E-commerce – a new opportunity to increase competitivity

The extraordinary impact of the information technology, everything that is or becomes „e”, puts its mark on the whole economic, social, cultural life of the mankind and virtually governs the whole modern world. In a world dominated by the small „e”, in a world that doesn’t stop talking about e-business (electronic business), e-commerce (electronic commerce) is a concept that underlines one of the most important facilities offered by the Internet network: the capacity to make transactions beyond the borders, time and space. In the view of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the electronic commerce represents running a business through the Internet network, selling the products and services being made offline or online. In a more eloquent definition the electronic commerce represents „the capacity to realize transactions that involve the exchange of products and services between two or more parties, using electronic instruments and techniques”. At present, the electronic commerce has become an essential component of the policies for economic development promoted by the developed countries, particularly, and by the developing ones, thus becoming a fundamental component of the international commerce.