Introduction

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For small businesses in developing countries, e-commerce would seem to be a unique opportunity to expand beyond limited local markets. Yet we know from the massive failures of e-commerce companies in the US that B2C is particularly demanding. Beyond the obvious requirements of a web site, companies must have the internal systems to handle orders via the web, the manufacturing capacity to respond to orders, financial systems to take funds online, and the logistics capabilities to ship goods at the speed that e-commerce customers expect. In short, e-commerce requires a level of business acumen and support structures that are as yet rare in the world.

Yet for all the demands of this business method, the opportunities are significant. E-commerce may represent an opportunity for even the Least Developed Countries of the world to export their products and improve their balance of payments. This opportunity has led the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to host a number of conferences on the topic of LDCs and e-commerce (Lake, 2000), and the United Nations Development Programme to focus its 2001 annual report on the topic of Information Technology and development. There is great hope that e-commerce can ease the burdens of the world's poor.

But is that hope realistic? The purpose of this research was to determine, first, if least developed countries (LDCs) were participating in e-commerce efforts. Second, if LDCs are engaged in e-commerce, what strategies are they applying to overcome well-known impediments? Third, what businesses or products are more commonly engaged in successful e-commerce efforts in these countries? It is my hope that by identifying successful technical and business strategies used by companies in these countries, other companies can model their own efforts after their successful peers.



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Advanced Topics in Global Information Management (Vol. 3)
Trust in Knowledge Management and Systems in Organizations
ISBN: 1591402204
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 207

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