E-commerce as a techno-managerial innovation ecosystem: Policy implications

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Nagy K. Hanna

Abstract

Innovation can be viewed as a adoption and dissemination of something new in a given context. E-commerce is thus an innovation when it is introduced to a new environment in an emerging market or when adopted by a new class of user industries. As a techno-managerial innovation, it requires business adaption, organizational learning, and supportive environment that could lead to wide diffusion and transformational impact. Several global forces drive the adoption of e-commerce such as global competition, trade liberalization, and increasingly, ICT advances and Internet diffusion. National factors, such as governance, education, and infrastructure, then shape and differentiate the speed of adoption across enterprises within a country, the breadth and depth of use within an enterprise, and ultimately the impact on the firm and the nation. Understanding the national environment, the policy, technological and infrastructural contexts, and the common drivers and barriers to adoption and effective use within firms should provide a guide to promoting e-commerce as a techno-managerial innovation, and realizing its full potential for the nation.

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