Adoption of Internet-Based Marketing Channels by Small- and Medium-Sized Manufacturers

Abstract

This paper analyses factors influencing manufacturers' adoption of Internet-based marketing channels using models based on marketing channel and organisational innovation theory. Survey data from 1,163 Danish, Finnish, and Swedish manufacturers form the empirical basis for testing the models using LISREL analysis. The results stress that adoption of Internet-based marketing is influenced by willingness to cannibalize, by management support, by market pressure, and by a firm's knowledge of IT. A willingness to cannibalize mediates the effects of future market orientation, ownership, specialized investments, and management support. This is mainly the case in small firms, as the importance of the various drivers and the adoption pattern varies among size categories. Market-pull factors have relatively more explanatory power in medium-sized and large companies.

Business Process Digitalization and New Product Development

“…We believe our study is one of the first empirical studies examining the impact of extensiveness of business process digitalization on SME new product development. Previous literature has mostly focused on either the antecedents of BPD or the financial consequences of using one or more specific types of e-business practices, leaving the impact of using an enterprise-wide BPD on product development largely unexplored (e.g., Nielson et al, 2005;Xu et al, 2007). By adopting insights from the knowledge-based view and the organizational learning theory, this study found a linkage between BPD and new product development.…”

“…To date, the majority of research on SME's BPD has focused on the antecedents of SMEs engaging in one or few specific types of e-business practice or process (Wymer & Regan, 2005). For example, scholars have examined factors at the organizational level (e.g., Burke, 2005;Dholakia & Kshetri, 2004;Nielson, Host & Mols, 2005;Xu, Rohatgi & Duan, 2007); the industrial level (e.g., Dholakia & Kshetri, 2004;Lee, 2004); and the institutional level (e.g., Kshetri, 2007) that influence the SME's decision to adopt BPD. Less in quantities, studies also have looked at the role of BPD in influencing SMEs' market and operational performance (e.g., Johnston et al, 2007;Merono-Cerdan & Soto-Acosta, 2006;Rajendran & Vivekanandan, 2008;Zhu, Kraemer, Xu & Dedrick, 2004).…”

Coping with Manufacturers’ Dilemma in the E-Commerce Era

“…In addition to perceived benefits and risks, the availability of resources (Cragg & King, 1993;Lee, 2004) and social pressures such as the pressures from clients, suppliers, and competitors (Nielsen, Høst, & Mols, 2005) also contribute to the manufacturer's intention to initiate an ODSC. Therefore, we also propose: Proposition 3: The manufacturer's intention to establish an ODSC will be positively related to the availability of resources required.…”

Pure Play vs. Bricks-and-Clicks

“…Still another challenge to the managers of bricks-and-clicks stores is the cannibalization effect on the sales of their existing physical stores (Grunberg, 1999;Nielson, Host, & Mols, 2005). Online sales may reduce off-line sales, and competition between managers of the two types of commerce within a single retailer may prevent them from cooperating with each other.…”