Strategic Intent and E-Business in SMEs

Abstract

Small firms' use of e-business is limited and little is known about what drives small businesses (SMEs) to embrace e-business. It first discusses different growth strategies adopted by SMEs and reviews Internet adoption in SMEs. Drivers and inhibitors of e-business are identified. Three research questions are derived-does strategic intent drive e-business adoption and is it a factor of market position or product innovation? Is this consistent across sectors? And how is strategic intent and industry adoption influenced by the enablers and inhibitors of e-business adoption? Using survey data from 354 SMEs in the UK West Midlands the paper investigates these. The research demonstrates that strategic intent influences decisions to invest in e-business. Those SMEs remaining in their existing markets are the least likely to invest, primarily due to the Internet not being seen as necessary for growth. Product innovation rather than market penetration drives e-business. e-Business drivers and inhibitors provide insights into this.

British SMEs’ e-commerce technological investments and firm performance: an RBV perspective

“…In the following sections, we investigate these organisational resources with a particular focus on several select human, business, and external resources pertinent to SMEs. These resources have been widely recognised for their important roles in linking IT/e-commerce with firm performance (Thong 2001;Levy, Powell, and Yetton 2002;Sauer and Willcocks 2002;Levy, Powell, and Worrall 2005;Siqueira and Fleury 2011;Li, Lin, and Huang 2014).…”

Towards a Model of Technology Adoption: A Conceptual Model Proposition

“…2). Previous research (Grandon et.al., 2004, Levy et al, 2005b, Van Akkeren and Cavaye, 1999, Thong and Yap, 1995, Iacovou, 1995, Rashid et al, 2001, Merhten et al, 2001, Storey, 1994 indicated that the presence of in-house skills is imperative in the successful adoption of technology. It would now appear that this also affects the growth in terms of turnover for ICT companies.…”

“…They also describe the SME market as investing in information systems at start up and then no further development until the business outgrows its first purchase. Levy et al (2005b) claim that many of the drivers can be described as perceived benefits and many of the inhibitors are recognized as being due to management limitations. Grandon and Pearson (2004) analysed ten ICT adoption models to determine the main ICT adoption factors and found that many of the same issues recurred throughout the literature.…”

An Empirical Study of Internet Use in Saudian's Small and Mediums Enterprises

“…The profile for those who had progressed beyond Phase I (brochure ware) and had moved into Phase II (transactions) and Phase III (integration) included IT support being provided by either a staff member whose main responsibility is not IT supported (four respondents) or an external contractor (four respondents), ADSL providing the means of Internet access, spending greater than 5% of their budget on IT, the use of EDI, and movement into use of wireless and satellite access to the Internet. (Poon, 1999;Metts, Monge, & Rao, 2003;Mandel & Hof, 2001;Kalakota & Robinson, 2001;Dholakia & Kshetri, 2004), others had proposed that SMEs' greater use of the Internet was achieved caused by characteristics of the entrepreneur and his/her attitude toward growth, the firm, and its context (Levy & Powell;Storey, 1994).…”

“…In Canada, for example, SMEs are responsible for 60% of economic output, generate 80% of national employment, and create 85% of all new jobs Shape the future, 2008). However, according to published research, for a variety of reasons, many of which are internal and behavior related, most SMEs have yet to fully embrace e-business capabilities with many limiting their involvement to e-mail and/or brochure ware Web sites (Levy, et al, 2005, Rola, 2002.…”