E‐COMMERCE CAPABLE: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR COUNTRIES IN THE NEW WORLD E‐CONOMY

E‐Commerce capabilities can help boost a country's competitiveness and shift the worldwide competitive arena because of the efficiencies gained through Internet technologies. But many countries lag behind in the e‐business race, and in many cases, the e‐business laggards are those countries on the bottom of the traditionally measured worldwide competitive rankings. The reasons are three‐fold: language, education and technical infrastructure. But many governments are taking steps to address these issues because they understand that the Internet presents developing nations the opportunity to bolster their economy. The authors recommend that private industry look to investing in developing countries and that governments develop policies and regulations that support the establishment of a reliable technical infrastructure upon which thriving e‐businesses can be built.