FOUR SCENARIOS FOR ADOPTION OF CLOUD COMPUTING IN CHINA

Selecting appropriate technology strategy is crucial to those designing ICT-based offering for specific geographical market. The antecedents of adopting particular technology can be used to identify opportunities and barriers of entry, but further information is needed for technology management on how adoption would take place. In this paper, it is argued that deploying a scenario method facilitates identification of future developments and setting a technology strategy, which matches the emerging needs and requirements of a specific market. Specifically, this paper examines the trends and developments affecting state of Cloud Computing business in China and creating incentives for stakeholders to adopt Cloud Computing. Based on expert interviews and scenario analysis, four alternative and possibly co-existing scenarios are derived. The macro-level scenarios serve as inputs and tools for company-specific examinations on technology strategy. Also, the scenarios facilitate identifying indicators on whether standard or flexible technology architecture is needed for this particular market