Racing for Virtual Mobility - virtual meetings as substitute of business travel in Chinese organizations

This thesis investigates the virtual meetings characteristics and policy intervention options in Chinese organizations. Virtual meetings can enable the communication of two or more parities in different locations with assistance of ICT technologies. It is thus possible for virtual meetings to substitute conventional physical face- o-face meetings without business travel and the associated environmental impacts. Virtual meetings present opportunities for China to provide accessibility to its people and better manage the challenges from mass- ransportation. By investigating four cases including a telephone survey in China, some characteristics of virtual meetings are presented as compared to the experience in Europe. Barriers for more use of virtual meetings in Chinese organizations are also identified, analyzed and categorized into four groups. A brief summary of success factors to implement virtual meetings in Chinese organizations drawn from the experiences of the case organizations are provided. It is argued by the author that system level changes require a whole set of actors in the society including some new players. Therefore the author also suggested proactive approaches for various actors in the society including policy makers, virtual meetings services providers, investors and NGOs to encourage more use of virtual meetings in China. The roles of new actors and new players are highlighted