Introduction to the special issue on information systems in China

Abstract

In 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 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.