Electronic commercial diplomacy: a research model and an empirical analysis of embassy websites

This article deals with the question to what extent governments adopted digital communication channels in their commercial diplomacy services? Commercial diplomatic services are offered by governments to companies and entrepreneurs who aspire to do business in another country. First, this article presents a research framework drawn from the literature, followed by the results of an empirical study. A structured website analysis was carried out of the embassy websites of the top ten countries in e-government. The findings show that electronic commercial diplomacy (e-CD) is still in an 'embryonic' stage. The countries in this study have developed strategies and goals for their online presence, but the interactive services are still limited. Furthermore, the findings suggest that implementation settings - strategy, goals - can explain the type of e-CD to a more significant extent than institutional settings