Electronic markets in the post-euphoric phase: relationships, values and behaviors

The euphoria of e-commerce quickly dissipated when the fast moving dot com companies ran out of cash, met logistical and other challenges and business models failed to deliver promised results. In this post-euphoric phase, there was tremendous skepticism regarding the future of e-commerce. At the same time, mobile commerce––or m-commerce––was being hailed as a possible savior of e-commerce. At COTIM-2001, an international conference held in Karlsruhe, Germany, academic researchers and business practitioners shared their experiences and frameworks about e-commerce and m-commerce. Selected papers that examined relationships, values and behaviors are included in this Special Issue which provides a broader view of some of key issues affecting the continued progress of electronic commerce. Included in this Special Issue are contributions about a diverse group of participants in the electronic markets––consumers, credit unions and traditional businesses. Some are laggards in the adoption of these new technologies, others are critical of trajectories followed by some of these technologies; all are interested in benefiting from the electronic revolution. This introduction provides an overview and the key arguments from the selected contributions included in this Special Issue of the Telematics and Informatics.