Title: Factors affecting e-commerce diffusion in China in the 21st century

Authors: Yao Weixin

Addresses: Department of Information Management, Glorious Sun Management School, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, People's Republic of China

Abstract: With an ambition to become one of the world|s economic superpowers, China sees its future closely tied to its information technology (IT) industry, as well as e-commerce deployment. This paper provides an overview of various environmental factors that could facilitate or retard e-commerce diffusion in China from two aspects – national environment and national policy. The paper first examines infrastructures for e-commerce diffusion. These fundamental infrastructures include demographics, economics, IT deployment, consumer readiness, and others. The national policy section investigates various policy perspectives regarding e-commerce diffusion. The paper is intended to serve as a foundation for further research and discussion on e-commerce diffusion in China.

Keywords: e-commerce; diffusion; national environment; China; information technology; infrastructures; national policy; e-business; e-government.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2006.009788

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2006 Vol.4 No.2, pp.162 - 176

Published online: 11 May 2006 *

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