Affiliations: [a] Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark.
E-mail: nba@cbs.dk | [b] Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt,
Germany. E-mail: rbeck@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de | [c] University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA. E-mail:
rtwigand@ualr.edu | [d] University of Paris X, Paris, France. E-mail:
eric@brousseau.info
Abstract: The emergence of e-commerce in Europe is a fascinating policy study
with key actors in all EU countries firmly assured that digitalization of the
economy is the key to the magic kingdom of strong economic growth and the
facilitation of global commerce. Moreover, the digital economy would require
asserted policy responses to ensure that European jobs would not be taken over
by the dominant US IT industry and the global, multinational industry players
utilizing the technology. In this contribution we reveal how Denmark, Germany
and France had rather similar policies furthering knowledge diffusion but were
rather reluctant to use direct economic incentives, normative instruments, or
e-government initiatives such as e-tendering and e-procurement. Yet the three
countries pursued very different paths on the route towards the digital economy
both when it comes to the responsiveness of government and to the
implementation in society.
