Globalization and E-Commerce III. The French Enviroment and Policy

According to most indicators, the use of the Internet and the development of e-commerce (over the Internet) in France are below the level that should be reached given the French level of development. This observation can be explained by the late adoption of digital technologies by the French. However, the French lateness is less important for professional uses than for domestic uses. France began to catch up with pioneering countries during 1999-2000, but the collapse Internet bubble reduced the pace of adoption. The French late adoption of digital technologies is partly the result of the strong involvement of France in the development of two pre-existing technologies: Minitel (principally dedicated to B2C) and EDI (dedicated to B2B). Both technologies provided the users with a sufficient level of service to support their business processes, but hindered their propensity to switch to new Internet-based technology. Consequently, most available indicators underestimate the actual level of e-commerce in France, especially the French business readiness to switching to Web-based commerce. The late adoption of technology was not the only inhibitor for e-commerce. In France\u27s recent economic history, decision makers focused for too long on other issues. France had to adapt its economy and its industry to a competitive and global environment. Since the State played a strong role in an economy that was not widely open to competition, a wide set of reforms took place between the mid-1980s and the late 1990s. However, this restructuring policy prepared France for the adoption of e-commerce. as France was transformed into a service economy. Most organizations became more flexible by externalizing non-core activities and by implementing modular principles of organization. French companies went international as well. This new business climate favored the adoption of e-business and e-commerce practice by the end of the 1990s. When macroeconomic and industrial restructurings were achieved, the French government launched a strong information society policy. Since 1998, the government furthered the deregulation of telecommunication services, reshaped the legal framework to adapt to digital technologies, promoted IT training and innovation, and developed e-government. These policies were both a component of and aligned with the year 2000 e-Europe initiative of the European Union (EU), which promoted the development of a strong digital economy. Specific support programs (in RD and development of content) were combined and an intensive effort for legislation and inter-member benchmarking occurred (to stimulate member states to align on the most advanced state), the Commission and the Council of the EU tried try to stimulate development of a dynamic digital industry in Europe, and to boost the adoption of digital technologies and the new-methods of work and business enabled by them. While the European and the French policies impacted the adoption of digital technologies and e-commerce development significantly, they were insufficient to really enable France to catch up. The bursting of the Internet bubble slowed the pace. Moreover, B2C e-commerce was inhibited by the efficiency of the French distribution system that serves at a low cost alternative to the Internet for most of the population. The existing installed base of EDI, especially in the automobile and distribution industries, inhibits B2B e-commerce over the Internet. Consequently, the French e-commerce path of development is unique since it relies less on the Internet than in many other countries. Despite these inhibitors, France is adopting digital technologies and related practices at a higher pace than the other European countries. Within France, e-commerce is quite different in the various regions and industries. The Paris area (one-fifth of the French population), the IT industry, the professional services and distribution industries, and large companies are as intensively digitized as most advanced countries, industries, and companies worldwide. H

The Political Character of Computing Developments: Citizens\u27 interests and Government Services

This paper focuses on how citizens\u27 interests are dealt with and mediated by means of computer technology. It examines the distribution of computing resources to different government activities and, indirectly, to different client groups. It asks to what extent the patterns of computer use reflect stable patterns of choice favoring some uses over others and, therefore, some client groups over others. Two political perspectives on the patterns of choice are considered: managerial rationalism and reinforcement politics. To the extent that managerial rationalism characterizes computing decisions, we would expect to see computing distributed in favor of these government activities that provide direct services to citizens, and that actually expand, rather than contract, the array of choices available to citizens. In contrast, to the extent that reinforcement politics characterizes computing decisions, we would expect to see computing used in support of routine administrative activities, basic local government services, bureaucratic control over government departments and agencies, and social control over the recipients of social services such as welfare, health, and recreation. To examine which of these perspectives best characterizes computing in public organizations, we examine the portfolios of investment in computer based applications, using data collected from over 700 city and county governments in the United States. First, we look at the extent to which computing is applied to different local government functions. This examination suggests that computing tends to reinforce the traditional emphases of local governments towar

Innovation attributes, policy intervention, and the diffusion of computer applications among local governments

Several shortcomings of traditional diffusion research create major impediments to our understanding of the diffusion of innovations as well as to the development of effective strategies of policy intervention to facilitate diffusion. Among the criticisms of diffusion research are the selection bias of many diffusion studies and the futility of curve fitting as an adequate test of theoretical relevance. These shortcomings can be avoided by substantive and methodological changes in diffusion research. We argue that innovation attributes, together with policies associated with the diffusion of an innovation, account for significant differences in diffusion patterns. An empirical analysis of this thesis focuses on the diffusion of computer applications software in local government. This paper is part of a research project entitled "Diffusion and Adoption of Computer Applications Software in Local Governments." This project is supported by a grant to the Public Policy Research Organization and the Graduate School of Administration from the Division of Policy Research and Analysis of the National Science Foundation (PRA-76-15549). The views expressed herein are those of the researchers and should not be ascribed to the National Science Foundation. The full report of this research is forthcoming in Technological Innovation in American Local Governments: The Case of Computing (New York: Pergamon). © 1978 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company

Strategic use of the Internet and e-commerce: Cisco Systems

Information systems are strategic to the extent that they support a firm's business strategy. Cisco Systems has used the Internet and its own information systems to support its strategy in several ways: (1) to create a business ecology around its technology standards; (2) to coordinate a virtual organization that allows it to concentrate on product innovation while outsourcing other functions; (3) to showcase its own use of the Internet as a marketing tool. Cisco's strategy and execution enabled it to dominate key networking standards and sustain high growth rates throughout the 1990s. In late 2000, however, Cisco's market collapsed and the company was left with billions of dollars in unsold inventory, calling into question the ability of its information systems to help it anticipate and respond effectively to a decline in demand. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V

The Development and Application of a Process-oriented Thermometer of IT Business Value

The issue of whether firms are receiving an adequate return on their investment in information technology (IT) continues to pervade managerial decision making. While productivity and other financial metrics are established hallmarks of IT investment evaluation, research has called for broader and richer metrics that can take into account the diversity of IT impacts. In this paper, we extend previous instrument development research to develop and test a process-oriented thermometer of IT business value using survey data based on executives\u27 perceptions of IT impacts at multiple points along the value chain. Consistent with earlier research, we find that our process measures are sensitive to differences in industry, firm size, and business strategy. Through additional analysis of post-implementation reviews of IT impacts in four firms, we find consistency of within-firm perceptual measures among teams of senior executives, highlighting the potential for our thermometer to gauge the level of IT impacts within a single firm. We conclude that process-oriented perceptual measures can offer new and useful insights into IT impacts, complementing what we already know from firm-level objective metrics

Information Resource Management: Is it sensible and can it work?

Information Resource Management, or IRM, is founded on the assumptions that organizations are systems amenable to systematic control, and that information is a resource that can be managed in economically efficient ways. The management techniques embodied under the IRM rubric are said to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of information management in organizations. These assumptions are questioned. Systems approaches to organizations have proven inadequate in most instances where they have been tried, and there is little reason to believe the IRM approach will be different. Information is not a resource in the conventional sense of the term, and economic techniques for dealing with information as a resource are lacking. Implementation of IRM suffers from ambiguities about what it is supposed to accomplish, the breadth of its intentions, and the practical constraints of implementing top-down reforms in complex organizations. The broad vision of IRM is useful for articulating goals for information management, but the efficacy of IRM as an organizing framework for actual management of information practices is limited. © 1988