Introduction

Business is in search for the rules of the new economy [cf. Kelly 1998], also referred to as digital economy (cf. [Negroponte 1995], [Tapscott 1995]), networked economy [cf. Shaprio/Varian 1999], information economy [cf. Varian 1994], Internet economy [cf. Zerdick et al. 1999] or information age [cf. Lane 1998]. Information and communication technology (IT)1 enables and shapes the new economy the same way as steam, gas, and electricity have changed the agricultural economy into the industrial economy a hundred years ago.