Theme: E-Business in the 21st Century-
Converging Perspectives from Developed and Developing Countries

Conference overview
As a new world force of informatization, e-business is growing rapidly and attracting great interest from all sectors of society. This networked, digital pattern of business will lead to a fundamental transformation of the way of doing business and cause a strong impact on social-economic development, even though it is only a small part of business activities in the present world. Many developed countries are taking great efforts in developing e-business for the growth of their new economy. They are now more dominant in Internet technology and e-commerce than developing countries. As a result, the economic development gap between developed and developing countries could be widened rather than narrowed in the 21st century. The imbalance of e-business development between the developed and developing countries will affect greatly global economic development this century.

The main theme of the conference is "Converging E-Business Perspectives from Developed and Developing Countries." Currently, almost all e-business strategies and business models are based on the experiences and conditions of developed countries rather than those of developing countries. The e-business strategies and business models of developed countries may not be directly applicable to developing countries, because of differences in information technology infrastructure, economic development emphases, and historic and cultural characteristics. If e-business in developing countries is neglected, its substantial benefits are likely to be confined to developed countries and not spread to developing countries. To avoid widening the gap between developed and developing nations, developing countries must participate in the growth of e-business.

The conference is the first to emphasize the importance of converging e-business development perspectives from developed and developing countries. The conference aims to bring together world-class researchers and professors in e-business from both developed and developing countries to discuss strategies, business models, and applications of e-business from different perspectives and multiple disciplines. The conference's goal is to narrow the e-business knowledge gap between developed and developing countries.

The objectives of the conference are to:

1. Establish linkages between researchers in EB from the perspectives of developing and developed countries, as well as from different disciplines.
2. Promote a dynamic, integrative, inter-disciplinary, and inter-country research agenda for e-business.
3. Enhance the newly formed IFIP Working Group that provides a focus for IS-based e-business research and to assist in maintaining linkages between e-business research groups in Information Systems and other disciplines.
4. Encourage and promote the exchange between academic researchers and industrial practitioners in the field of e-business.

CBHT2002

The conference will be held during the "China Beijing International High-Tech Industry Week (CBHT)" and is considered an important event of CBHT. CBHT has attracted 88 international exhibitors and 200,000 visitors in 2001, including well-known international companies such as AT&T, CISCO, GE, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle, and SAP. CBHT provides a unique and excellent chance to promote exchange between academic researchers and industrial leaders in the e-business field.

Topics

Participants are particularly welcome to submit work relevant to the conference theme. Submissions for panel discussions and workshops are also encouraged. Submissions dealing with, but not limited to, the following topics are invited.

1. E-business development strategies in developed and developing countries (case studies, assessments, and comparison analysis)
2. Internet marketing in developed and developing countries
3. Technology and management issues in e-business
4. Enterprise informatization and e-business
5. Electronic government affairs
6. Legal, social, and cultural factors of e-business development