Does e‐commerce fulfil its promise for developing country (South African) garment export producers?

Abstract

The adoption of e-commerce applications is promoted in the developing world as a systemic innovation offering producer firms new exchange mechanisms that enable them to compete on a more equal basis in world markets. It promises a radical shift in the way in which international buyers and sellers trade with one another. Empirical evidence obtained from researching leading garment exporting firms in South Africa suggests that B2B e-commerce is not as effective in reducing transaction costs or in opening up new global market opportunities as claimed by the "optimists". It has only marginally altered trading and business patterns between international buyers and sellers in the garment industry. The findings indicate that trading relationships in this sector are fostered over extended periods of time, depend on non-contract based activities and on complex information requirements and tend to be highly personalized. If B2B e-commerce implementation is to become more widespread, much greater attention will need to be given to the tight and complex interdependencies between buyers and sellers, technological opportunities and constraints, related institutional issues, and the specific characteristics and positioning of South African garment producers within global value chains.

Barriers to e-commerce and competitive business models in developing countries: A case study

“…For instance, the top management's a priori evaluation influences cognitive bias toward e-business [19]. In developing countries, organizations' human, business, and technological resources, a lack of awareness and understanding of potential opportunities, risk aversion and inertia often lead to a negative cognitive assessment of e-commerce [7,22,26]. …”

“…Yet in ecommerce journals, the developing world has received surprisingly scant attention. There are a very few analytical e-commerce studies in the developing world settings [7]. Moreover, empirical evidence in the developing world lags behind theoretical development.…”

“…Moreover, empirical evidence in the developing world lags behind theoretical development. There have been calls for research on developing country-based enterprises' e-commerce strategy [7].…”

“…Moreover, empirical evidence in the developing world lags behind theoretical development. There have been calls for research on developing country-based enterprises' e-commerce strategy [7].To fill the research void and this paper attempts to gain an understanding of e-commerce barriers in developing countries and illuminate successful e-business models. To achieve this, we draw upon the literature to offer a model of e-commerce barriers in the developing world and illustrate a competitive business model employed to overcome some of the barriers.…”

Internet Use Patterns amongst Internationalizing Ghanaian Exporters

“…An export led growth strategy is one of the drivers of achieving Ghana' s Vision 2020 (the point at which Ghana will reach middle income status) goals. The Internet has also aided in marginally improving supply chain management practices (see Mansell et al, 2004, Moodley et al, 2004Pare, 2003). Mansell et al, (2004) delineate three types of Internet-related export activities that would be borne out of market research.…”