E-Commerce and V-Business

Section One

Recognizing thepotential of e-business

‘If you don't see the Internet as an opportunity, it will be a threat’ (Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister; Financial Times, 1999a). The Internet and related technologies provide tremendous new possibilities for doing business, but this challenging new environment requires a fundamental rethink of traditional strategy and business models (Evans and Wurster, 1999).

In business terms, one of the most important developments to arise from the current swathe of technological advances is electronic commerce. Simply speaking, e-commerce refers to trading electronically: transactions involved with buying and selling products, services and information over a network (Turban et al., 2000). However, the implications ...