Guest editorial

Citation

Head, M.M. and Bart, C.K. (2000), "Guest editorial", Internet Research, Vol. 10 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/intr.2000.17210eaa.002

Guest editorial

Most businesses and consumers now agree that electronic commerce is far more than just hype. The development of electronic commerce is already starting to have a large impact on the operations, systems and efficiency of business, industry, and government. Organizations of all size are being forced to consider the creative use of electronic commerce not only for business redesign, but in many cases, for survival in the emerging global marketplace. The challenge, however, is to understand how to best manage this new technology and business environment.

On January 19-21, 2000, McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Business sponsored the First World Congress on the Management of Electronic Commerce.

This was the 21st Annual McMaster Business Conference, but the first to focus on leading electronic commerce research and management practices. The conference was organized by McMaster commerce and MBA students and our congratulations go out to these students for their enthusiasm, hard work and dedication that made this conference a great success.

The conference was an international forum that brought together 250 delegates from more than 25 countries. Delegates, academic and practitioner presenters shared experiences and investigated numerous facets of electronic commerce development and management. Academics and managers from various areas, such as marketing, information systems, operations, human resources and accounting, discussed the implications of conducting business electronically on the entire organization and its trading partners. Industry and international challenges for business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and consumer-to-consumer markets were presented. Without a doubt, the sharing of these research and management issues is critical to further our understanding of this new electronic medium, and to help develop winning strategies in this promising marketplace.

We have selected ten of the best research papers from the conference to present in this special edition of Internet Research. Topics range from business-to-business relationships to e-retail marketing, and from strategic, meta-management issues to intermediary and software agent support. Traditional models are adapted to the electronic marketplace and new models are developed. A review and commentary of all conference presentations is also provided. We hope that this material will stimulate thought, discussion and understanding in this promising electronic economy.

Milena M. Head and Christopher K. BartMichael G DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada