This paper presents an analysis of the e-Commerce policies developed and implemented in the USA, Canada, Australia, Victoria, Finland, Norway, the UK, Ireland, the EU (by the OECD), Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region). The paper shows that e-Commerce policy adopted is generally trying to achieve two fundamental aims: 1. to minimize regulatory environments for e-Commerce; and 2. to ease logistical problems in doing e-Commerce – i.e. in paying electronically, in delivery of goods and in customs, tariffs and duties. These strategies are designed to create an environment where e-Commerce is adopted by business and government in these countries to achieve ‘best practice’, to become ‘modern’, to gain ‘efficiencies’, because ‘it is the way to go’, because ‘we must have it, because everybody has it’, and because they ‘perceive the benefits of it’. In essence it is being used to gain hegemony in the economic competitiveness of the geopolitical environment created by the Internet. This paper argues that differentiating types of policy is related to ideology and hegemony in the various countries.

PAGES
39 – 57
DOI
All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Issues
Also in this issue:
-
Ryan Jenkins, David Černý and Tomáš Hříbek (eds) Autonomous Vehicle Ethics: The Trolley Problem and Beyond
-
As open as possible, but as closed as necessary: openness in innovation policy
-
Turning sportswashing against sportswashers: an unconventional perspective
-
State secrets and compromises with capitalism: Lev Theremin and regimes of intellectual property
-
In search of an author
Acceptance and Leadership–Hegemonies of E-Commerce Policy Perspectives
Original Articles