Enterprise portal is a type of new information system that can help companies and their employees to manage, share, and use previously disparate information. There are more than 60 vendors that are offering corporate portal solutions. With so many vendors, selecting the right one can be a difficult task. The primary objective of this research is to identify and evaluate the functions and features in enterprise portal products. In particular, this study develops a simplified model that can be used for identifying and classifying the functions and features in corporate portal software. The results of this study may be useful to information technology managers, educators, and students involved in knowledge management, business intelligence, information systems resources management, and data management. System developers, software engineers, project managers, financial managers, and data architects can use the functions and features identified in this study as benchmarking tools for evaluating portals capabilities.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that information and communication technologies (ICT) maturity plays in the achievement of global competitiveness at the country level. The paper investigates the socio-economic and technological factors that are most likely to be associated with ICT maturity, and then assesses their role in driving the global competitiveness wheel forward. Design/methodology/approach -Secondary data were used, based on data sets generated by the World Bank, World Economic Forum, and UNESCO for the years 2003-2007. The countries common to all reports were included, yielding a study sample of 93 cases. Cluster analysis was used to categorize countries in terms of ICT usage, readiness, and environment. Structural equation modeling was used to test the fit of a model employing these factors. Findings -First, it was found that ICT plays an important role in driving a country's global competitiveness forward, with a stronger relationship existing in high readiness countries than in low readiness countries. Second, ICT maturity was found to mediate the relationship between ICT quality and R&D spending on one hand and global competitiveness on the other. Finally, the relationship between R&D spending and global competitiveness was found to be stronger for low readiness countries than for high readiness countries. Practical implications -The paper's findings provide insights to managers and government policy makers regarding the effects of economic, social and technological factors on ICT maturity, as well as the relationship between ICT maturity and global competitiveness. Such insights can influence the standards, programs, and strategies that governments implement in order to attain and maintain global competitiveness. Originality/value -The paper presents a holistic model that depicts the ICT maturity factors and their dynamic contributions to global competitiveness. Despite the considerable contributions of existing research in this domain, there is a lack of substantive research that examines the relationship at the country level between ICT maturity and its indicators on one hand and global competitiveness on the other. The paper is an attempt to fill this gap.

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According to the literature, prescription cost and convenience are generally regarded as the most important reasons for buying online. This study examines the availability of selected prescription drugs at some of the online pharmacies in the USA. Specifically, the drugs examined are among the ten most often prescribed by physicians.