Worlds of E-Commerce: Economic, Geographical and Social Dimensions - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471494550 ISBN 13: 9780471494553

Publisher: Wiley, 2001

Synopsis

Worlds of E-Commerce Economic, Geographical and Social Dimensions THOMAS R. LEINBACH and STANLEY D. BRUNN, both of the University of Kentucky, USA Worlds of Electronic Commerce attempts to capture the enormous international impact of the recent explosion in information and communication technologies. It stands alone as the first book to tackle the major economic, social, and political issues that electronic commerce raises from interdisciplinary and international perspectives. Including contributions from leading international scholars from geography, economics, and public policy, it addresses theoretical and conceptual issues and presents case studies on how retailing, job searches, banking and finance, telecommunications, and government regulation are changing with the introduction and diffusion of the Internet and various electronic services. References to rapid developments in these fields are drawn from the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Russia, and the developing world. The implications of these developments on consumer behaviour, existing and new firms, regulatory agencies, and interstate economic development are also discussed. In summary, the book presents an excellent background for those wanting scholarly treatments of (a) the background of e-commerce, (b) the growing importance of Information and Communication Technologies, and (c) case studies related to specific services making use of e-commerce. READERSHIP: Academics and Students in Information Economies, Information and Communications Technologies, Economics, Marketing, Retailing, Advertising, Communications, Technology Diffusion, Geography Dealing with Electronic Commerce

About this title

From the Publisher:

This is the first book to focus on e-commerce in economic and social geography. It touches on issues in geography, economics, technology policy, and communications, and focuses on the dramatic changes influenced by e-commerce in the ways that people and companies behave and interact.

The term electronic commerce (e-commerce) is a relatively new concept and its impacts are not fully understood. Related terms often used synonymously with electronic commerce are, E business, E markets and E trading or the purchase of tangible goods through the Internet. The growth of PCs, television networks and the Internet has produced a surge of commerce flowing electronically and companies not currently engaged realise the need to enter this market.

E-commerce can be summarised as the use of information and communication technologies (e-mail, EDI-electronic data interchange, Internet and WWW) to network economic activities and processes while creating cost and strategic advantages in information flows, most often in the pursuit of commercial gains.

The Internet and telecommunications are dramatically changing the way people and firms behave and interact. The changes are affecting especially markets and market structures, communications, and information technology and can enormously influence the competitive advantage of firms. This competitive advantage clearly extends to cities (old and new) and regions (existing and emerging) as these entities compete to remain viable in the global economy.

The book will analyse how e-commerce networks alter business procedures and transcend organisational and geographical boundaries and as such will be relevant to e-commerce consultants, Internet professionals, corporate planners, and managers. The Worlds of E-Commerce will also be of interest to academics and students in Information and Communications Technologies, Economics, Marketing, Retailing, Advertising, Communications, and Geography dealing with electronic commerce.

From the Author:

In 1991, we collaborated on the editing of a book entitled Collapsing Space and Time: Geographic Aspects of Communications and Information which attempted to capture the enormous international impact of the expansion of information and communication in a variety of dimensions. That volume is now of print. Since the mid-1990s, our interests have been captured by continued developments in this area and particularly the way in which technology has exploded and allowed even greater information and communications accessibility. But the triggering mechanism for this book of original essays has been the explosive growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce), broadly defined, over the past five years.

This phenomenon and its implications and impacts are still in the very early stages of maturation. Nonetheless, urged on a by a variety of colleagues, we felt that it was important to produce a volume which examines e-commerce especially from the perspective of the social scientist. The diversity of themes within the broad topic immediately suggested an edited volume which would capture as much as possible the rich applications and theory which attend this theme. After a number of conversations about the structure of such a book we began to contact authors and were pleasantly surprised by the existence of ongoing research and the willingness of authors to produce and original paper specifically for this volume. The set of 16 essays covers a wide span of applications and we trust that the reader will be stimulated by still other research topics.

To our knowledge, this book represents a first in the English language which addresses, from a largely social science perspective, the emerging field of study called e-commerce, including theoretical underpinnings, individual case studies, and pertinent policy and development issues. All 6 chapters are original, that is, they have not appeared previously in journals, as chapters, or as books. Most were written within the first five months of 2000. Their bibliographies reflect the recency of materials used in their analyses. An examination of the literature cited reveals the use of newspaper and magazine article from business, financial and popular sources, unpublished and recently published documents and WWW sources from companies, organisations and countries. References appear in languages other than English.

Finally, we truly hope that this work will be read, critiqued, and used widely. As editors, we can think of no better reward than for individuals in various disciplines to use the book in courses or seminars and have it stimulate new enquiry. We welcome hearing from readers as we continue to explore the new paths which seem to develop daily in The Worlds of E-Commerce.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0471494550
• ISBN 13: 9780471494553
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 372
• Editor: Leinbach Thomas R., Brunn Stanley D.