Micro-Enterprises, Technology and e-Commerce in New Zealand

Much has been written about the inability of Small and Medium Enterprises to catch the e- Commerce train. This research attempts to delve directly into the motives of Micro- Enterprises decision-makers with a set of interpretive case studies. The rationale for using qualitative research is that since it is about technology and business needs, techniques commonly used in system analysis and requirements gathering can be a natural fit. Although the stories are reminiscent of SME situations in other parts of the world, they reveal that New Zealand Micro-Enterprises willing to set-up e-Commerce ventures struggle with a unique local blend of obstacles. What is revealed is that decision makers operate in a macrocosm, and are influenced by their peers, business partners, suppliers and even competitors

East Asian SME Capacity Building, Competitiveness and Market Opportunities in a Global Economy

Over the past decade the economies of East Asia, and APEC more generally, have been opening up their markets and in the process have achieved significant gains in exports and economic growth. In conjunction with this increased economic integration there has been increased recognition by regional governments of the potential for a substantial increase in the participation by small businesses in the generation of regional income, employment, exports, investment and expanded economic growth. Advances in information and communications technology add credence to this potential. In addition, developing economies are especially seeing small businesses as potential instruments for the alleviation of poverty. This viewpoint has been given further stimulus since the financial and economic crisis of 1997-98, arising from which there has been a growing recognition of the need for the East Asian economies to engage in comprehensive restructuring of their corporate sectors, with the objective of achieving transparency, improving corporate governance and developing globally competitive enterprises. The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector can play a key role in the attainment of such objectives. This paper reviews the contribution of the SME sector to the growth and development of the regional (East Asian) economies, and their increasing importance in the attainment of a sustained recovery of the region in terms of economic growth, employment, trade and investment and the development of globally competitive economies. It also identifies: barriers to their development; key factors essential for their capacity building; strategies to enhance their competitiveness in the global marketplace; and key components relating to their export success.East Asia, small and medium-sized enterprises, competitiveness, export success

Comparative Appraisal of Multilateral and Bilateral Approaches to Financing Private Sector Development in Developing Countries

private sector development, development cooperation, bilateral aid, multilateral aid

Determinant Factors of E-commerce Adoption by SMEs in Developing Country: Evidence from Indonesia

The aim of this study is to investigate those factors that influence SMEs in developing countries in adopting e-commerce. This study is motivated by the fact that the adoption of e-commerce by SMEs, especially in developing countries, is still very far behind the adoption by large companies. Yet to be able to survive in the new economic era, which is the information era; businesses, including SMEs, are forced to adopt e-commerce. Non-adopters will be left behind by the adopters. In addition, studies regarding e-commerce adoption by SMEs are rarely found. Therefore, the results of this study provide a timely understanding of e-commerce adoption by SMEs in developing countries. The model developed in this study is based on the TOE framework. Eleven variables are proposed as the factors that influence SMEs in adopting of e-commerce. These are organized into four groups, namely: technological factors, organizational factors, environmental factors and individual factors. Based on a survey of 292 Indonesian SMEs, it was found that perceived benefits, technology readiness, owners’ innovativeness, owners’ IT ability and owners’ IT experience are the determinant factors that influence Indonesian SMEs in their adopting e-commerce

The Small Business Sector report 2014

The Small Business Sector Report 2014 is a government publication that provides a factual source of information in an accessible format on the small businesses that make up a large part of the New Zealand economy. New Zealand needs to encourage firms of all sizes to operate at their peak potential to meet the goals of our Business Growth Agenda. The report includes international comparisons, international trade, innovation, and a summary of small businesses from the perspective of different industries nationally. Its aim is to provide an overview of New Zealand’s small business sector for business people, policy makers, media commentators, economists, academics, students and anyone with an interest in New Zealand’s economic development. See Related Content below: Small Business factsheet 201

e-Factors in e-Agribusiness

The Internet offers new opportunities for small businesses to conquer new markets and to find better and cheaper suppliers. Internet-based commerce is widely perceived as the new business logic that operates in a world without boundaries; a world characterized by speed, change, interactivity and connectivity. In this global commercial environment, e-business models appear to be the central conceptual component. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are changing the way in which companies trade with their suppliers and customers. The growing complexity of the food sector drives companies to adopt more sophisticated and effective e-business solutions. If we intend to adopt an e-business solution we have to consider more “e-factors” such as technological, individual, organizational, industrial and societal aspects

The influence of technology, environment and user acceptance on the effectiveness of information system project selection using SEM

The selection of the present information system project is difficult because of the many factors that influence it. Information system project should pay attention to the user acceptance, technology and the environment in terms of their influence on the information system project selection.The purpose of this paper is to determine how much influence user acceptance, technology and the environment have on the information system project selection.This research uses data obtained from several ministries and analyzed using SEM (Structural Equation Models).The results found that the technology and the environment affects user acceptance. Moreover, technology and environment affect the effectiveness of the information systems project selection through the mediating effect of user acceptance. User acceptance, tested by the incorporation of usefulness and ease of use, the results are more modest and in line with previous theories. Furthermore, the external environment highly impacts the information system project selection

Evaluating Public Policy Formation and Support Mechanisms for Technological Innovation

Policy evaluation is a complex task. Most approaches now adopt a mixed method approach combining both quantitative and qualitative techniques. A shortcoming of the standard approaches is that they fail to measure or investigate deeper perceptions of the policy. In this paper the usefulness of projective techniques as a tool for policy evaluation is investigated. Projective techniques are widely used in psychology and consumer studies but their usefulness in policy evaluation has still to be assessed. A simple evaluation is done in this paper by reporting on a study of owner-managers of tradeable-services small and medium size enterprises attitudes to Government e-business policy. The survey included firms from Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. Traditional quantitative and qualitative survey techniques were used, however these failed to produce conclusive evidence. To overcome this limitation two projective techniques- word association and completion tests were employed as an additional evaluation method. The paper illustrates how the results of projective techniques can be analysed using both context and matrix analysis. Given that the area of e-business is dynamic and fast changing and that SMEs are extremely heterogeneous, it is argued that the application of projective techniques to assess their attitudes and perceptions of government policy is a good test of the usefulness of the method. The results of the projective techniques lead to more insight into the perceptions and attitudes of the owner-managers and provide interesting individual perspectives into the issues. Problems with the method, such as costs, the level of skill needed to apply the technique and generalization are highlighted. The overall conclusions are that projective techniques could provide an interesting additional tool for policy evaluation and that further assessment of its usefulness is needed.Policy evaluation; Projective techniques: E-business; SMEs

Global Innovation Policy Index

Ranks fifty-five nations' strategies to boost innovation capacity: policies on trade, scientific research, information and communications technologies, tax, intellectual property, domestic competition, government procurement, and high-skill immigration