Defined as the differential degree to which rich and developing countries gain from new information and communications technologies (ICT) such as the Internet, the global digital divide is widely measured by international institutions in terms of the number of persons with individual access to those technologies. Yet, while this measure makes sense in the rich countries, where individual ownership is widespread among the population, it makes only little sense in poor countries. For instance, in the latter, what we find is that although individual access is indeed limited, a remarkable number of domestic innovations have benefited at least 10 million people throughout the Third World. Many such people are illiterate, unskilled and resident in the rural areas of developing countries. These findings directly contradict the commonly held notion that there are only few, if any, local innovations in the applications of the ICT outside the rich countries, and those parts of poorer countries with close connections to the former (most typically through multinational corporations). In their quest to decrease the gap from the developed countries, developing countries realize the significant role of ICT, and its potential in speeding up the pace of development. Thus, there is a need to expose ICT management issues in these countries (i.e., in their efforts of employing these powerful technologies as a means for leapfrogging the gaps with developed nations).

On the other hand, global competition and significant economic growth in many developing and transitional economies has greatly increased their importance to the global market. Though this trend has lead to a substantial increase in ICT implementation in these emerging economies, surprisingly the mainstream research remains focused on a small group of developed countries. Much of the research conducted solely in the context of developed regions provides only limited guidance to successful ICT implementations in emerging economies for such reasons as differences in business landscape and regulatory environment, and disparities in infrastructure development. Furthermore, to succeed in the global market, contenders from emerging economies often follow different strategies from the incumbent market participants from developed regions. Their distinct strategies often dictate different scopes of ICT implementations. Overall, the rapidly “flattening” of the world due to ICT facilitated globalization calls for shifting academic attention to these increasingly important emerging economies.