs are (still) skeptical towards e-commerce applications which use personalization. It furthermore becomes clear that the heterogeneity of organizational and technical conditions impedes the development of standardized tools.

Government-to-Government Enterprises

Electronic government has proven a watershed in the domain of public administration despite being difficult to pin down precisely. Indeed, the government-to-government (G2G) arena is one of the least studied aspects of this newly established field of knowledge. This chapter aims to present a heuristic frame to implement government-to-government endeavors effectively. The frame presented in this article was largely drawn from an actual government-to-government case study successfully implemented in Brazil. From the analysis of this explanatory case study involving the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) and the Brazilian Justice Department (BJD), some key success factors were singled out as well as the major hurdles to be overcome and causes thereof. These findings led the researcher to propose a heuristic frame not only to explain the conclusions drawn from the case study presented, but also to help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to deploy government-to-government projects adequately.

Role of Small-Business Strategic Alliances in the Perception of Benefits and Disadvantages of E-Commerce Adoption in SMEs

Despite the proclaimed advantages of small-business strategic alliances, little research has been carried out to determine whether these structures promote the benefits and/or “cushion” the disadvantages arising from e-commerce adoption for member businesses. There has also been a lack of research into comparing e-commerce use in those small businesses that are members of a strategic alliance to those that have opted to remain outside such arrangements. This chapter aims to correct the situation by presenting the findings of a study of 176 regional small businesses in Sweden that investigated the impact of strategic-alliance membership on the benefits and disadvantages associated with e-commerce adoption. The results of the study indicate that there are no significant differences between strategic-alliance members and nonmembers where benefits of e-commerce are concerned. In contrast, e-commerce disadvantages are often dissipated through a strategic-alliance structure more easily than through a single self-directed unit. The study also shows that correlations between e-commerce benefits exist and that the benefits can be grouped according to three distinct factors: costs, efficiency, and sales or inventory.

An E-Government Model

Electronic government (e-government), the ability for government to provide access to services and information twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, is an emerging force today. There are several models that attempt to explain the way in which e-government has evolved or is evolving. This paper presents an overview of a few important government models and frameworks.