Title: Sustainable development in the rural US Midwest: the m-commerce solution. The wireless critical infrastructure

Authors: Michael Stoica, Bill Roach

Addresses: School of Business, Washburn University, 1700 SW College Avenue, Topeka, Kansas 66621, USA. ' School of Business, Washburn University, 1700 SW College Avenue, Topeka, Kansas 66621, USA

Abstract: Economic and social sustainability represent a major problem in the rural Midwest US. In recent decades local economies lost numerous jobs and many businesses. The quality of life has eroded. The paper analyses the sustainability of the rural economy and identifies a strategy for reversing the downward economic and social spiral. The strategy, suggested by the analysis of responses to a survey administrated to over 900 businesses in rural Midwest, is to make a wireless infrastructure the key element of any plan for future development. Government involvement is essential for the success of this new strategy.

Keywords: economic sustainability; social sustainability; critical infrastructures; wireless business; mobile commerce; m-commerce; rural Midwest; United States; USA; rural economy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2006.011343

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2006 Vol.2 No.4, pp.331 - 346

Published online: 21 Nov 2006 *

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