Electronic Markets and Electronic Governments

Abstract:

Information technology (IT) has been able to transform the way many business transactions are organized. Mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, and divestitures are all well-known changes that have resulted from the ability of IT to change the way organizations monitor and coordinate activities. This paper investigates actual and potential changes at the interface between the private and public sectors due to the introduction of IT. Governments, finding themselves with commercially valuable stores of data and software, are beginning to exhibit entrepreneurial characteristics. In other cases, the introduction of IT has created pressures for the privatization of activities previously operated by governments. The introduction of IT has the potential to change the way citizens participate in governments at all levels. This paper surveys these issues and identifies the pressures that would, in the absence of constraints, lead to the conduct of activities in the private or public sector. Finally, the paper examines factors that impede the natural progression toward more desirable organizational forms through the application of IT.

Key Words and Phrases:

• government
• public sector

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lawrence A. West

LAWRENCE A. WEST, JR., is an assistant professor at the College of Business, University of Central Florida. His research interests are the economics of information, the development of decision support systems based on geographic information system technology, and information systems education. Dr. West received his Ph.D. in business analysis and research from Texas A&M University in 1991 and has published in Decision Sciences, Journal of Management Information Systems, and several conference proceedings. He has also provided advisory services to several government agencies in Florida.