Sudweeks And

At the turn of the twenty-first century, global communication is changing the fabric of society at a rate never experienced before. The Internet, in particular, has redrawn the map of global economy. To be competitive in today's marketplace, companies need to expand commercial activities beyond national borders. The global network of electronic infrastructure has played a significant role in this expansion but the technology itself is not the factor driving the business revolution. The changes are driven by the interaction of information technology and customer demand. Customers are not only adapting to new technologies, they are demanding more and more global competition. Electronic commerce, therefore, is arguably the most important economic trend of our time. Its presence on the Internet, in particular, is becoming crucial to the effective functioning of organisations, especially in a world where companies need to deal with suppliers, customers, partners and their own units distributed across the world. A global business industry created by the Internet is no longer a projected vision of technocrats; it is a reality. The Internet is already playing a significant role in determining corporate strategy and in creating values. This world wide popularity of the Internet as a commercial medium is remarkable, to say the least. However, along with the creation of enormous opportunities, it is becoming clear that the Internet has also brought new perils and pitfalls. Companies who invest in this emerging market find that customers, while demanding more global competition, are still reluctant to actually buy products that are advertised on the Internet. Corporate managers are not keen on spending their workday surfing the Internet, hence the growing interest in Webcasting (i.e. the broadcasting of selected Web sites onto users' computers). Users who are still immensely interested in the Internet are becoming disillusioned with some of its early promises and are hungry for a more balanced perspective on what the Internet can do for them, both in the business and the social arena. In our earlier book, Doing Business Electronically: A Global Perspective of Electronic Commerce (Romm and Sudweeks, 1998), we provided an overview and investigation of the major areas that are affected by the rapid adoption of new technologies in the commercial environment. Some of the issues addressed concerned buyer-seller relationships, auctions, public procurement and consumer decision making. 2 DOING BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET Doing Business on the Internet: Opportunities and Pitfalls, as the title implies, casts …