• What perspectives does e-commerce (business to business, business to customer, as well as business to public sector) offer for growth and employment in Germany?

• What legal deregulation and regulation is necessary to let these potentials develop fully in Germany?
• What chances and challenges will develop for small and middle sized companies as a consequence of more e-commerce?
• What possibilities of reducing bureaucracy, of increasing efficiency in public administration, and of enhancing service quality will develop through e-commerce and similar processes? How can public procurement be optimized?
• What consequences for the labor market and the world of employment will have to be expected from increased e-commerce?  
• How will structures within businesses change through e-commerce? Will there be more small and middle sized companies or will e-commerce lead to more concentration in economy?  
• How and to which extent will the manufacturing industries, intermediary trade, and retail react to the changing order and shopping habits (online, twenty-four-seven) of the customers?  
• With what manufacturing concepts, logistics strategies, and infrastructural measures could the growing traffic be met adequately so that there will be no diffusion bottleneck?  
• How well are e-commerce offers and new e-commerce marketing functions accepted by the consumer?  
• How important are alternatives to the Internet-based e-commerce as e.g. e-commerce on television or on mobile phones?  
• What are the consequences of e-commerce with regard to ecological considerations in the broadest sense (traffic-related aspects, dematerialization, waste prevention, energy efficiency, etc.)?

Riehm, U.; Petermann, Th.; Orwat, C.; Coenen, Chr.; Revermann, Chr.; Scherz, C.; Wingert; B.: E-Commerce in Deutschland. Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme zum elektronischen Handel. Berlin: edition sigma (Studien des Büros für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung beim Deutschen Bundestag, Bd. 14)
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• Technology and innovation research have shown that particularly information and communication technologies correlate strongly with the context of their application, especially during the initial phases of their innovation processes. On the one hand, they have to be adapted to the respective context of application that can be of technical, organizational, or of institutional nature. On the other hand, they also change that context of application, directly and indirectly. When compared to the initial state, the results of these adaption processes are usually not only changed but differentiated “technological” systems that are to be understood rather as techno-social configurations since the respective IuK system, the standardized product catalogs, the informal and the formal commercial customs, the legal frame conditions, and much more constitute a part of electronic commerce. Therefore, the analysis of e-commerce cannot be done any longer comprehensively and independent of application in a mere technical way. The potential and consequences of e-commerce do not show “clearly” but always just as part of the specific application and under consideration of the respective frame conditions. 
• An adequate possibility of dealing with an application context is looking at industries analysis. These industries are shaping e-commerce crucially through their specific structure, the status of EDP employment, the product range and the regulating frame conditions, as well as through the possibilities of implementation. 
• For the TAB study, eight industries were selected for a detailed analysis. The selections were made according to a number of criteria: Traditional manufacturing industries as well as information oriented new industries were meant to be part of this, industries in which e-commerce is already far advanced, and such ones where it is just starting, industries with frame conditions that restrict commerce strongly and relatively unrestricted ones, such ones with strong and such ones with weak competition, such ones with concrete and such ones with digital products. It was not aimed at a systematical virtually experimental variation of the features but rather at a selection by sophisticated criteria. The eight industries selected in this way can be characterized as follows: 
• Food trade stands for industries characterized by very strong competition, strong concentration processes, tight margins, and high customer demands regarding product quality and supply. The conditions for e-commerce are particularly difficult, especially regarding B2C. 
•  Automotive industry represents the established “old economy” that has always been innovative with regard to IT. Internet and e-commerce seamlessly fitted into this technology-oriented innovation process. Nevertheless, automotive industry also stands for special challenges regarding distribution structures, with free competition seriously constrained by heavy regulation. 
• In Germany, pharmaceutical trade, at present, is also subject to provisions that prohibit mail order selling, B2C, and with it electronic commerce. Due to transnational offers on the Internet, but also due to the prospect of cost reduction for pharmaceuticals regarding the budget of health insurance institutions, and due to the prospect of savings for the patients deregulation is discussed in the political environment, strongly opposed by affected pharmacists. 
•  Trade with media products (esp. books, musical and cinematic works) is of special interest as these products can in fact be digitalized and because an entirely electronic commerce, supply phase included, is conceivable in this case. This industry is also interesting as books are offered at the same price everywhere (price maintenance) while CDs and videos are subject to price competition. 
• Only since 1998, companies and private households have had the possibility to purchase electricity on the open market. This new electricity market stands in a close relationship to the possibilities of e-commerce. Electricity as a commodity has special characteristics and a special status in between material and digital goods. Stock exchange trading is one of the pioneers of electronic commerce. Electronic trading has already existed at a time when e-commerce was not even talked about yet. 
• Stock exchange is for another reason predestined for e-commerce: it is about mere accounting processes without the occurrence of any materiality. 
• Services are part of those commodities that, basically, can be digitalized. Through the intense relationship between suppliers and customers, the requirements regarding the implementation of e-commerce seem to be especially high. Additionally, many sectors of the service industry are restricted by special legal regulations and, therefore, not part of the open market. 
• Public procurement processes are of special interest especially for two reasons. First, electronic procurement is seen as a very promising field of application for electronic commerce with a high saving potential. Second, the public sector is not only one of the most important buyers but he also is subject to the necessity of saving and of rationalization. 

Differentiated problem solving potential