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In recent years many developing nations have been exposed to significant externa l changes such as economic deregulation and globalization. Evidence suggests that this has resulted in the adoption of EC by organizations in these countries. It is important to understand the strategic and environmental imperatives for EC adoption. Such u nderstanding is required for anticipating necessary changes in EC adoption, to keep in tune with the impending and emerging changes in the environment. It is also needed for formulating business strategies in alignment with the organization's IS strategies and IT capabilities, and for addressing managerial challenges in EC adoption. This paper is based on a study of EC adoption in eighteen companies from eleven industries in India. It is aimed at examining the different factors, related to strategic and environmental imperatives, which lead to the adoption of EC by organizations in developing countries. The results, based on interviews with close to a hundred people in these organizations indicate that there are broadly three conditions under which an organization adopts EC. These are related to the external environment, organizational performance and specific internal management compulsions. Each of these conditions describes a specific aspect of EC adoption and leads to imperatives for changes in processes and products. These imperatives in turn, result in the adoption of EC in different critical organizational processes. This study is one of the first detailed empirical studies on EC adoption in Indian organizations.

This case describes the evolution of the use of information technology (IT) at National Banking Services, one of the oldest banks in India. It describes the bank’s response to economic liberalization and the resulting initiatives for IT adoption. It highlights the influence of organizational readiness on IT adoption. In particular, it describes the negative influence on IT adoption of conditions such as the lack of top management support, skeptical end-user attitudes about the benefits of IT, and resistance from employee unions. The case ends with a description of the changing role of IT in the banking industry in India and the challenges confronting the bank.

Purpose Scaling is an important concern in the management of information systems projects. E-Government projects are no exception to the challenges of scaling. The problem is more severe because of a large and diverse population of target users and more crucial because of the vulnerability of the target population in case of failure of such initiatives (in projects, such as public distribution system of food). In spite of a significant awareness of its importance among implementers, scaling still remains a challenge. This paper aims to examine this important issue. Design/methodology/approach The case study method has been used to demonstrate the relationship between integration and scaling of e-Government projects. This study uses analytic generalization from field case as a method to theorize a broad framework for the integration of information and communications technology projects. The context of this study is an e-Government project in West Bengal, India. The selection of the case involved theoretical sampling apart from considerations for the possibility of access to the project and its appropriateness with respect to the topic under study. Findings Five different levels of integration in e-Government projects, namely, interface, data, electronic communication, application, and knowledge, have been identified. Further, it has been demonstrated that each of these integration mechanisms impacts scaling of e-Government projects. Also, the nature of the impact has been identified. Originality/value This paper demonstrates the impact of integration on the scaling of e-Government projects. It analyzes the phenomenon of integration in terms of five different levels. All the levels of integration impact scaling of e-Government projects in different ways.