Conclusions

Chapter 8 - An Analysis of Factors that Influence the Ability of SMEs to Derive Benefit in Four Phases of Electronic Commerce: 34 Australian Case Studies
Managing IT in Government, Business & Communities
by Gerry Gingrich (ed)
Idea Group Publishing 2003

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This paper has developed a framework that identifies and critically analyses the range of factors impacting on SMEs' ability to derive benefit from e-commerce. This framework has examined factors both internal and external to the organisation, and has identified enabling and inhibiting forces generated by their interaction. Significantly, this framework has highlighted that, for SMEs, the ability to derive benefit from e-commerce relies on internal forces where they have some control and external forces over which they have little control. This exploratory study provides an explanation for why many SMEs who are relatively sophisticated users of e-commerce have often found it difficult to derive significant benefit from e-commerce.

This paper has outlined a range of factors internal and external to the organisation, which can potentially provide e-commerce benefit and contribute to e-commerce business transformation. The range of internal factors that emerged from the data mirrors some of the elements of Venkatraman's (1994) work on organisational transformation. Detailed analysis of these internal factors indicates that the mix of internal resources, attributes of management, and technical ability of SMEs are important to the utilisation of e-commerce by organisations included in this study. Factors that are external to the organisation, over which these SMEs had little control, can directly affect the capacity to acquire other potential e-commerce benefits. These factors include the nature of the supply chain, external service providers, influence of the industry, and level of government support. The combination of internal and external factors directly and indirectly influences the ability of SMEs to implement, utilise, and maintain an e-commerce operation.

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