Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
offer courses available to Latin Americans with sufficient funds, English profi-
ciency, and internet connections. Sylvan Learning Systems acquired an 80 % stake
in the Universidad de las Americas, one of Chile's leading private institutions of
higher education. Brazil's Klickeducacao.com.br offer numerous courses in
academic subjects as well as applied topics such as how to use spreadsheets.
Escolavirtual.com.br, a company created by Tema Informática, offers web-based
courses in 29 campuses located throughout the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area.
Whitney International, a Bermuda-based distance learning company founded in
2005, has recently made an aggressive foray into the Latin American market
(Campbell
2008
); in July, 2008, it acquired the Technological University of
Mexico, a major private university with several campuses, as well as the Latin
University of Costa Rica, that country's largest private institution. Such examples
demonstrate the range and diversity of applications of e-commerce throughout the
greater Latin American region.
4.7.8 Middle East
Most Arab e-commerce is concentrated in the Gulf States and in Saudi Arabia (Pons
2003
; Ewers and Malecki
2010
). As the most wired nation in the Arab world, the
UAE offers access for foreign companies through Dubai Internet City, modeled after
the Singapore Science Park, opened in 2000 and has attracted 1,200 companies,
including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle, making the UAE the leading
Arab commercial center of cyberspace. The UAE's al-Lootah International Uni-
versity features the Arab world's first online degree program (Kalathil and Boas
2003
). Banks have also energetically adopted online services (Dudley
2001
). In
1999, Bahrain's Batelco launched @ltijara.com, the Arab world's first real time e-
commerce service, which expanded to include electronic advertising, credit card
purchases, corporate registration, and databases. The Saudis have followed the
UAE's lead closely. The state-owned oil monopoly Aramco has initiated on-line
procurement of inputs via the ISP OgerTel. In 2001, Saudi Arabia hosted the Arab
world's first international conference on e-commerce. In addition to B2B functions,
finance, and schools, other Internet applications include job-matching sites (e.g.,
CareerEgypt.com). Obstacles to the growth of Arab e-commerce included the rel-
atively lower use of credit cards, lack of secure on-line transactions, and the lack of a
critical mass of users. Aladwani (
2003
) notes that most Arab e-customers, including
business managers, rank the lack of Internet security and intellectual property rights
to be among the greatest hindrances to the rise of e-commerce.
As one might expect in a technologically sophisticated society with a large
computer technology industry, the Israeli e-commerce sector is robust. In 2005, the
nation's e-commerce sector witnessed roughly US$350 million in sales. Starting in
1999, Israeli banks developed a well-integrated EDI system, and today almost
the country's population uses electronic banking. The introduction of a centralized
portal by Bezeq, the national telecommunications carrier, greatly facilitated this
