ABSTRACT
As an increasing number of businesses expand their operations into international markets, in order to succeed they need to understand the considerable cultural, economic, and political diversity that exists in different parts of the world. For these reasons, while information technology is a critical enabler and many times a driver of global business expansion, it cannot be applied uniformly across the world. This chapter is aimed at analyzing the key information systems/technology (IS/IT) issues identified during the last decade in different regions of the world. Spurred by periodic key IS issues studies in the USA, several researchers have attempted to do the same for many other countries. We summarize many of their findings, and provide insights into the various differences and similarities among countries. A precursory model is developed to help understand the underlying causes into the nature of the issues. Elements of a more detailed model, worthy of further exploration, are also presented.
