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The deployment and strategic use of e‐business, from basic e‐mail utilization to total enterprise integration, involves the commitment of financial and technical resources. The resources have to be financed. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the views of trade promotion organizations, donors, export associations and banks on e‐business financing in Ghana's non‐traditional export (NTE) sector, with the view to making policy contributions to the e‐business financing phenomenon in a developing economy (DE) context.

The research design is qualitative since this is an exploratory study and deep preliminary insights were sought about a hitherto under‐researched information systems topic from a developing country perspective. Officials from the trade promotion; export association, donor and financial communities were interviewed to generate insights to help understand the phenomenon under investigation.

Some banks find it difficult financing e‐business in NTE firms because it is considered a new area with relatively higher risks and uncertainties. Banks would rather grant small loans to a few select small and medium enterprise exporters in an attempt to limit their default risk. The trade promotion organization is helping (albeit in a moderate manner) with up‐skilling for the improvement in e‐competencies in Ghana's NTE sector. The export product association in collaboration with the donor interviewed is in the throes of designing e‐business interventions in Ghana's NTE sector after recently completing an e‐readiness survey in the same sector.

This paper presents a modest contribution to the export firm‐electronic business literature from a resource‐centered perspective, in a DE context. Studies on e‐business financing in DEs are virtually non‐existent and the policy prescriptions could apply with minor modifications to other related contexts in respect of e‐business financing.

Various forms of regional cooperation in East Asia have greatly increased in the past two decades. Scientific collaboration is beneficial for both scientifically lagging countries (SLCs) and scientifically advanced countries (SACs) with respect to their S&T capacity and thus economic prosperity. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive description of intra‐regional scientific collaboration in East Asia from 1985 to 2008 with the 10+3 (ASEAN ten plus China, Japan and South Korea) framework.

The paper uses co‐authored articles embodied by Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI‐Expanded) to indicate cross‐border scientific collaboration.

Data show that heterogeneity in the publication output across East Asian countries is decreasing. Intra‐ASEAN, intra‐ Northeast Asia, as well as ASEAN and Northeast Asia scientific collaboration greatly improved since 1997.

This paper discusses factors influencing international scientific collaboration and focuses on explaining the impact of regional integration. Finally, it offers further suggestions on East Asian integration from the perspective of scientific collaboration.

China has been putting into effect a program of “national innovation platforms (NIPs)” since 2008. Because it is still at an experimental stage, some key issues remain ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a theoretical exploration and empirical study on the NIP program to present the theoretical foundation and draw out implications for its future practice.

Based on the literature review of national innovation system (NIS) approach, this paper develops an analytical framework for analyzing the mechanism of NIP. Then an in‐depth case study further validates the framework.

NIP is a practice under the guidance of NIS approach. It effectively accomplishes interaction and cooperation between different actors and encourages flow of innovation resources. Based on NIP of textile industry, managerial and operational implications are drawn out.

Investigation of this paper is limited to a single industry. The result of the NIP program remains to be seen in the future.

The theoretical study about NIP practice in China is original. The framework derived from NIS theory helps theoretical development in future research and guides future practice.

The purpose of this paper is to present Danish distribution research, with an emphasis on research conducted during the last decade. In order to give the reader an understanding of the background of current research, a number of older projects are also mentioned. We refrain, on the other hand, from suggesting any trends for the future development of Danish distribution research — trends concerning topics, paradigms and methodology. As will be seen, the volume of research is quite small and the number of researchers is very limited. Hence, the future of distribution research is very dependent on the development of a few individuals and on their subjective choices. Having said this, it should also be made clear that what is presented below deals only with academic research.

Products of medicinal plants play significant roles in management of diseases. Their accessibility through trade plays a key role in health, economic and livelihood improvement. However, the traceability of the production process from their source in Tanzania is lacking. This study aims to depicture the production process of formulated products of medicinal plants.

The study applied the value chain theory using qualitative data from literature review and survey to practitioners of traditional medicine. Survey data were collected through 15 in-depth interviews and ten focus group discussions in five regions of Tanzania.

Input to output structure is performed through a five actors' value chain. The raw material is provided by harvesters who collected medicinal plants from wild. The processing is conducted by wholesalers and formulators. The wholesalers add value by drying, milling and bulk packaging of individual medicinal plants. Formulators mix different medicinal plants to create readymade products for specified diseases. Distribution is done by retailers and healers. There were six regulating and two supporting organizations. Private supporters were millers and transporters. Governance structure was deduced to be relational. Relational governance was a result of lack official standards along the value chain.

The described value chain can be used to guide investments in production of products of medicinal plants by improving formulation technology.

The aim of this article is to describe and assess the use of the Internet by exporters in a development setting. The findings from two surveys in Ghana reveal that the exporters have reached the e‐mail stage and are moving into the Web site stage. At this stage, the main barriers to an increased use are reported to be training, means to finance equipment and running costs, with access problems coming third. The change from face‐to‐face interaction to digitalized interfaces is also a barrier to the spread of Internet use. The Internet is used for pre‐sales activities and the e‐mail for daily communications. The strategy is reactive with high hopes of being discovered rather than active search of their own. The policy and managerial implications are that training and financial packages must be provided and business associations must be active in creating portals of relevance to the exporters, and pressure put on the government to increase infrastructural investments.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and make sense of the internationalization of the triple helix (TH) model.

As this study is exploitative in nature, an inductive approach is adopted in data collection and data analysis. The Danish TH's experiences in China are used as empirical evidences. Primary data are collected from in-depth interviews and discussions, filed observations, and personal experiences. Secondary data such as the government policies and documents, companies’ annual reports, and reliable web sites are also included.

The paper conceptualizes the internationalization of the TH into three stages: pioneering stage, exploration stage, and integration stage. In the pioneering stage, the authors see the establishment of each of the three helix spheres abroad, i.e. internationalization of companies, universities and governments; in the exploration stage, the three spheres start to interact abroad and collaborate with their counterparts in the host country; in the integration stage, helix to helix collaboration is emerging.

This study has both theoretical and practical significance. It expands the existing TH theory by proposing a model for the internationalization of it. On the other hand, this study gives implications regarding utilizing global knowledge resources and enhancing innovation performances overseas.