There are two major trends visible in economies all over the world. The first trend, far along in developed countries, is the shift to a service economy. The second, also quite advanced in some countries but barely visible in others, is the shift to an information economy. The "information economy" refers to those sectors in the economy that are concerned with the production of information goods and services, including the creation of assets and technologies for processing and distributing information. In the US the information economy now dominates the private sector and this is also starting to happen with all developed countries. This is not just about the dot.com phenomenon and B2C transactions. The changes are much deeper and are permanent. In fact, the trends that are visible today suggest that all major economies are on their way to becoming information economies in terms of GNP shares.
Managing in the Information Economy: Current Research Issues presents the recent research directions that address the issue of management in this economy. The contributors include leading researchers with interests in a diverse set of topics. While the volume cannot give a complete and comprehensive picture, it can provide introductions to important areas, and point to some important topics for future research. Therefore the book begins with perspectives at the level of the economy as a whole and then progressively addresses industrial structure, sectors, functions (e-commerce) and business practices. Introductions to the main sections and the papers in each section are provided. The volume is organized around six sections: The Information Economy; Structure and the Organization of the Information Economy; Marketing and Ecommerce; Emerging Issues in the Information Economy; Operations in the Information Economy; and Empirical Studies of Business Practices. Please see the Table of Contents and Editor's Introduction for further details.
