The term E-business was initially crafted in a thematic campaign by IBM in 1997 and subsequently defined as “a secure, flexible, and integrated approach to delivering differentiated business value by combining the systems and processes that run core business operations with the simplicity and reach made possible by Internet technology” (). Prior to the offering of this definition, the term E-business and E- commerce were often referred to interchangeably. The offering of this formal definition marked the coming of age of the adoption of the Internet and its technology to go beyond the function of E-commerce and encompass other.
