Diffusion Patterns of the Internet Technology Cluster in Irish SMEs

Abstract

Electronic commerce has been recognised as a source of fundamental, pan-sectoral change to the conduct of business; Chan and Swatman (2000) use the term: “A new paradigm for doing business.” Other authors have gone further, viewing modern IT developments as the latter part of a period starting in the mid-1970s that represents a transition to nothing less than a new phase of capitalist development (Amin, 1994). Benjamin, Rockhart, Scott Morton, and Wyman (1983) also suggest that the world economy has been fundamentally altered by the globalisation of competition which has largely been caused by the declining cost and consequent increasing spread of IT developments.