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Since 1995, a substantial set of resources has been available on this and the associated Information Infrastructure site, attracting well over 30 million hits to the end of 2023. The resources address many different aspects of:

'Electronic business', e-business or eBusiness. This is a useful general term for the conduct of business with the assistance of telecommunications and telecommunications-based tools. It encompasses a vast array of categories.

Electronic commerce, EC, e-commerce or eCommerce. This refers to support services for trading in goods and services. It encompasses inter-organisational e-mail; directories; trading support systems for commodities, products, customised products and custom-built goods and services; ordering and logistic support systems; settlement support systems; and management information and statistical reporting systems.

The resources in this segment of the site can be accessed in the following ways, most useful first:

Starter Resources, here

The Topic-Based Index of my papers on eBusiness themes, up-to-date at 31 December 2023, below

The What's New Page (because the indexes are never fully up-to-date), here

The Chronological Index of my papers on eBusiness themes, here

The Search Facility, in the button at the top-right-hand side of the page

A chronological index of Presentations is here

Annotated Bibliography of eBusiness Papers

1. Underlying Theories

2. Strategic and Policy Aspects:

2.1 National Strategy

2.2 Corporate Strategy

2.3 Business Models

    (1) The Digital Surveillance Economy

2.4 Intellectual Property (Copyright, Patents)

2.5 Impediments

2.6 Regulatory Aspects

2.7 Research Methods

3. eCommerce Technologies and Forms:

3.1 EDI

3.2 Web-Based eCommerce

3.3 Electronic Trading / Electronic Markets

3.4 Payment Schemes

3.5 Multi-Function Chip-Card Schemes

3.6 Cryptography

3.7 Public Key Infrastructure

3.8 Mobile Technologies

3.9 Cloud Computing

3.10 Social Media

3.11 Big Data

3.12 eObjects, IoT, etc.

3.13 Blockchain

3.14 Artificial Intelligence

4. Security

 

5. Internet-Stimulated e-Business Segments:

5.1 Consumer EC / Consumer Marketing (B2C)

5.2 Business-with-Business e-Commerce (B2B)

5.3 Electronic Publishing

5.4 Electronic Services Delivery (ESD)

5.5 E-Government

5.6 E-Education

5.7 E-Health

5.8 e-Transport / Intelligent Transportation Systems

5.9 International Trade

6. Trust:

6.1 The Public's Interests Generally

6.2 Consumers' Commercial Interests

6.3 Consumers' Privacy Interests

6.4 Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs)

7. Closely Related Topics:

7.1 Information Infrastructure

7.2 Cyberculture

What's Busy? These are the Most Highly Cited and Accessed Papers

See also the following recent papers:

1. Underlying Theories

Here is a statement of the definitions I use for key EC terms.

Here is my exposition of strategic information systems theory (1992-94).

This is supplemented by an assessment of strategic theory in low-competitive contexts (1996).

With Gillian Dempsey, I summarised the economics of innovation in the information industries (2004).

I introduced the concept of Supra-Organisational Systems (1988), to provide a collective term for a set of system topographies.

Most classes of supra-organisational system are discussed in the IS literature. One that is not, however, is one that I introduced in Extra-Organisational Systems: A Challenge to the Software Engineering Paradigm (1992).

2. Strategic and Policy Aspects

2.1 National Strategy

Here are some very early proposals for information infrastructure as a basis for the information economy and information society:

A couple of assessments of progress include:

2.2 Corporate Strategy

Strategic aspects have been considered from the perspectives of individual corporations, industry sectors, and governments. The topics are in chronological order, so that I can keep track of the line of development of the ideas.

(1) EDI

(2) eCommerce

(3) Regulatory Aspects, particularly Privacy

(4) Cloud Computing

2.3 Business Models

The digital era has seen the emergence of new 'eBusiness Models', some sustainable, some dubious, and some downright fraudulent. Contributions in this area have included:

2.3 (1) The Digital Surveillance Economy

'Web 2.0' technologies achieved what they set out to achieve, destroying the World Wide Web, and establishing the foundations for a new and even more consumer-hostile business model.

I coined the term in 2016, in order to address at a more workmanlike level the key ideas underlying Shoshanna Zuboff's flighty 'surveillance capitalism' notion. The primary exposition is in 'Risks Inherent in the Digital Surveillance Economy: A Research Agenda' (2019).

My papers on the topic are indexed on another page.

2.4 Intellectual Property (Copyright, Patents)

A major area of concern during the digital era is the stultifying effect of outdated intellectual property laws and practices, and of dinosaur publishing companies desperately trying to sustain outmoded practices and business models.

My major papers in this area are:

Other papers have included:

2.5 Impediments

Impediments to the implementation of EDI have been examined in detail in a series of documents, including academic papers and consultancy reports for various agencies of Australian governments.

Generic factors affecting progress in e-commerce as a whole have been addressed in the following papers:

More specific analyses include the following:

The following resources were provided:

2.6 Regulatory Aspects

Generic papers include the following papers:

Specific topics that have been addressed include:

2.7 Research

Papers on research methods in e-commerce include the following:

3. eCommerce Technologies and Forms

A significant number of papers were written concerning the precursors to the Internet era of electronic commerce. Subsequently, many papers have been written on particular forms of eCommerce. This section brings them together. Here are papers that review the period 1988-2012:

3.1 EDI

Here is a very popular (but brief) introduction.

A number of surveys have been undertaken of EDI practices in Australia, particularly within Australian government, together with two in Austria:

3.2 Web-Based eCommerce

Various aspects of the history and technology of eCommerce over the World Wide Web have been addressed, in a succession of papers:

3.3 Electronic Trading / Electronic Markets

A general overview is provided by a segment of a final-year undergraduate course on e-Trading (2000-2009).

A series of papers has examined particular instances of electronically supported markets, particularly auctions:

3.4 Payment Schemes

A considerable amount of work has been performed in this area. The published materials are in two segments:

  1. Net-Based Payment Schemes
  2. Chip-Card-Based Payment Schemes

3.4(1) Net-Based Payment Mechanisms

A series of works relates to the critical question as to how the transfer of value is to be achieved over the information infrastructure. Basic treatment is in:

More detailed examinations are to be found in:

3.4(2) Chip-Card-Based Payment Schemes

A series of works arose from projects undertaken in the period 1988 to 1997 in relation to payment applications of smart cards. These were variously consultancy assignments and academic research projects.

Introductory information includes:

Reports that are publicly available include:

Examinations of issues arising in relation to chip-based schemes include:

It was necessary to re-visit the area due to the cavalier manner in which the payments industry suddenly shifted to unauthenticated credit and even debit payments in 2010-12:

3.5 Multi-Function Chip-Card Schemes

Smart cards are capable of being designed to participate in multiple schemes rather than just one. A variety of publications have addressed this area, arising primarily from consultancy assignments but also from academic research projects and public advocacy work.

Introductory information includes:

Reports that are publicly available include:

Examinations of issues arising in relation to chip-based schemes include:

Reports are also provided on the Code of Practice of a key industry association, the Asia-Pacific Smart Card Forum, to address those issues:

3.6 Cryptography

Cryptography delivers the basis both for the security of data and value, and means to support some forms of authentication.

Introduction to the area is provided in:

Assessments of some of the impacts of cryptography are provided in:

3.7 Public Key Infrastructure

Far from being of assistance to the progress of e-business, infrastructure to support digital signatures has been so badly handled that it is instead a serious impediment.

CLICK HERE for the index to the many papers I've published in this area (now part of a page on Identity).

3.8 Mobile Technologies

Papers include:

3.9 Cloud Computing

Various flavours of outsourcing, 'right-sourcing' and (re-)insourcing have been in vogue during the period 1980-2010. A 'new' phase then emerged, dressed in the marketing term 'cloud computing'. To underline its close similarity to predecessors, I prefer to call it 'cloudsourcing'. The key difference is that the cheapest form of processor is once again sufficiently powerful to run more than one application at a time – and hence the term 'server' has reverted to its original use to refer to software rather than hardware – and the applications that organisations depend can now (in principle at least) be run on any compatible machine, anywhere – for which the marketing buzz-phrase 'server virtualisation' has been created. There are potential benefits; and a lot of risks to be managed.

3.10 Social Media

Social networking services emerged in 2004, and were variously accompanied and followed by participative tools and micro-blogging. The term 'social media' gradually emerged to encompass all of the new field. And the business imperative of 'monetising' market-share progressively saw the designs become more exploitative.

My early contributions, 2004-10, considered social media mainly from the consumer and privacy perspectives. Here is the series of papers that examined the eBusiness aspects:

3.11 Big Data

Automated data capture, changed economics of data storage and destruction, and increasing 'datafication' have given rise to vast quantities of data. The 'data mining' tag has given way to 'data analytics'. Some old messages have been lost and need to be re-discovered, and some new challenges need to be confronted:

3.12 eObjects, IoT, etc.

Encompassing all of the variants of ubiquitus, pervasive, ambient and IoT.

3.13 Blockchain

3.14 Artificial Intelligence

4. Security

(1) Educational Resources

The following are useful too, but need an update:

(2) Vulnerabilities and Threats

(3) Safeguards

See also the index of papers on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs)

(4) Specific Contexts

(5) Conceptual Papers

(6) Other Papers

5. Internet-Stimulated e-Business Segments

A reference document provides definitions of key terms currently in use. A significant number of papers address the following segments

5.1 Consumer EC / Consumer Marketing (B2C)

Some pre-Internet papers include:

A review of the emergence of I-Commerce is at:

After seeing the first, appalling attempts to use the Internet to assault consumers in much the same way as was appropriate during the era of broadcast mass-media print-ads, billboards, radio and TV, a series of severely critical papers was written:

Other relevant papers are identified below, under the headings of Trust and Cyberculture.

5.2 Business-with-Business e-Commerce (B2B)

Foundation papers written prior to the Internet explosion were:

Internet-era papers include the following:

5.3 Electronic Publishing

This is a rich area, and I've tackled multiple aspects of it, as follows:

  1. Foundation Works
  2. Applications
  3. Journal Publishing
  4. Copyright Aspects
  5. Business Models
  6. P2P
  7. Policy Aspects

(1) Foundation works

(2) Applications

(3) Journal Publishing

(4) Copyright Aspects

A separate section focusses on Intellectual Property, especially Copyright.

(5) Business Models

(6) P2P

(7) Policy Aspects

5.4 Electronic Services Delivery (ESD)

The foundation paper is:

Particular aspects are further investigated in:

5.5 e-Government

The foundation papers are:

Particular aspects are investigated in the following papers:

5.6 e-Education

Forays in this area include:

5.7 e-Health

Contributions include:

5.8 e-Transport / Intelligent Transportation Systems

A foundation paper is:

5.9 International Trade

A number of papers have been published relating to various aspects of electronic support for international trade, including:

6. Trust

It has long been held that e-commerce is dependent on trust among the parties. But much of the conventional wisdom about how to inculcate trust has been seriously wide of the mark.

The foundation papers are:

These are supported by many papers on a wide variety of sub-themes:

6.1 The Public's Interests Generally

Contributions include:

6.2 Consumers' Commercial Interests

Contributions include:

6.3 Consumers' Privacy Interests

This is a major area of my work. Contributions include:

In addition, here are my personal notes on 7 of the 12 Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conferences held between 1991 and 2002:

plus 'Why I'm Not Going to CFP 2003'

6.4 Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) and Privacy-Sympathetic Technologies (PSTs)

CLICK HERE for the index to the papers I've published in this area (now part of a page on Identity).

7. Closely Related Topics

7.1 Information Infrastructure

A series of papers have been published relating to the National/Global Information Infrastructure, and the Internet in particular. Those papers are in an adjacent segment of these pages, including an annotated bibliography.

The following have direct relevance to electronic commerce:

7.2 Cyberculture

Papers in this area are indexed here.

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The content and infrastructure for these community service pages are provided by Roger Clarke through his consultancy company, Xamax.

From the site's beginnings in August 1994 until February 2009, the infrastructure was provided by the Australian National University. During that time, the site accumulated close to 30 million hits. It passed 75 million in late 2024.

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Created: 15 February 1995 - Last Amended: 31 December 2023 by Roger Clarke - Site Last Verified: 15 February 2009
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