What is Off-contract procurement

The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in business—the most expansive definition of e-business—is transforming the world economy. E-business at the microeconomic level of retail, wholesale, and labor market transactions has an enormous impact on the performance of companies and the economic welfare of consumers and workers. The gains in efficiency and economic benefits at the microeconomic level exert influence all the way up to the macroeconomic level of GDP and fiscal and monetary phenomena. However, new policy challenges accompany the rewards from ebusiness in the economy. The economics of e-business are shaped by the way that ICT lowers the cost of transferring, storing, and processing information (Borenstein & Saloner, 2001). When the cost of information falls, there are profound consequences for how firms conduct business with each other, with consumers, and with workers. This article covers both the economic theory that suggests how e-business changes the economy (to understand why e-business has proliferated) and the empirical magnitude of the impacts (to show the economic benefits).