E-Business and the Promise of Creativity and Economic Growth

Abstract

When the Internet was developed it was hailed as a source of future economic growth. Companies and authorities would need to invest in new information systems, and consultants and internal people in companies would be needed in order to develop systems and implement them. This wave of investments created a surge in the labour market and many new companies were founded. Authors in their books argued that e-business created new value and that electronic solutions would engage people and other resources in new activities and that this would lead to economic growth. There was also a belief that even if e-business would save resources, the creative new business models that were developed on the Internet would make it possible for companies to earn more money than in the past, because of the lower cost of doing business on an electronic network. There were people who talked about e-business as a foundation of a ‘new economy’ in which traditional companies had no chance of competing against start-up e-business firms. These would be faster, cheaper and more profitable than companies from the ‘old economy’.