Year: 2008
Type: editorial
Abstract: Introduction to the special issue on information systems in ChinaIn the last 30 years, China has been the subject of considerable attention as its economy has opened up and as it has become the recipient of phenomenal amounts of foreign direct investment.These 30 years have been years of enormous change -both within the country and in the way China is perceived from the outside.The recent accession to the World Trade Organization and the forthcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are but two examples of high-profile events.As China changes, increased attention is being paid to the development of information systems (IS) that will underpin national development across all sectors of the economy.In a recent special issue of the Communications of the ACM (Martinsons, 2005), the role of information technology (IT) as a transforming agent for the nation was highlighted.In proposing this special issue, we aimed to accomplish a dual set of objectives, viz., encouraging more IS research in China and publishing good IS research conducted in China.We were particularly interested in exploring how IS issues in China are unique, relative to our traditional IS research.Attempting to summarize current research and practice on as broad a topic as IS and in as large and diverse a country as China is an ambitious undertaking.Even a cursory review of online resources will illustrate the breadth of IT applications, from the world's largest online marketplace (Alibaba) through to communication systems in large-scale industrial enterprises such as Bao Steel and on to smaller scale enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).A Google.com search for 'China' and 'Information Systems' produces close to 2 million hits, while the same search on scholar.google.comproduces 47 400, of which the first is instructive -'Management Information Systems in the Chinese Business Culture: An Explanatory Theory', published in Information & Management, authored by Martinsons & Westwood (1997).It is no coincidence that, a decade and many more papers later, Martinsons is the author of one of the five papers in this special issue.IT applications were first introduced into Chinese enterprises in the 1980s and became widespread in the 1990s, some 20 years later than in Western countries.These first applications were triggered by decision-makers at a national level finally realizing (after discussions about the relative importance of industrialization and informatization) that IT applications have the potential to support the expansion and industrialization process that was underway at that time.As China transformed its economy towards a greater market orientation, so was IT perceived to be an important enabling factor for subsequent industrial and economic success.
Source: Information Systems Journal
Authors: Robert Davison, Sia Siew Kien, Dong Xiao Ying
Language: English
Subfield: Management Information Systems
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1968280356