What is e-business and does it still matter?

Abstract

What is e-business or e-commerce, e-government or e-learning? Does it still matter today? If so, in what ways and what can we do about it? Since the mid-1990s, the e-phenomenon has captured people's imagination and led to many dramatic changes. However, with the rapid conceptual and application expansion, the limited conceptual clarity of e-business that existed in the 1990s has evaporated almost entirely. This paper examines what is and what is not e-business, and then outlines a broad conceptual framework to underpin and integrate the vast range of issues in this rapidly evolving field. The dot.com burst in 2001 did not mark the end of e-business, and many radical changes predicted during the dot.com boom but dismissed in the aftermath of the dot.com crash are materialising today. Some of these changes are so radical that a new generation of organisation and management theories are perhaps needed. Areas for future research will be highlighted.

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