Communications of the ACM

In recent years, many organizations have recognized the potential of e-commerce to improve profitability by increasing productivity and market penetration while reducing costs. But the vision of an electronically interconnected world requires the global adoption of e-commerce, not just in industrialized nations, but also in developing ones, where most of world's population lives. To successfully encourage the embrace of the Internet and e-commerce, one must carefully study the unique socioeconomic and cultural aspects of such nations. This article discusses ways to stimulate the worldwide adoption of e-commerce, based on our case study of Greece, a nation that has been slow to embrace Internet technologies.