E-Business Barriers in Iran's Free Trade Zones

Abstract

Currently there are 24 free trade and special economic zones in Iran. Problem Statement: of these zones is lack of e-business and this is in spite of managements' desire to have proper infrastructure for e-business in these zones. The goal of this study is to determine and explain e-business barriers in free trade and special economic zones in Iran. Approach: Our approach in this study is based-on Delphi method. We used Delphi method to conduct our study and chose 25 members for our Delphi panel, who were given the outcomes of literature review. We asked the panel group to rank the barriers by importance and provide any other problems or issues they found during their studies. Results: The result of four rounds of Delphi panels declared five main barriers for implementing e-business in the regions including: Infrastructural barriers, Property rights issues, Mistrust in E- payments, financial barriers and Shortage of IT skills. Conclusions/Recommendations: We concluded that to implement e-business in the Iranian free zones and special economical districts, there are some infrastructure requirements such as high speed internet, wide internet band, proper laws and regulations; so that small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) could utilize e-business.