How e‐commerce is transforming and internationalizing service industries

Services account for over 50 percent ($3.6 trillion) of the 1997 gross domestic product for the USA, and more than 25 percent of world trade. However, information technology and the Internet are causing fundamental changes in the economics of service industries as new, network‐based, global e‐commerce business models emerge and begin to dominate. This analysis attempts to isolate the key factors driving the competitive transformation and globalization of the services industries. Highlights how the Internet is changing the level of information asymmetry between the buyer and seller and how this in turn is altering industry profitability.