Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2007
New Frontiers in e-Business and e-Government: Emerging
opportunities and Challenges
Alexis Barlow
Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, Scotland, G4 0BA United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 141 331 8816
Fax: +44 (0) 141 331 3193
Email: a.barlow@gcal.ac.uk
Peter Duncan
Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, Scotland, G4 0BA United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 141 331 3723
Fax: +44 (0) 141 331 3193
Email: p.b.duncan@gcal.ac.uk
Feng Li
Business School, Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK,
Tel: +44 (0) 191 222 7976
Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 8131
Email: feng.li@ncl.ac.uk
Savvas Papagiannidis
Business School, Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK,
Tel: +44 (0) 191 222 5724
Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 8131
Email: savvas.papagiannidis@ncl.ac.uk
Abstract
This paper is intended to provide an overview of the key issues that emerged from the presentations
and discussion of a successful workshop organised by the British Academy of Management (BAM) e-
Business & e-Government Special Interest Group at Newcastle University Business School on 9-10
November 2006. In addition to introducing the three main papers and the research note, which are
based on the keynote presentations but have been revised in light of the discussions and questions as
well as reviewers’ comments on early drafts of the papers, we also highlight some of the key questions
the participants raised and debated as well as issues that emerged from the open discussions.
Keywords: e-business, e-government, e-public services, new technologies
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INTRODUCTION
Professor Feng Li, Convener of the e-Business and e-Government Special Interest Group, opened
the workshop by outlining the key aims, which were primarily to identify the main issues at the
forefront of this exciting and dynamic area of research. Many people are currently researching the e-
business and e-government phenomenon from a range of different fields, such as strategy, information
systems and marketing, but often e-Business and e-Government are on the fringe of their research. In
order to gain a more coherent understanding of e-Business in general, it is important that the field is
examined in a more systematic and all-embracing manner. Key issues surrounding e-Business that
require further investigation include the most significant technical and non-technical developments,
current and future applications, emerging opportunities and potential implications. Many developments
and opportunities are arising which are turning industries upside down and enabling them to be
transformed e.g. newspapers, music. Moreover, it is essential that once the most important issues are
identified, existing frameworks are examined to determine their appropriateness for analysing the
resulting business, political, social and economic issues.
Throughout the workshop, participants presented, discussed and debated a wide range of emerging
issues in the broad area of e-Business and e-Government, ranging from the uncharted territories of
MMORPGs and their profound business, social and policy implications, to the very sophisticated
conceptual, methodological, theoretical and practical issues in the e-Government and e-Public services.
The keynote presentations and subsequently the three main papers and the research note were
delivered by:-
o Professor Tony Manninen, University of Oulu, Finland – “MMORPG: Is it a product or
is it a service - challenges and implications of online games”
o James Cornford, AIM Public Services Fellow – “Focusing on Customer Focus in E-
government”
o Professor Mike Martin, Newcastle University – “Identity and Relationship Management:
The new challenges in public and commercial services”
o Professor Paul Beynon-Davis, University of Cardiff – “e-Business maturity and regional
development”
Further discussions took place on ‘New Media Industries’ and ‘Emerging Technologies and
Applications’.
“MMORPG: Is it a product or is it a service - challenges and implications of online games”
The first keynote presentation, by Professor Tony Manninen, focused on perhaps one of the most
profound technological developments – Massively multiplayer online role play games (MMORPGS).
MMORPGS emerged in the 1990s and are virtual games involving virtual characters, levels, tools (e.g.
weapons, islands), buying and selling resources and gaining social status. Drivers such as rewards and
puzzles motivate and challenge people.
Recent MMORPGS have become far more than just computer games and indeed many of them
have developed into goldmines for economic activities and social interactions. Millions of players are
spending as much as 40 hours per week playing them, interacting with virtual characters of other
players and building up networks of relationships and bonds. There are business opportunities for
product and service based models. Current business models are evident in a variety of forms:
subscription-based; one time fee; free basic services and charges for additional services; free games and
advertisement revenue. Future Business Models could potentially place more focus on the secondary
markets emerging and may involve trading virtual assets outside the MMORPG e.g. e-Bay. This will of
course have a range of political and legal implications. Business models also need to focus on the
significance of the total business value that may be attained through product and service- based models
and the potential level of sustainable competitiveness advantage.
Opportunities also abound for developing business applications e.g. moving away from
mainstream entertainment to using game-like features in business applications e.g. teaching, marketing,
training, process modelling. In process modelling the game could be used to get people interacting, for
gathering process data and analysing data. For example, it could be used for process modelling an area
such as hospital management. However, the question needs to be raised as to whether or not it is
rationally viable to connect the virtual fantasy worlds of MMORPGs to real world business
applications and would practitioners be able to connect, synthesise and draw meaningful business value
from both worlds? This is an area of research that requires future investigation.
Alexis Barlow, Peter Duncan, Feng Li and Savvas Papagiannidis
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Focusing on Customer Focus in E-government
The second keynote presentation, by James Cornford, examined the online interaction between
government and citizens (customers) within the UK. Most of this level of interaction takes place with
local government e.g. local authorities, schools, local health services.
The presenter argues that despite customers being supposedly placed at the centre of e-government
within the UK, it has probably been one of the most underperforming aspects of e-government in the
UK. This had led to the rising phenomenon of ‘customer focus without customers’. A number of
potential reasons are offered for this, including customers being resistant to change, poor online design
and a lack of marketing.
However, the presenter offered a more fundamental reason for the lack of customer participation,
which relates to the way in which customers have been represented within e-government CRM
systems. Customers have been represented as one set of individuals that are rational, coherent, self
knowing, self-interested, time pressured, demanding and as having rising expectations of the standards
of public sector services. Moreover, the CRM systems are programmed to respond to these particular
types of individuals and in certain types of ways. The CRM systems are expecting customers to act in
certain ways and say certain things and are unable to handle a deviation away from this. Therefore,
unfortunately, for a large proportion of customers who have been misrepresented within the systems,
this creates an ‘I’m not listening effect’!
Rather than involving customers in the way in which they are represented within e-government
CRM systems, customers have been represented in a way which is meaningless to the majority of
customers. Representation within CRM systems is not necessarily a bad thing but only if customers are
engaged and take a role in deciding how they are represented. Consideration needs to be given to
whether or not it would be useful for a coherent framework to be developed that provided guidance on
representing customers more accurately in CRM systems. Furthermore, is it just down to one
fundamental issue or a range of issues and do these vary in different environments and sectors?
Identity and Relationship Management: The new challenges in public and commercial
service
The third keynote presentation, by Professor Mike Martin, concerned the nature of identity and
relationship management in the public and private sector, and the related challenges. In particular, he
suggested that despite the, stereotypically, outdated nature of systems in the public sector - the private
sector could learn from the public sector on how it deals with identity and relationships. Professor
Martin’s presentation dovetailed very well with James Cornford’s talk the previous afternoon regarding
‘customer focus’ in e-Government.
The first part of Professor Martin’s presentation gave a detailed description of the case of ‘Mary’
and her relationships with the national charity Barnardo’s through SureStart (a drop-in family support
Centre) and MOSAIC (a counselling service). The father of her child was also attending MOSAIC (in
a relatively close but different geographical area) creating further issues relating to the need to keep
Mary’s data/identity separate and secure within different parts of the system. The complexity of
Mary’s case set the scene for discussion of identity and relationships, particularly within an information
system (IS). Professor Martin noted that the typical private sector model, focusing on accountability
and integration of the data, may not be helpful where separation of the various interactions Mary had
with Barnardo’s was paramount - a system is not the real world.
Drawing on the work of Charles Sanders Pierce, Professor Martin argued that relationship and
identity management is frequently seen as a dyadic relationship between an individual and the system
where data about the individual is stored (an ‘object’ and its ‘attributes’). In this situation, the
relationship and the access/control mechanisms are separate, and issues regarding identity/relationship
are frequently resolved, simply, by putting in place more access and control mechanisms. He argues,
however, that this dyadic model has limited value and that a more interesting, important and significant
way of looking at relationships is to view them as triadic: with interactions between the individual, the
system and, importantly, the owner of the system who determines the purpose of the system and its use.
Explicit governance and governance structures were seen as the key to these triadic relationships –
not technology. Identity and relationship were seen as separate responsibilities and services, but in
terms of operation were inextricably linked. Information systems are inherently reductionist in an
attempt to ‘keep it simple’. However, real life is more complex and individuals may have multiple
identities and relationships, with information flowing from one encounter to another. In Professor
Martin’s view any system must be, at least, expressive enough to capture and keep separate (as
appropriate) the complexity of Mary’s relationships (for example) with the drop-in centre, her
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counsellor, and her appearance in the records of the father of her child. Professor Martin concluded
that the bottom line was to devise and enhance systems which “improve the quality of the mistakes we
are making”. Although perfection is unlikely, avoiding making the same mistakes was vital.
e-Business maturity and regional development
The fourth and final keynote presentation was given by Professor Paul Benyon-Davis based
around the work of the E-Commerce Innovation Centre (eCIC) (Cardiff Business School, Cardiff
University), where he is currently Director. His talk reflected on what he has learned about the nature
of e-commerce/e-business as it affects the 99.5% of United Kingdom (UK) businesses who are small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
E-business was seen as a socio-technical discipline spanning both technology and organisations,
with the broad aim of improving the performance of organisations. Hence e-business is a practical and
applied discipline. Professor Benyon-Davis noted that although, currently, Third Mission work
(innovation, engagement with industry and knowledge transfer activities) is perhaps perceived by
Universities as less of a priority than teaching and research - this is changing. The balance between the
rigour and relevance of research may also be changing: rigorous research takes time, and in an evolving
and dynamic field such as e-business greater time taken may erode the relevance. As the balance shifts
towards relevance, the concept of what constitutes rigour may have to adapt.
According to Professor Benyon-Davis, the conventional wisdom is that greater adoption of
information and communications technologies (ICTs) and electronic business (EB) yields increased
business benefits in terms of, for example, competitiveness and the ability to be ‘locationally
independent’ and compete in a global marketplace. However, he argued, the aggregate regional
benefits of adopting ICTs/EB are hard to measure, as most businesses (SMEs and larger organisations)
tend not to evaluate their ICT/EB investments.
The work of the eCIC could be characterised as relating to the information society, with the ‘e’ of
e-business referring to technology’s embeddedness in everyday life. In counterpoint to this, Professor
Benyon-Davis reminded the audience of the Digital Divide, whereby not everyone has access to online
technologies, or the skills to use them. This impacts business strategy as e-business may not be
appropriate for a particular demographic, if access and skills are limited.
A significant part of Professor Benyon-Davis’ presentation focused on the work of eCIC, which
has provided e-business related support to SMEs in Wales. Results of the eCIC ‘State of the Nation’
annual survey(s) were presented, based on an e-commerce adoption ladder which SMEs ‘climb’ as
their engagement with e-business and related technologies increases. Strengths and weaknesses of such
‘stages of growth’ models were identified, and the speaker gave the audience an insight into his current
thinking on how theories of e-business, and the work of eCIC, could be enhanced in the future. Key
themes included: the use of value networks for understanding, explaining and engaging with SMEs;
conceptualising e-business as having both an internal and external focus, with the technology providing
not only a vehicle for competition, but also cooperation and collaboration (Partner-to-Partner
networks); and replacing the adoption ladder with a maturity assessment form/index. Professor
Benyon-Davis concluded his presentation by describing a number of the issues facing the SME e-
business area. For example, the tension between the need to support businesses at the lower end of the
e-business adoption ladder, and funding bodies focusing their support on activity engaging with
advanced uses of e-business technologies. Encouragement of strategic thinking and the related
managerial skills could be crucial, and there is the ongoing challenge of encouraging organisations of
all sizes to justify and evaluate more clearly their investments in ICTs/e-business.
This presentation raised a number of issues that need to be challenged e.g. is more mature
adoption and investment in ICTs and E-Business always more beneficial to SMEs. If not, how should
SMEs strategically evaluate which advances, technologies and applications would be most beneficial
for them to embrace and which stage of the maturity assessment index they should strive to achieve.
The New Media Industries
Joanna Berry led an interesting and wide ranging discussion based around the question: What are
‘new media industries’? The response to this question depended on how you framed the question itself.
Social networking phenomena such as YouTube and MySpace could be considered ‘new media’
industries ie new media providing a break from the traditional industries of, for example, print and
television. On the other hand, perhaps they are ‘new’ media industries, in other words simply the latest
incarnation of existing media industries. Joanna guided the audience through the discussion, bringing
to bear both her academic expertise, and a wealth of industry experience from her work as
Communications Director for a London based record label.
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A wide range of examples was discussed: the well known and popular YouTube and MySpace;
Yahoo Answers, where questions posed can be answered by interested, and sometimes highly
knowledgeable, members of the public; to less well known websites such as iStockPhoto (where the
public can buy or sell their photographs online for a modest flat fee). Key examples were social
networking/bookmarking sites such as digg and del.icio.us, where users can tag/vote on the material
they find interesting.
A particular strand of the discussion was that it is no longer enough for content to be provided to
consumers as passive recipients of ‘the message’. Consumers are becoming more demanding and want
to be involved in the co-creation of consumer content, where the act of creation is linked to the act of
consumption, for example: viewing material on digg (consumption) and voting on what you have seen,
thereby informing others who may hold similar interests (co-creation of ‘best’ content). To what
extent, then, are these new media messages more, or less, or equal, in value to traditional media
messages? And what are the implications for businesses - empowered consumers are happy
consumers; happy consumers spend money. Do we require new theories to support our investigations
and understanding of these phenomena? A range of views was expressed, and it is clear that there are
significant, and exciting, research and business opportunities available through this blurring of
boundaries between old and new media.
Emerging Technologies and Applications
The theme of this discussion session was ‘Emerging Technologies and Applications’. More
generally, it provided the audience with a final chance for discussion, reflection and comment on the
presentations and discussions across the two days of the event. To set the scene and prompt discussion
the facilitator, Peter Duncan, asked the audience to consider three questions:
Firstly, what are the currently emerging technologies and applications (ie those currently ‘arriving’
or at least ‘on the horizon’)? Secondly, a more speculative view about what will be the emerging
technologies and applications (ie those which are beyond/over the horizon at the moment)? Finally, the
audience was asked to challenge any pro e-business or e-government bias they might have - are there
any areas where e-business or e-government will not be relevant, or at best be a ‘slow burner’ in terms
of development?
The example was given of the Funeral Services Sector in the United Kingdom, where some small
scale research had found that for, in particular, sociological reasons - e-business may not, currently at
least, be appropriate. This prompted some lively discussion relating to funeral planning, cardboard
coffins, procurement within the industry as well as consumers, and the global sourcing of stone for
monuments. More generally, points were made regarding cultural presuppositions assuming ‘one size
fits all’ regarding e-business. For example ‘Linn’, who make top of the range sound systems, rely on
potential customers hearing the actual system itself, rather than having the sound adulterated through,
for example, a computer’s soundcard. The pervasiveness of information and communications
technologies in everyday business and life may be such that ‘opting out’ may be extremely difficult
even if we were to try to.
A number of emerging technologies and applications were identified. Nano technology may lead
to scanners and data being embedded in our bodies. Location was a theme. However, the transparency
of Who does what where potentially brought about by technologies such as Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) or Global Positioning Systems (GPS) was seen to be a double-edged sword
raising threats of ‘big brother’, and intrusion into our private lives. Tom Tom uses GPS as a navigation
aid, whereas TravelEyes2 is designed to, potentially, be concealed to monitor the travel patterns of
others, such as a “teenager’s late night activity”. Another example related to Smart Cards at one
University Library, where the card could be used to plot your location within the library – bringing to
mind the Marauder’s Map in the Harry Potter books where Harry could ‘see’ Professor Dumbledore
pacing in his study. In the non-magical ‘Muggle’ world, RFID could provide the backbone of a system
whereby as a student left the library, any books taken out would (via an RFID tag/scanner) be logged
against the student’s account (determined via the Smart Card).
It may be that the ‘E’ in e-business and e-government could be electronic, but also stand for
embedded, entrepreneur or even expectations (as in raising the expectations of consumers or citizens).
Summary & Conclusions
Professor Li closed by highlighting how the workshop had clearly demonstrated that e-Business
and e-Government is an exciting and rapidly evolving area. The field of e-business and e-government
provides researchers and practitioners with many opportunities relating to both theory and practice.
However, such a rapidly evolving field also presents serious challenges, relating to conducting research
which is both rigorous and relevant and also in understanding what is actually going on in the world.
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The workshop covered considerable ground, from the unchartered, emerging territories of MMORPGs
and the potential business opportunities and social and ethical problems, to the extremely sophisticated
conceptual, methodological and practical challenges in e-Govenrment. The rapid development and
proliferation of the Internet and related technologies in our society and economy has brought about
radical changes in the way we work, play, communicate and learn, but we have probably barely
scratched the surface of the phenomenon and more radical changes are yet to come.
Fundamental challenges remain and it is more relevant than ever to ask: what is e-Business or e-
Government? More importantly, what can we do about it to ensure the benefits accrue to the generic
public in a fair, transparent, and equal fashion between individuals, different segments of our society,
as well as between cities, regions and nations; and emerging problems from privacy to online risks are
adequately addressed. It is the mission of this SIG to promote focused research in this area and
contribute to the development of theory, practice and policy in the increasingly networked, knowledge
based economy.
Some video clips of the event are available at http://www.ebusiness-
newcastle.com/news/events/06_11_ebusiness.php.