E‐commerce adoption support and advice for UK SMEs

Abstract

The small business sector of the UK economy is extremely important and the government expends considerable resources in providing support services for this sector. This paper investigated the reasons why SMEs move from traditional commerce to e‐commerce, the efficacy of the support services and the barriers encountered by SMEs adopting e‐commerce. The research methodology involved literature review and interviews with SMEs’ owner‐managers and a UK Online business adviser. It was found that at least two “e‐commerce stars” used by the government to promote its support services had in fact not used those services. The historical relationship problems between Business Link and SMEs were still causing problems. Cost was not seen as an inhibitor to adopting e‐commerce. Some evidence was emerging that e‐commerce may be able to save failing or struggling businesses. Other unexpected outcomes were that e‐commerce had social benefits for SMEs’ owners in reducing working hours yet still increased sales.

Facilitating the Intention to Expand E-business Payment Systems Use in Nigerian Small Firms: An Empirical Analysis

“…However, others (e.g. Dongen et al, 2002;Simpson & Doherty, 2004) found that a lack of financial resources was not a sufficient factor to set back e-business adoption in small firms. Perhaps due to economic reality, Nigerian small firms lack required financial resources to enable them procure and adopt useful and relevant business tools (Ifinedo, 2005b;.…”

“…Similarly, more concerted efforts need to be undertaken to sensitize business owners and their employees or increase awareness of such innovations. The need for e-business payment systems coaching and training is deserving of attention (Simpson & Doherty, 2004).…”

Exploring the Types of SMEs Which Could use Blogs as a Marketing Tool: a Proposed Future Research Agenda

“…• The extent to which SME owner-managers participate in and get their eBusiness adoption and general business advice via informal, often highly social, business networks (Beckinsale et al, 2006;Gibbs et al, 2007;MacGregor & Vrazalic, 2007;Simmons et al, 2008) and/or get advice from family members (Galloway & Mochrie, 2005;Martin & Matlay, 2003;Simpson & Docherty, 2004;Zheng et al, 2004). This suggests SME owner-managers who are members of personal or business networks might be inclined to follow the advice of opinion leaders in or the norms of these networks concerning blog use.…”

The influence of B2B e-commerce on SMEs' performance and efficiency: a review of the literature

“…Other studies have identified enterprise size 4 based on annual turnover (Ramamurthy, et al 1999), while some studies have applied both the number of employees and the revenue as indicators of enterprise size. A wide review of the literature such as Simpson and Docherty (2004), Stockdale and Standing (2006), and Kartiwi and MacGregor (2007) suggests that SMEs have the following characteristics: strong owner influence, centeralised power, lack of specialist staff, small management team, multifunctional management, unwillingness to take risks, low employee turnover, lack of the necessary expertise and avoidance of sophisticated software or IT applications' adoption.…”