Global Implications of E-Commerce Tool and Artefact Creation

Abstract

It is argued that Electronic Commerce (EC) platforms can be seen as artefacts—tools that are made, used, inherited and studied within a cultural context. This context encompasses economic, historical, technical, and social values and assumptions that are focused on particular ideas and definitions (relating to the example of B2C activities and processes contained within Electronic Grocery Systems (EGS)). The issue we should face as makers, users, inheritors, and scholars of these tools, however, is that the tool context and inherent in-built values on which this context is based, particularly relating to matters of effective use of EC tools in a B2C marketplace, may not be in evidence across all cultures. This would make the successful use of EC, in a global sense, a difficult and complex undertaking.