Carmen Mei Ling Leong

The emergence of self-organizing E-commerce ecosystems in remote villages of China: a tale of digital empowerment for rural development

The emergence of Alibabas Taobao (e-commerce) Villages in remote China has challenged the assumption that rural, underserved communities must always be the recipients of aid to stimulate ICT-enabled development. Based on an in-depth case study of two remote villages in China, this research note shows how ICT (e-commerce) can empower a marginalized community, giving rise to a rural e-commerce ecosystem that can aid self-development. We propose the concept of digital empowerment to explicate our findings in the exploration of community-driven development: first, we identify the critical actors of a rural e-commerce ecosystem and how they use ICTs; second, we illustrate how the same ICT can be used for different affordances by the actors in the evolution of a rural e-commerce ecosystem. The paper also presents unintended consequences of rural e-commerce development. We conclude with suggestions on how to make ICT useful for rural development and, in doing this, challenge some of the prevailing theoretical arguments about this process.

Nurturing a FinTech ecosystem

Financial technology, or FinTech, involves the design and delivery of financial products and services through technology. It impacts financial institutions, regulators, customers, and merchants across a wide range of industries. Pervasive digital technologies are challenging the fundamentals of the highly regulated financial sector, leading to the emergence of non-traditional payment systems, peer-to-peer money exchanges and increased turbulence in currency markets. This case study explores the development of a FinTech company in China that offers microloans to college students. Five lessons learned are presented for organizations to better manage the challenges and to leverage the opportunities amidst the disruption of financial sector. Our findings also shed light on how digital technology 1) offers the strategic capability for a firm to occupy a market niche in financial sector, 2) enables the generation of alternative credit scores based on non-traditional data, and 3) improves the financial inclusion of previously excluded market segments.

Social Media for Empowerment in Social Movements: The Case of Malaysia's Grassroots Activism

Social media plays an instrumental role in enabling and facilitating social movements. However, this role depends on the complex social issues in a civic community and dynamics of power in movement politics. Existing literature provides little insight into the formative role of social media in social movements; instead, it tends to focus on the informational role and episodic effect of social media in community activism. We present the case of Bersih, a social media-enabled social movement that pushed for electoral reform in Malaysia. The non-partisan community-driven movement exerted public pressure on institutions and gained formal recognition. In this study, we reveal the significant role social media plays in empowering citizens by enabling them to facilitate and coordinate collective action towards producing change in their community. This research is significant in articulating the precise nature of the role of ICT in addressing complex social problems.

Managing User Diversity in ES Pre-Implementation Through Discursive Framing: A Spatiotemporal Analysis

Discursive strategy is important in engaging users when an organization-wide strategic change, such as an enterprise system (ES), is introduced. Although some information system (IS) studies have suggested the use of discursive framing, little is known about how such framing is conducted. Hence, our study aims to conceptualize discursive framing strategies by taking into account user diversity. A qualitative case study of Chinas largest food conglomerate, with its diversified subsidiaries, is presented. Specifically, the pre-implementation phase of an ES implementation is examined. Based on a spatiotemporal analysis of the IS context that could give rise to user diversity, this paper makes two contributions. It addresses a gap in the literature by conceptualizing discursive framing strategies in managing user diversity during ES pre-implementation and it extends organizational discourse analysis through a spatiotemporal analysis of users’ IS context. We conclude with guidelines for managers to anticipate and overcome potential conflicts, and offer suggestions for future research.