Technology and culture

The number of Internet users around the world has been steadily growing and this growth has provided the impetus and the opportunities for global and regional e-commerce. However, as with the Internet, different characteristics (infrastructure and socio-economic) of the local environment have created a significant level of variation in the acceptance and growth of e-commerce in different regions of the world. Our research focuses on the impact of these infrastructure and socio-economic factors on e-commerce development in China and the findings provide insights into the role of culture in e-commerce, and the factors that may impact a broader acceptance and development of e-commerce in China. In this chapter, we present and discuss our findings, and propose some strategies for success for e-commerce in China.

Digital Technologies and the Cross-Border Expansion of South African Banks

This chapter explores the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the international development of South African banks. It is argued that South African banks derive important advantages from the use of ICTs in their expansion into neighbouring countries. Using Dunning’s (1989, 1988) eclectic approach as a mechanism with which to assess the evidence supporting this argument, ICT is explored both as an ownership specific capacity, as a locational specific factor influencing the geographical pattern of international expansion, and as a facilitator of the internalization of cross-border banking networks. Through an investigation of the significance of digital technologies in the cross-border expansion of South African banks, including case studies of Stanbic and ABSA, this chapter highlights the opportunities and challenges confronting such organizations. In so doing, the chapter will contribute to the understanding of intra-African foreign direct investment in the banking sector and the emerging digital economy in developing countries.

Online Services and Regional Web Portals

This chapter examines community empowerment, economic and business development, and equity of service as the issue of success and decline in regional and rural communities is explored with a particular focus on community informatics initiatives (CI). In Australia, there has been a vision for online services to be used to open up regional communities to the rest of the world. Government support has been seen as enhancing the competence levels of local communities so they become strong enough to deal equitably in an increasingly open marketplace. But how effective have regional portals and other online initiatives been? This chapter explores whether economic and social benefits are generated via establishing and sustaining regional CI initiatives. Theory relevant to online communities is introduced to provide a context for the presentation of two case studies. The dissemination of the critical learning from these cases can inform others about the diverse factors which impact on the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of regional CI initiatives.

The Spreading Use of Digital Cash and Its Problems

It has been several years since the words “digital cash” and other related terms were introduced. Although e-commerce has been growing, digital cash has not been a focus of much attention. Digital cash has some problems associated with it that need to be solved before its use can continue to grow. There are two points the author emphasizes in this chapter. The first is that the essential characteristics of digital cash, its advantages and disadvantages, should be carefully examined. The second point is since financial institutions cannot stop this trend, it would be prudent for them to view it as a business opportunity. Monetary authorities should pay careful heed to the trend as well, guiding the “sound” market to maturity, taking care not to exercise excessive intervention.

Risk and Investment in the Global Telecommunications Industry

In this chapter, quantitative modeling and simulation techniques are used to estimate various risk measures and the associated cost of equity for the global telecommunications industry. Our approach is to calculate several different cost-of-equity values and then use simulation techniques to build up a probability distribution for each company’s cost of equity. In this way, a clearer picture of where a company’s cost of equity lies is developed. Closing the Digital Divide could bring many benefits to developing countries but international investors and development planners must be able to make their own cost-of-equity calculations so that they can see first hand how their investment projects compare with other investment projects around the globe.

Socio-Economic Impacts and Influences of E-Commerce in a Digital Economy

Innovations in information and communications technologies have created a digital revolution that is changing the way the world works, learns, communicates and transacts business. E-commerce continues to show strong growth and has been influencing the social and economic growth of nations. On one hand e-commerce technologies have helped nations to accelerate their economic growth and to provide more opportunities for businesses to grow, but it has also created many challenges and effects across numerous domains of society, and for policy makers. These issues involve economic productivity, intellectual property rights, privacy protection, and affordability of and access to information, among other concerns. This chapter describes the various socio-economic impacts and influences that have been created by e-commerce in a digital economy.

Digital Engineering Campus

In this chapter, we introduce two existing web-based, e-learning approaches, and examine economic and social aspects of their usage in society. Specifically, we briefly introduce an e-learning initiative in Singapore. Secondly, we give a detailed description of a case study regarding the experiment called “Digital Engineering Campus,” which is an NGO initiative to provide supplementary educational facilities for engineering colleges in India. Considering the economic as well as social benefits, using our detailed case-study of Digital Engineering Campus, we argue that developing countries like India have tremendous growth potential in web-based education. Further, the experiences of developed countries with web-based education will prove to be highly beneficial for developing countries like India.

An E-Classification of the World's Capital Cities

The world’s capital cities perform various political functions for their populations, contain embassies, consulates, and missions of other governments, and serve as headquarters for major corporations, cultural, and humanitarian organizations. While social scientists have classified major cities based on population size, number of corporate headquarters, banks, and airline connections, the emergence of ICTs suggests additional criteria. I use the number of URL references to Web sites listed in the Google search engine for 199 world capitals and classify them into five distinct categories. Small, prosperous city-states and major capitals in Western Europe and North America have the most hyperlinks. The fewest are for capitals in poor, rural Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Capitals with multiple government offices, strong ICT economies and dominant tourist economies have the most hyperlinks per capita. These are mostly in wealthy Europe and North America. The lowest values are among African and Asian capitals in poor countries and those with repressive regimes. Major news items, embassy, financial, and tourism information are major themes on web pages. Additional research topics are suggested.

Corporate Strategies in a Digital World

These days, the majority of management literature stresses the concept of “learning organizations”, i.e., an organization’s capacity to change. However, it is not easy for people to accept this fundamental aspect especially when it comes to the Internet and technologies’ growing importance in business operations. They claim it’s a temporary trend that will leave little visible change in the way business is conducted. For these businessmen, the philosophy seems to be “keep making better products and offering new services, and the customers will keep buying”. They ignore changes occurring in the buying habits of customers and impact of technology. There are some businesses who are happy to follow the leader and adopt tools like supply chain management. Supply chain management is a recognized discipline to shorten cycle times, reduce inventories, decrease logistics costs and streamline communication process across the business network. On the other hand are the businessmen who understand the learning organization concept and develop a forward orientation. They are prepared to ride the technology wave to new heights and accomplishments by using technology as a defining element in business operations. This chapter suggests a new approach to this new breed of entrepreneurs. In this chapter, we are trying to give supply chain management a customer orientation and to study its results. We highlight the synergistic advantage of linking supply chain management with customer relationship management into a tightly knit network using technology. The main focus is on finding a solution to deal with Internet empowered customers and to learn how to apply technologies demanded in the new digital economy.

On Software Piracy

The pervasiveness of the illegal copying of software is indeed a worldwide phenomenon. Economists argue that when the piracy takes place at the end-users’ level, the original software developer finds it profitable to allow limited piracy when the effect of network externality is reasonably strong in the users market. We argue when the piracy is of retail in nature, the same logic cannot be extended as the reason for piracy and show that it is always optimal for the original software developer to protect its software even when the effect of network externality is strong in the end-users’ market. We suggest that piracy depends on more fundamental issues like demand environment, market structure, nature of piracy and nature of competition. The other issue we cover here is the economic impact of piracy on the welfare of a society. We discuss various policy implications on regulating piracy in developing as well as developed markets.