The Adoption of e-commerce in SMEs: An Empirical Investigation in Egypt

The Adoption of E-commerce in SMEs: An Empirical Investigation in Egypt It is recognised widely that e-commerce can offer substantial opportunities for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to compete in the global market. In developing countries, e-commerce opportunities can be a meaningful approach for SMEs to be able to compete with large businesses and to access, with lowest possible costs, international markets. However, the current situation shows that SMEs continue to lag behind in maximising their capabilities in taking these chances. Universally, they are reported to be slow adopters of new technologies as a result of limited financial resources and lack of expertise. The importance, of SMEs, emerged from their positions since they contributed more than 90% to many developed or developing countries’ economies and they were considered to be the backbone of any economy. Hence, the main purpose, of conducting this research, was to increase the body of knowledge about the process of the adoption of e-commerce. This was done by a primary empirical focus on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt. SMEs represented about 90% of all Egyptian businesses (ITP, 2012). This study aimed to investigate the factors which could influence the SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. In order to accomplish this objective, the researcher investigated the previous studies, on the same approach, in order to identify the gap, within the literature, regarding the adoption of e-commerce amongst SMEs. Additionally, the researcher integrated existing theories on the adoption of innovation in order to develop a conceptual framework for the determinants of the adoption of e-commerce in the SMEs sector. The researcher reviewed the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI); Resource Based View of the Firm (RBV); Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) Model; and Technology Acceptance Models (TAM) to give constructive information about the firm and decision makers, within the firm, who were believed to have an impact on the adoption of innovation. 3 The proposed model was tested using quantitative research data. The data was collected by means of an online questionnaire survey and, subsequently, due to the high rate of non-respondents, changed to a face-to-face survey. A total of 130 usable responses were generated for purpose of analysis. The study contributed to the existing research by providing valuable information about the factors which influenced the SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. As the results showed, there were 6 groups of factors which impacted mainly on the adoption processes. Namely, these were: Decision maker characteristics (education level, position within the firm, management support, management attitude); organisational characteristics (firm activity, firm size, firm’s assets/capital, firm age, employee’s IT knowledge, firm marketing capability); innovation characteristics (Perceived Relative Advantage); e-readiness (Individual and organisation e-readiness); government support; and barriers to e-commerce. This study’s findings offered important information for Egyptian government, policy makers and managerial participants; those were the people who encouraged the Egyptian SMEs to adopt e-commerce. These findings could be generalised to be applied to other countries with similar conditions to Egypt, as well as being applicable to Egyptian SMEs in other sectors

Evaluation of regional peculiarities of digital trade development in the world

В умовах сучасних процесів глобалізації та діджиталізації світового господарства інформація стає основним виробничим ресурсом. За темпами та рівнем діджиталізації зберігаються значні відмінності як між країнами, регіонами світу, так і всередині країн. Відмінності в готовності до електронної торгівлі, що існують в даний час між країнами і всередині країн, призводять до того, що вигоди від електронної торгівлі розподіляються нерівномірно. В умовах глобалізації світової економічної системи одна з головних задач діджиталізації – забезпечення інтеграції, вирівнювання рівнів розвитку країн через розвиток цифрової економіки та розширення зав’язків між користувачами. Саме процеси діджиталізації мають призвести до прискореного розвитку країн, що розвиваються, збільшення частки цих країн у сукупному світовому товарному виробництві, підвищити рівень грамотності та якості життя населення. Запропоновано використання кластерного аналізу на основі даних та класифікації країн по регіонах організацією ЮНКТАД. При проведенні кластерного аналізу за принципом «ближнього сусіда» на основі показників поширення доступу до Інтернету населення та частки, що мають електронний рахунок, з шести регіонів світу було отримано два кластери, відстань між якими дорівнює P = 0.39. Результатом ієрархічної класифікації об’єктів за рівнем розвитку електронної торгівлі став розподіл країн світу на дві групи: розвинені країни та всі інші, оскільки розрив показників між ними – істотний. Після проведення кластерного аналізу можна стверджувати, що деякі країни, що розвиваються, доволі суттєво відстають від розвинених країн за рівнем діджиталізації. Саме тому актуальним є пошук шляхів подолання цього «цифрового розриву». Розвиток цифрових платформ запропоновано як однин із кроків зі знищення «цифрового розриву» між розвиненими країнами та країнами, що розвиваються.In today’s globalization and digitization processes of the world economy, information becomes a major production resource. Significant differences between countries, regions of the world and within countries remain in terms of digitization pace and level. The differences in e-commerce readiness that currently exist between and within countries result in the fact that the e-commerce benefits are unevenly distributed. In the context of the world economic system globalization, one of the main digitization tasks is to ensure integration, to equalize the countries development levels by the digital economy development, and to extend the contacts between users. It is the processes of digitization that should lead to the accelerated development of developing countries, increase the share of these countries in the total world commodity production, increase the level of literacy and quality of life of the population. The authors proposed the use of cluster analysis based on the data and country classification by region by UNCTAD. Two clusters from six regions of the world the distance between which is equal to P = 0.39 are obtained while conducting cluster analysis according to the “close neighbour” principle based on indicators of Internet access distribution and shares with electronic account.. The result of hierarchical individuals classification by e-commerce development level is the world countries division into two parts: developed countries and the rest ones, since the gap of indicators is significant. After the cluster analysis, it can be stated that some developing countries are far behind the developed countries in terms of digitization level. That is why it is important to find ways to overcome this «digital gap». The development of digital platforms as one of the steps to overcome the «digital gap» between developed and developing countries is proposed

Contribución del comercio electrónico al desempeño de las PyMEs industriales: un modelo estructural

El rol que juegan las Tecnologías de la Información y comunicación (TIC) para lograr un mejor desempeño organizacional aún requiere de un análisis más profundo entre las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PyMEs) de los países en desarrollo. Este estudio pretende ampliar la literatura empírica sobre la relación entre TIC, comercio electrónico y desempeño de las PyMEs en países en desarrollo. Para alcanzar este objetivo, utilizamos una muestra de 87 empresas manufactureras de la ciudad de Bahia Blanca, Argentina correspondiente al año 2015. Mediante la estimación de un Modelo de ecuación estructura, se obtiene que la adopción del comercio electrónico posee una influencia positiva y significativa en las ventas de las PyMEs la cual es potenciada por el nivel de uso de las TIC. Otros factores organizacionales tales como el tamaño de la empresa y los programas públicos explican el desempeño, pero no son predictores significativos de la adopción del comercio electrónico.The role Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play in achieving a better organizational performance still needs further analysis among small and medium sized enterprises (SME) from developing countries. This study aims to extend the empirical literature on the relationship between ICT, electronic commerce and SME performance in developing countries. To achieve this goal, we employ a sample of 87 manufacturing firms from the city of Bahía Blanca, Argentina in the year 2015. By estimating a structural equation model, we obtain that electronic commerce adoption has a positive and significant influence on SME sales which is reinforced by the level of ICT use. Other organizational factors such as firm size and public programs explain performance, but are not significant predictors of the electronic commerce adoption.Fil: Alderete, Maria Veronica. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Economía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Economía. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur; Argentin

IS/IT in developing and emerging economies

Copyright @ AMCIS 2007In spite of the rapid growth many developing and emerging economies are experiencing, with much of this growth supported by information technology (IT), published research dealing with IT in developing economies is still very limited. The objective of this paper is to direct attention to this apparent gap and provide an overview of the issues related to information systems (IS) and IT specifically in developing and emerging economies. Business and social conditions specific to developing and emerging economies and their potential effects on IS/IT implementations are discussed. After a brief review of papers presented at previous AMCIS conferences, some research areas that seem particularly in need of more attention are identified

Policy Issues of e-Commerce Technology Diffusion in Southeast Nigeria: The Case of Small Scale Agribusiness

The benefits brought about by the emergence of e-commerce, e-business and other Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) applications have not been fully explored in the developing economies of the world. The less developed economies are still struggling to catch up with ICT application as opposed to its heavy deployment in the developed economies. Empirical evidence suggests that ICTs and other related technologies are increasingly emerging in the communities of the developing economies such as Nigeria. Rural actors engaged in the Agricultural industries (Agribusiness) feel that the implementation of ICTs can influence the development of new business processes and the way existing processes are organised. In the Southeast of Nigeria, which is a typical example of a less developed community, the impact of e-business technologies has yet to be determined. This paper identifies two classical traditional agribusiness supply chains and hence reports on the impact of e-commerce technology diffusion along the equilibrium of the supply chains, focusing on the elimination of intermediary actors from the chain. It provides an assessment of the Governments’ policies and strategies on e-commerce adoption for the sustainability of small-scale agricultural businesses. The paper examines the politics surrounding ICT implementations by actors engaged in the agribusiness sector. This research has motivated The South East State Government, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to give closer attention to their earlier policy of making Nigeria an ICT-enabled country

Internationalization strategies of frontier Lusophone-African multinational enterprises: comparative case studies of Angola and Mozambique

Internationalization theories suggest that enterprises from emerging and frontier markets will adopt different entry modes than those in advanced economies. There are very few studies to date, however, examining the process of how multi-national enterprises (MNEs) from frontier markets internationalize or evaluating which factors influence their mode of entry into global markets. This research investigates the internationalization strategies of Lusophone Africa MNEs from Angola and Mozambique, more specifically their entry mode, to expand the framework for entry mode strategies to include the motivations and issues of MNEs from emerging and frontier economies. Surveys, as well as in-depth, in-country, qualitative interviews reveal that these frontier and emerging market MNEs opted for equity-based investment strategies as their preferred mode of entry. A significant group second group opted for e-commerce/e-business strategies, and direct and indirect exports. Finally, a smaller portion of the interviewees chose Greenfield investment as a mode of entry. Many of these MNEs could be classified as born global/INV.https://doi.org/10.1080/15475778.2017.1335127Accepted manuscriptPublished versio

Internet Governance: the State of Play

The Global Forum on Internet Governance held by the UNICT Task Force in New York on 25-26 March concluded that Internet governance issues were many and complex. The Secretary-General's Working Group on Internet Governance will have to map out and navigate this complex terrain as it makes recommendations to the World Summit on an Information Society in 2005. To assist in this process, the Forum recommended, in the words of the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations at the closing session, that a matrix be developed "of all issues of Internet governance addressed by multilateral institutions, including gaps and concerns, to assist the Secretary-General in moving forward the agenda on these issues." This paper takes up the Deputy Secretary-General's challenge. It is an analysis of the state of play in Internet governance in different forums, with a view to showing: (1) what issues are being addressed (2) by whom, (3) what are the types of consideration that these issues receive and (4) what issues are not adequately addressed

Product Service Systems and Sustainability: Opportunities for Sustainable Solutions

Given that the concept of PSS is beginning to 'catch on' and gain attention, it is time for UNEP to contribute to, and influence the progress of PSS, to ensure that in concept and application it incorporates the idea of sustainability. In this context its potential is not generally understood by the public and private sectors or civil society. This booklet is intended to contribute to the dissemination and the discussion of the PSS concept as a promising approach to sustainability. The ultimate goal must be to achieve Sustainable Product-Service Systems. This UNEP publication is targeted at industry and government, academia and civil society to explain PSS – their potential benefits and limitations – in the sustainability context – using real company examples. To prepare this booklet, UNEP has drawn on the knowledge and experience of PSS experts to flesh out the concept of a sustainable PSS, to collect case studies of PSS in practice, to begin to document both its benefits and the hurdles which need to be overcome in its application, and to suggest ways forward in its development

Digital entrepreneurship in a resource-scarce context: A focus on entrepreneurial digital competencies

Purpose – Thepurpose of this paper is to criticallyexplorehow context asan antecedent to entrepreneurial digital competencies (EDCs) influences digital entrepreneurship in a resource-scarce environment. Design/methodology/approach – The data comprises semi-structured interviews with 16 digital entrepreneurs, as owner-managers of small digital businesses in Cameroon. Findings – The results reveal the ways in which EDCs shape the entry (or start-up) choices and post-entry strategic decisions of digital entrepreneurs in response to context-specific opportunities and challenges associated with digital entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications – The data comes from one African country and 16 digital businesses thus the research setting limits the generalisability of the results. Practical implications – This paper highlights important implications for encouraging digital entrepreneurship by focussing on institutional, technology and local dimensions of context and measures to develop the entrepreneurial and digital competencies. This includes policy interventions to develop the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, transport and local distribution infrastructure, and training opportunities to develop the EDCs of digital entrepreneurs. Originality/value – Whereas the capabilities to adopt and use ICTs and the internet by small businesses have been examined, this is among the first theoretically sensitised study linking context, EDCs and digital entrepreneurship