How do cultural differences affect the way firms conduct e-commerce?

Companies are learning that they have to adapt their e-commerce and their enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications to regional idiosyncrasies beyond translation or content management issues; even asking for a name or an e-mail address can incur resistance in many countries where people do not like to give out personal information. Internet transactions must be regionalized and personalized to adjust to differences in language, culture, local laws, and business models, as well as differences in the level of development in the local telecommunications infrastructure.