An empirical investigation of business‐to‐business e‐commerce adoption and its impact on SMEs competitive advantage: The case of Egyptian manufacturing SMEs

Abstract

Business‐to‐business (B2B) e‐commerce adoption by Egyptian manufacturing SMEs is an important tool to gain competitive advantage. It is important to understand the levels of B2B e‐commerce adoption among Egyptian manufacturing SMEs and the different factors that influence each level of such adoption. The Technology–Organization–Environment framework factors have a significant impact on the different levels of B2B e‐commerce adoption by Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. Technology–Organization–Environment framework factors have an indirect impact on Egyptian manufacturing SMEs competitive advantage.

Effects of business to business e-commerce adoption on competitive advantage of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises

“…A study by Hazen and Byrd (2012) found that IT adoption created competitive advantage through growth in levels of efficiency and effectiveness. Likewise, a study conducted by Hamad et al (2018) confirmed that B2B e-commerce adoption helped Egyptian SMEs to gain competitive advantage through enhancing business efficiency, lowering costs, providing new and better products and services, increased market share and sales. Some scholars upheld that IT adoption enables SMEs to attain competitive advantage through many paths (Hamad et al, 2018;Hazen & Byrd, 2012); however many prior e-commerce studies have not adequately distinguished between the types of competitive advantages obtained by the different levels of B2B e-commerce adoption.…”

“…Besides, it has been found that adopting internet technologies can dramatically save costs on obtaining, processing and transmitting information, therefore, changing the way organizations do business (Guarda, Augusto, & Silva, 2012;Teo & Pian, 2003). Likewise, other researches have revealed that the adoption of internet technologies reduces the cost of advertising, marketing and sales of products and services, operating costs and inventory costs (Hamad et al, 2018;Krell & Matook, 2009).…”

“…Literature in IT/IS fields have recognized that B2B e-commerce adoption is flourishing and most scholars predict that it would continue to expand faster than business-to -customer electronic commerce, or B2C (Sila, 2013). B2B e-commerce can assist SMEs in obtaining different competitive advantages over their rivals and improving their capabilities to compete with large firms at the world markets (Hamad, Elbeltagi, & El-Gohary, 2018;Scupola, 2003).…”

“…The benefits obtainable from B2B e-commerce depends on the level of its adoption (Elbeltagi et al, 2016;Lefebvre, Lefebvre, Elia, & Boeck, 2005). The degree to which SMEs are prepared to adopt B2B e-commerce is proportionate to the adoption advantages they attain (Hamad et al, 2018). Also, scholars have recognized different levels of e-commerce applications and adoption, for examples, (Abou-Shouk, Megicks, & Lim, 2013;Ghobakhloo, Arias-Aranda, & Benitez-Amado, 2011), however, how competitive advantages can be achieved at each level of IT adoption has been less pronounced in IT/IS literature.…”

E-commerce Model Adoption by Small-Medium Enterprises for Business Development

“…Intercept [13], [4], [7], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27] Relative Advantage Compatibility IT Infrastructure Security Organizational Factors Involvement & Consistency [12], [28], [10], [29], [30], [31] Top Management Support Financial Resources Human Resources…”