Stop and think about the building and delivery of electronic commerce, all the activity that goes on behind your PC. It is not just a routine stringing of computer to network server to backbone connection. The framework for characterizing that activity is more complex and involves commercial and market factors along with the technology that makes electronic commerce possible. Any reasonably comprehensive framework would have to answer four general questions. Has the vertical chain for delivering electronic commerce settled! Does the creation of value depend on how firms commercialize technology! Do vendors approach similar commercial opportunities with similar or different strategies! How important is adaptive activity to a firm's growth strategies!.