Assessing the success and evaluating the benefits of government-sponsored regional internet-trading platforms for small and medium enterprises: A Western Australian perspective

The Internet has been viewed as an opportunity for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to efficiently compete in the global arena with their larger counterparts by overcoming distance and size. However, research has shown that actual uptake of Internet e-commerce by SMEs has been lagging behind that of larger companies. Fearing a growing digital divide between large companies and SMEs, some governments have taken specific measures to encourage SME participation in ecommerce. One of the more direct government initiatives to hasten the progression of SMEs on the e-commerce adoption curve is the creation, sponsorship and management of regional Internet trading platforms for these enterprises. Such a move is predicated on the belief that these platforms will offer SMEs a low-cost introduction to participation in Internet trading platforms without the need for significant technology investments, allowing them to reap benefits like lower costs, improved customer service and new levels of innovation through knowledge-sharing

A preliminary meta-analysis of SME ebusiness journal publications: current trends and future research opportunities moving beyond adoption factor studies

Previous meta-analyses of SME-eBusiness journal research focuses on analysing adoption factors, pre-2000 articles and a small number of journals. This paper departs from this research by analysing 100 articles published between 2003 and 2006 in 41 journals on the basis of the research approaches employed, countries and eBusiness technologies studied, and research objectives focused upon. The paper presents preliminary insights into current major research trends based on this analysis, such as the predominant focus on adoption factor by many studies. It also identifies future research opportunities, and proposes a research agenda which aims to progress SME-eBusiness research beyond adoption factor studies by outlining research objectives to help SMEs overcome barriers and exploit drivers.<br /

The First 25 Years of the Bled eConference: Themes and Impacts

The Bled eConference is the longest-running themed conference associated with the Information Systems discipline. The focus throughout its first quarter-century has been the application of electronic tools, migrating progressively from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) via Inter-Organisational Systems (IOS) and eCommerce to encompass all aspects of the use of networking facilities in industry and government, and more recently by individuals, groups and society as a whole. This paper reports on an examination of the conference titles and of the titles and abstracts of the 773 refereed papers published in the Proceedings since 1995. This identified a long and strong focus on categories of electronic business and corporate perspectives, which has broadened in recent years to encompass the democratic, the social and the personal. The conference\u27s extend well beyond the papers and their thousands of citations and tens of thousands of downloads. Other impacts have included innovative forms of support for the development of large numbers of graduate students, and the many international research collaborations that have been conceived and developed in a beautiful lake-side setting in Slovenia

A review of studies on information systems and SMEs in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014)

This paper identifies novel approaches to future small and medium enterprise (SME) research from a review of articles, and then introduces the papers in this AJIS special section which evidence these approaches. More specifically, the paper makes an important contribution by reviewing 61 articles in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014) and introducing three new facets which are used to analyse research on SME adoption/use of IS (units of analysis, SME sizes and SME types) not considered in previous literature review studies. These facets provide thebasis for proposing various future research opportunities. The editorial then introduces the four papers in this special section covering the research theme on SMEs, and highlights the contributions they make using the three facets

A review of studies on information systems and SMEs in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014)

This paper identifies novel approaches to future small and medium enterprise (SME) research from a review of articles, and then introduces the papers in this AJIS special section which evidence these approaches. More specifically, the paper makes an important contribution by reviewing 61 articles in high ranked IS journals (2000-2014) and introducing three new facets which are used to analyse research on SME adoption/use of IS (units of analysis, SME sizes and SME types) not considered in previous literature review studies. These facets provide the basis for proposing various future research opportunities. The editorial then introduces the four papers in this special section covering the research theme on SMEs, and highlights the contributions they make using the three facets

Factors Contributing to the Business Digital Divide: A Systematic Literature Review

The main aim of this study is to review the literature relating to the factors that contribute to the business digital divide. A systematic literature review was conducted using two databases (Scopus and Web of Science). A total of 28 articles were selected and analyzed. The selected studies are conducted in various developing and developed countries, including all firm sizes and different sectors, and cover several different digital technologies. Identified factors determining the business digital divide are categorized as technological, organizational, and environmental factors. The discussion and the potentials for further research are also presented

New directions for research on SME-eBusiness :insights from an analysis of journal articles from 2003-2006

Previous research which consolidates the growing body of academic literature on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and electronic business (eBusiness) has taken the form of meta-analyses which focus on analysing adoption factors, pre-2000 articles and a small number of journals. This paper makes a valuable contribution to the analysis of SME-eBusiness research by addressing the limitations of past literature analyses because it presents an extensive literature review of 120 SME-eBusiness journal articles published between 2003 and 2006 in 53 journals. This paper is unique, when compared to meta-analyses of adoption factors, because it analyses the SME-eBusiness literature broadly on the basis of the data collection approaches used, countries and eBusiness technologies studied, and the primary research objective of each article. This approach to the analysis revealed a number of limitations in the existing research such as the tendency: to treat SMEs and eBusiness applications homogeneously rather than as highly diverse, complex entities; to repeat adoption factor studies which have now reached saturation point; and to focus on SMEs themselves without considering the complexity of relationships which many SMEs have with family, friends, other businesses and eBusiness solution providers. These limitations highlight the need for new research directions which move beyond identifying and evaluating adoption factors. The paper concludes by outlining a number of broad research directions which might help overcome the limitations with the existing body of SME-eBusiness research. <br /

Study of internet usage in the fresh produce supply chain in the UK and China

A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy of the University of BedfordshireFresh produce supply chain management faces a high level of complexity and uncertainty and a number of challenges due to fresh produce's perishable, seasonal and fragile characteristics. It is argued that effective implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (leTs) has great potential for improving efficiency and reducing wastage within the fresh produce (fruit and vegetable) supply chain. While' the Internet is used by many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the fresh produce industry, the extent to which it is applied and further developed after the initial adoption varies widely. Much research has been carried out to investigate Internet adoption and usage, but very limited effort has been focused on the identification of the current level of technology integration and deve!opment and the factors affecting the level of the development after the adoption, especially in the context of SMEs in the fresh produce supply chain. This research attempts to address this issue by developing a theoretical framework to illustrate the evolutionary process of Internet adoption and diffusion and to identify factors affecting the development of Internet-based supply chains by following the Technological/Organisational/Environmental (TOE) framevork. First, five development levels of post-adoption of Internet technologies in the supply chain were defined, and factors from the technological, organisational and environmentalcontexts were identified according to literatures and exploratory interviews. Second, questionnaire surveys were conducted in the UK and China to investigate the current situation of internet technologies used by SMEs in the fresh produce supply chains in the two countries. Finally, factors the proposed framework were validated and discussed. The empirical findings show that the Internet is no longer a new technology for most fresh produce SMEs in the UK and China. However, a large proportion of SMEs surveyed are still using basic functions of the Internet, and there is little difference between the UK and Chinese SMEs when comparing the use of complex applications in the supply chains. The results also show that most of the factors in the organisational and technological contexts are positively related to the current development levels of the Internet-based supply chain, whereas, in the environmental context, pressures from customers in the UK and mutual trust among partners in China have a significant impact on current development levels. Additionally, in both countries, companies in a better development level of Internet-based supply chain would achieve a higher degree of integration in their supply chain in five years. Overall, the research has made a number of important contributions to knowledge, current debate and practice in an under-researched sector. The five-level post-adoption framework can be adapted to identify ICT development levels and key factors in other sectors. The empirical data collected has added value to and sheds lights on the current applications of the Internet in the supply chain in general, and in the fresh produce SMEs in China and the UK in particular. The key factors identified as impeding the further development of the Internet, such as factors related to the business environments in the UK and China, will help government policy-makers, supply chain facilitators and IT service providers to be more focused in their efforts to improve the situation and to stimulate the further diffusion of emerging Internet technologies. The research has certain limitations due to the time constraints and sample selections. These limitations provide a platform for directing future research

New directions for research on SME-eBusiness: insights from an analysis of journal articles from 2003 to 2006

Previous research which consolidates the growing body of academic literature on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and electronic business (eBusiness) has taken the form of meta-analyses which focus on analysing adoption factors, pre-2000 articles and a small number of journals. This paper makes a valuable contribution to the analysis of SME-eBusiness research by addressing the limitations of past literature analyses because it presents an extensive literature review of 120 SME-eBusiness journal articles published between 2003 and 2006 in 53 journals. This paper is unique, when compared to meta-analyses of adoption factors, because it analyses the SME-eBusiness literature broadly on the basis of the data collection approaches used, countries and eBusiness technologies studied, and the primary research objective of each article. This approach to the analysis revealed a number of limitations in the existing research such as the tendency: to treat SMEs and eBusiness applications homogeneously rather than as highly diverse, complex entities; to repeat adoption factor studies which have now reached saturation point; and to focus on SMEs themselves without considering the complexity of relationships which many SMEs have with family, friends, other businesses and eBusiness solution providers. These limitations highlight the need for new research directions which move beyond identifying and evaluating adoption factors. The paper concludes by outlining a number of broad research directions which might help overcome the limitations with the existing body of SME-eBusiness research

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse