On Monday, September 27, 2004, Global Knowledge Dev. Moderator asked: > When countries are branded as "unsafe" for e-commerce, what can innocent > companies do to rescue their own e-commerce efforts?
The hallmark of e-commerce is that it involves a transaction that takes place across time and space, and in the first instance involves a virtual transaction (the order, the payment, etc.) with the good or service to follow. This is in contrast to a commerce transaction at a time and a place, where frequently the produce is examined (book, appliance) and received or consumed (food, parking) at the time of the purchase. It comes as no surprise that fraud artists try to take advantage of this temporal and spatial distance to engage in deception. In the past the same has been done via postal service, telephone service, fax, and any transactions venue where there is a degree of seperation between the perpetrator and the intended victim. Scams and fraud can go in both directions, with either the buyer or the supplier as the victim. For developing and transition economies, newly emerging on the global economic stage, the larger victim is the growth of their e-commerce sectors. However, what is different about e-commerce is that the distances can be greater but the speed of transactions is faster. This has a negative side, but it also has a positive side. The negative side is that it is harder for the client (consumer, buyer, etc.) to carry out due diligence with respect to the integrity of the supplier, and it is harder for the supplier to prove (or build) a reputation for trust and integrity. Both factors cause reluctance on the part of potential clients and stiffle the growth of the e-commerce sector. Previous postings to this thread have focused on the role of governments in promoting the integrity of the e-commerce sector, either via internal policies, or adherence to international standards. That is well and good but presumes that national governments have that "top down" administrative ability and power, when many do not. There is a second avenue that should not be minimized, one that involves a "bottom up" strategy. The same digital venue that makes e-commerce possible across time and space also makes collaboration possible across time and space. E-commerce ventures residing in locations where they are likely to be tarred with a negative brush - because of location - can consider strategic alliances with relevant e-commerce service providers that are located elsewhere, and that have "brand name" acceptance. This need not be a subservient relationship, nor a permanent relationship, but it can be a stepping-stone relationship that allows a country's e-commerce sector to grow to the level where it can stand on the world stage in its own right. One of the strengths of the digital venue is that it supports collaboration across time and space. Collaboration in the building of an e-commerce sector will likely produce a healthy national, but globally positioned, e-commerce sector faster than trying to just go it alone and hope for governmental "top down" policy help. Sam Lanfranco Distributed Knowledge Project York University ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For the GKD database, with past messages: http://www.GKDknowledge.org
