We were very thrilled with the success of the first and second editions of this textbook and thank our readers for their kind words of encouragement. The first edition won the Australian Publishers Award for Excellence in the Tertiary Technology Section in 1999.

Electronic business over the Internet has undergone exponential growth during the past seven years. Information technology is driving this economic growth, yet from early 2000 many companies began to experience difficulties as organisations shifted to the Internet's high-change/high-speed environment. It has been a heady ride and many e-businesses have fallen by the wayside. Nonetheless, three start-up dot.com companies, Amazon, eBay and Yahoo!, are now among the world's best-known brands. These three pioneers have software at their core - they innovate with it, they buy out other software companies to obtain exclusive use and they use software to replace people. Many large corporations now recognise that the Web can assist them to realise efficiency improvements, cost reductions and increased business opportunities leading to improved profits. This textbook examines how the e-commerce market has matured over the years.

This burgeoning use of the Internet demands that employees and managers understand and be skilled in Internet commerce practices in order for their businesses to gain a competitive advantage. The third edition of Internet Commerce: Digital Models for Business has updated the material for the rapidly emerging field of Internet/electronic commerce. This new edition places the study of Internet commerce within an international and national framework. It includes new, more detailed end-of-chapter case studies to illustrate the emerging trends and features. The multidisciplinary team of authors has covered the business, management, technical and legal aspects of this exciting area of commerce on the Internet.

Objectives of the book
After completing the book, students will:

• have received a thorough grounding in electronic commerce on the Internet
• know the stakeholders in electronic commerce and their capabilities and limitations in the strategic convergence of technology and business
• understand the rapid changes taking place in electronic commerce
• be aware of the new technologies of importance to electronic commerce
• have been exposed to important research and development trends in the area

John Wiley & Sons Australia will maintain a web site (see www.johnwiley. com.au/highered/internet-commerce) to keep readers abreast of recent changes with timely updates.

The authors hope that lecturers and students will find this new edition, web site and supplements useful and valuable adjuncts to their study of Internet commerce.

Special thanks go to Ms Roma Simmonds, an IT consultant at Qantas, for her contributions to chapters 3, 5 and 9. Special thanks are also extended to Katina Michael (University of Wollongong), Amanda Toshack (University of Wollongong), Jeff Chamberlain (Deakin University), John Paul Sargent (University of Wollongong), Bruce Howarth and Theerasak Thanasankit (Monash University) for preparing the end-of-chapter case studies. We would also like to thank our colleagues who reviewed the text throughout the development of the new edition.

Elaine Lawrence
Stephen Newton
Brian Corbitt
John Lawrence
Stephen Dann
Theerasak Thanasankit

November 2002