The authors of this unique volume provide a timely and valuable perspective on how technology and the Internet revolution are changing business and spurring development across the world, especially in emerging countries. Utilizing a framework grounded in rigorous theory, they provide a fine-grained understanding of electronic commerce adoption processes by public and private sector entities in developing countries. In so doing, they consider how each exchange encounter is shaped by, and in turn shapes, relational characteristics that form the basis for growth and development. Using a resource-based view of economies, the authors hypothesize that differences in the adoption of electronic commerce technologies in developing economies can be attributed to a sense-and-respond capability of governments with respect to new technologies, which they term 'technological opportunism'. One of their main objectives is to establish the distinctiveness of technology opportunities from related constructs, such as innovativeness, and show that it offers a significantly better explanation of technology adoption and diffusion than do existing constructs. The book examines a number of developing countries' experiences with electronic government, bringing real life experience to the adoption of an e-government model by looking at the issue from strategic as well as operational perspectives. The volume's ground-breaking research and conclusions will be of great interest to professionals, researchers and students in the areas of e-commerce and economic development; government officials of developing and newly industrialized countries contemplating e-government initiatives; and information technology managers.

This timely and important book illuminates the impact of cyber law on the growth and development of emerging and developing economies. Using a strong theoretical framework firmly grounded in resource-based and technology diffusion literature, the authors convey a subtle understanding of the ways public and private sector entities in developing and emerging countries adopt cyber space processes.This book reveals that the diffusion of cyber activities in developing and emerging economies is relatively low, with the main stumbling blocks resting in regulatory, cultural, and social factors. The authors argue that cyber crimes constitute a prime obstacle to the diffusion of e-commence and e-governments in developing economies, and governments have an important role in developing control mechanisms in the form of laws. However, setting appropriate policies and complementary services, particularly those affecting the telecommunications sector and other infrastructure, human capital and the investment environment, severely constrains Internet access. Using both strategic and operational perspectives, the authors discuss the concrete experience of constructing and implementing cyber laws and cyber security measures in developing and emerging countries, and analyse their content and appropriateness. Professionals, academics, students, and policymakers working in the area of cyber space, e-commerce and economic development, and United Nations entities working closely with the Millennium Development Goals, will find this book an invaluable reference.