Future Trends

The case illustrates that the measurement of benefits from major IT projects such as an e-marketplace (GEM) is a complex task. There is a need to design valid and reliable measures for each perceived benefit, measure their achievement and rank their importance in order to develop an appropriate "balanced scorecard" by which to measure the project. It is important that we do not always assume that the introduction of technology such as this with always have a positive impact on society. Increased concentration of market power on both supply and demand sides may have unforeseen deleterious impacts on the society in which they are introduced.

We have noted that the development of measurable constructs to reflect the "impact on society" is required as a matter of urgency. Further investigation of the use and sponsorship of e-marketplaces by other public sector jurisdictions would be useful in order to further refine this dimension.

This in turn begs the wider question of the "impact on society" of e-marketplaces in the private sector, and of the implications and application of extra-territoriality for the regulatory environment.