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.

Organizational restructuring and corporate downsizing can have a significant impact on the perceived social responsibility and responsiveness of any firm. This book analyzes the phenomenon by identifying the nature and types of structural or functional relationships that exist between downsizing and organizational performance variables, on the one hand, and organizational social responsiveness on the other. It looks at changes in the use of various restructuring techniques to improve efficiency and effectiveness and the effects of these changes on the organizational citizenship standing in the community. It goes on to add to the understanding of the general phenomenon of downsizing by examining its relationship to the level and pervasiveness of corporate social responsibility.

Karake-Shalhoub addresses three questions. First, is corporate downsizing related to improvement in organizational financial performance? Second, is there any relationship between downsizing and corporate social responsibility? Third, what is the nature of this relationship? The book will be attractive to management theory scholars, social responsibility and ethics researchers and practitioners, organizational development researchers and practitioners, and human resource scholars.

This is the first empirical study to compare and contrast the effects of technology transfer to developing countries from the West and from Eastern European countries. The author's primary purpose is to compare the effects of the different technologies offered by the two groups--the capital-intensive technologies of the West and the labor-intensive technologies of the Eastern bloc--on the economic growth of developing countries, as measured by growth in output. Using an analytical method based on the production-input structure, the author is able to quantify the impact on economic growth of technology transfer from different sources and with different characteristics. Karake also evaluates the experience of developing countries in importing technologies and identifies the direction, pattern, and content of those technologies. Scholars in international and economic development will find Karake's work an important contribution to the documented information concerning the trade in technology and its relation to economic growth and technological interdependence.

Following an introductory chapter, Karake offers a general discussion of the relationships among development, growth, and technology. She then introduces the econometric time-series models and describes the basic study structure. The next section examines policies, mechanisms, and trends in technology transfer in both the West and the East, focusing on such issues as the factors and policies which affect technology transfer to the Middle East and patterns of technological exports. A chapter devoted to model formulation, empirical analysis, estimation, and results specifies the empirical models used in the study and presents statistical analysis of the appropriate data. Finally, Karake summarizes the major research findings, suggests avenues for further research, and assesses the future of technology transfer activity. Four appendices containing important supplemental information and a bibliography complete the study.

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.

Drawing on research in the areas of business organization, information technology, and information economics this book develops an empirical basis for integrating the three fields. It investigates information technology management based on the theoretical foundations of information economics, examines the chief information officer phenomenon and identifies the factors that lead organizations to create such a position, and analyzes organizational and managerial motivations leading to investment in information technology. Karake concludes that the way information technology is managed and the magnitude of investment in such technology depends on the organization ownership structure, that the ownership structure is a determinant of the degree of control information managers exercise, and that there is a significant relationship between the size and composition of boards of directors and the management of and investment in information technology.

This study will be of interest to students, researchers, and practitioners of information technology management and information technology performance.

Karake-Shalhoub uses agency theory to ground her empirical analysis of more than 100 e-commerce firms in this highly readable examination of trust in e-commerce relational exchanges. She identifies several trust-building measures, including privacy statements, the existence of a chief privacy officer, and a trusted third-party seal of approval; companies are then evaluated based on an index of those trust builders. She demonstrates that there is a positive relationship between management ownership and trust, and that managers who fail to protect the interests of their stockholders-as well as their own-will never gain customer loyalty. Any business considering a move into e-commerce, or re-evaluating an earlier investment in online marketing and retailing, will benefit greatly from Karake-Shalhoub's insights.

The timeliness of this study--the first of its kind--and its unique agency-theory perspective allow for an analysis of the appropriateness of e-business and e-commerce for certain businesses. What are e-commerce businesses that are developing loyalty and building trust doing differently than their less successful competitors? How are successful companies moving from traditional applications to the new breed of integrated e-commerce architectures? Karake-Shalhoub answers these and other pressing questions for senior and mid-level managers and strategic planners, corporate executives charged with incorporating an e-commerce strategy into their long-range plans, chief privacy officers, regulatory policymakers, and students of e-commerce, customer relationship management, and online marketing.

Cybersecurity is a vital issue for all countries, but those in the developing world face unique concerns. This innovative book evaluates the experience of cyberspace policies and strategies and their relation to cyber laws and regulations in developing and emerging economies, using economic, political and social bases as well as resource-based theory perspectives. This work is inspired by a number of factors including the burgeoning importance of cybersecurity in an interconnected world and the fact that cyber risk is now at the top of the global agenda, as high-profile breaches increase worries that cybersecurity attacks might compromise the world economy. Its unique and innovative look at radical changes in the use of governmental resources to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of cybersecurity policies and strategies, and its insight into the effects of these changes on the economic structure of a country, make this book useful to many disciplines. Scholars, students and policy makers will all find this vivid book of great value in understanding the vital issues in cybersecurity.

The sharp increase in oil revenues since 2002 has left the Arab Gulf States with billions of petro-dollars. But how will these countries fare in the post-oil era? The rulers of these states are taking serious measures to ensure the survival of their economies, and indeed their regimes, in a world with scarce mineral resources.

This book explores the extent to which these countries have been and will be able to prepare for the future by transforming themselves into serious international destinations for tourism, finance, healthcare, and education. It also considers the implications of failure for the future survival of their regimes.

Topics covered include sovereign funds, Islamic finance, new technologies, higher education, and the role of women.

A timely study into this vibrant and important region, this book will provide food for thought for academics, policy makers, and general readers.

Nabil Sultan is a senior lecturer at the Liverpool Hope University.

David Weir is a professor at Liverpool Hope University.

Zeinab Karake-Shalhoub is director of research at the Dubai International Financial Centre in the United Arab Emirates.