E-Business and Beyond

Abstract

As the twentieth century was drawing to a close, observers of the business environments in the leading industrial nations of the world reported two salient trends. First, e-commerce (EC), rather than being a passing fad, as some had earlier suggested, was becoming an established part of the emerging postindustrial economy. Second, EC was being enlarged to become what the observers called e-business (EB). It was generally recognized the goal of EB was to establish seamless interfaces among business enterprises, their trading partners, their customers, and their governments (especially, tax and regulatory authorities), as well as internally. The internal interfaces were both cross-functional along the value chain (e.g., between purchasing and manufacturing, or between distribution and marketing) and hierarchical (i.e., at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels). Thus, EB extends EC by also including interactions with government and interactions within the enterprise. We begin by examining the ongoing transition from EC to EB, we then discuss briefly the need for EB literacy and education, and we conclude by exploring the Internet-based social and political innovations that will follow EB in the twenty-first century.