Digital Commerce Readiness Evaluation In ASEAN Countries

The Internet,cloud computing,and big data have all been instrumental in the advancement of information technology,which has had a considerable effect on the economy and society.Digital entrepreneurship has become a major factor in global economic expansion.Digital business has become a key driver of global economic growth.The implementation of digital business strategies is being accelerated around the world to achieve high-quality economic development.At present,the digital economy is not only developing rapidly but also on a wide scale,becoming an important driving force for regional economic development and injecting unprecedented vitality into the development of digital commerce in China and ASEAN countries.Therefore,ASEAN countries must accurately grasp the current situation,development trend and external environment of digital business in order to better respond to the challenges of digital business,and thus improve the effectiveness of digital business adoption and implementation in each country,and provide theoretical basis for the development of digital business decisions.At a time when the concept of digital commerce is gradually coming into view,this paper examines whether China and ASEAN countries are adequately prepared for the development of digital commerce,analyzes how to improve the continuity of digital commerce in order to more comprehensively prepare for the development of digital commerce,and provides suggestions for the development of digital commerce in ASEAN countries in the context of the digital era.The logical framework of this study is thus derived: firstly,we review the research results and progress of digital business,readiness and digital business readiness evaluation by our predecessors at home and abroad,find out the shortcomings and shortcomings of the current research in these three aspects,and summarize the concepts related to e-commerce,digital business and readiness in the process.Secondly,Industrial informatization process and digital trade trajectories,combining industrial life cycle theory and the OECD three-stage model.Based on a combination of the above literature review and conceptual theory,this paper strictly follows the procedures related to building an indicator system and tries to establish an indicator system that can evaluate the readiness of digital business development in ASEAN countries and China at the present stage,with the following steps: first,the indicators for evaluating the readiness of digital business are initially screened through conceptual analysis method and literature statistics method;second,according to the availability of data,the indicators are revised by using correlation analysis and other methods to correct the indicators;third,the entropy weighting method was applied to assign weights to the indicators,so as to determine the weights of the indicators.Finally,a four-dimensional ASEAN digital business development readiness index system is established,including information infrastructure dimension,economic development dimension,human capital dimension and development environment dimension.Through the empirical analysis of the digital business readiness of ASEAN countries and China,the total score and sub-index score of digital business readiness of a total of nine countries are calculated by excluding two countries,Laos and Myanmar,for which data are difficult to obtain,and then the ASEAN countries are divided into three groups and the representative countries are selected for empirical analysis,and the differences and causes of digital business readiness of each country are analyzed.Using the 2019 data as the specimen,the empirical evidence found that there are uneven characteristics of digital business development readiness in ASEAN countries.Singapore and China are ranked first and second on the list with a total score of 150.19 and 130.69 on the Digital Commerce Readiness Index,respectively.Singapore constitutes the "first tier" of digital business readiness in ASEAN countries and is classified as a "leading" country in digital business development.China,Malaysia and Thailand constitute the "second tier" of ASEAN countries in terms of digital business readiness and are classified as "catching up" countries in terms of digital business development,while the Philippines,Vietnam,Brunei,Indonesia and Cambodia form the The Philippines,Vietnam,Brunei,Indonesia,and Cambodia are the "third tier",i.e.,the "awakening" countries in digital commerce.Finally,based on the results of the cluster analysis,we propose suggestions for the digital business development of the three ASEAN countries,namely,Singapore,Malaysia and Cambodia,respectively.Based on the results of the digital business indices of ASEAN countries and China,we propose countermeasures for the development of digital business in China and the cooperation with ASEAN countries in digital business.Through combing the existing research literature and theories,we explore the index system for scientifically assessing the digital business readiness of ASEAN countries and discuss countermeasure suggestions based on the classification of country scores,with a view to providing a concrete operational and practical basis for assessing the digital business development readiness of ASEAN countries and China,exploring the potential for ASEAN-China digital economic development and strengthening China-ASEAN cooperation in the digital economy would provide useful policy guidance for China and ASEAN to build a closer judicial community and move closer to the goal of building a digital superpower.