Objectives of knowledge management

 Macro- environment
 Micro- environment (digital marketplace)
Social
The organisation
Legal, ethical and taxation
Its customers
Economic
Its suppliers
Political
Its competitors
Technological
Intermediaries
Competitive
The public at large
Table 4.1
Factors in the macro‑ and micro‑ environment of an organisation
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Chapter 4
E‑environment
to constantly scan the environment and assess which changes are relevant to their sphere 
of influence. Changes in social culture and particularly pop culture tend to be very rapid. 
Introduction of new technologies and changes in their popularity tend to be frequent, too. 
Governmental and legal changes tend to happen over longer timescales but new laws can be 
introduced relatively fast. The trick for managers is to identify those factors that are critical 
to competitiveness and service delivery and monitor these. The technological and legal fac-
tors are most important to managing e-commerce, so we focus on these.
Since the law is one of the most important issues for the e-commerce manager to address, 
the six most important legal issues for managers are introduced in Table 4.2. Each of these 
is covered in more detail later in the chapter. Organisations that either do not monitor these 
environmental factors or do not respond to them adequately will not remain competitive 
and may fail. The process of monitoring the environment is usually referred to as