Electronic commerce in small to medium-sized enterprises : frameworks, issues and implications

Electronic Commerce in Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises: Frameworks, Issues and Implications addresses eCommerce issues in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a global setting. The book aims at addressing issues that are of importance to researchers, to students, and to professionals interested in the eCommerce field in SMEs and hence, interested in addressing issues pertaining to theory and to practice.

Brand management in small to medium-sized enterprises

Although an impressive body of literature has emerged focusing on the critical activities involved in brand management for larger organizations with well-established brands and substantial marketing budgets, no research has been undertaken to examine branding within small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The present study therefore seeks to assess the nature and scope of brand management within an SME context. Findings show significant differences between small and large organizations along 9 of the 10 brand management dimensions reported in Keller's brand report card. Moreover, different brand management practices are associated with business performance in SMEs. Implications of the study are highlighted, limitations noted, and directions for future research outlined.

Barriers to BIM adoption: Perceptions from Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

This study draws upon a questionnaire survey distributed amongst SMEs in Australia to offer an insight into the main barriers to BIM adoption within Australian SMEs. Based on analyses of 78 completed questionnaires from non-adopters, the main barriers making SMEs shy away from BIM adoption are discussed. The findings show that currently around 42% of Australian SMEs are engaged with BIM. It comes to light that lack of knowledge and resources within SMEs is not a major barrier for Australian SMEs. In essence, the main barriers stem from lack of interests of clients and subcontractors working for SMEs alongside the risks associated with an uncertain return on investment (ROI) for BIM as perceived by key players in SMEs. The study contributes to the field by providing an updated insight into the status quo of BIM in Australian SMEs and spots the main barriers to target for promoting BIM adoption across Australian SMEs.

A framework for electronic commerce research in small to medium-sized enterprises

It is believed that the recent emergence of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in the early '90s could provide different opportunities to small to medium-sized enterprises (SME's) in overcoming part of their technological, environmental, organizational, and managerial inadequacies. However, recent research portrays a gloomy picture about e-commerce uptake and use in SME's. Therefore, the implication here is twofold. Initially, there is a need to generate more e-commerce research that could penetrate much deeper into main impending issues pertaining to the SME’s in their potential uptake and use of e-commerce. On the other hand, e-commerce is characterized of being embryonic but growing very fast and fragmented across the different disciplines, which makes the task of capturing its different perspectives a very complex one. The preceding two implications represent the greatest challenge for researchers and professionals interested in undertaking e-commerce research in SME’s. In line with the above implications, the first objective of this research aims at capturing the different e-commerce perspectives from the SMEs' point of view, and the second objective aims at capturing the e-commerce perspective from the theoretical and the methodological point of view. Addressing the preceding implications in this research could shed some light into some of the gray areas in the e-commerce research in SMEs.

An empirical study of e-business security in Geelong small to medium business enterprises (SMEs)

This paper delivers the findings from a study conducted to investigate Australian SMEs and e-business security. The study established the attitudes and concerns of a sample of Australian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) towards the use of e-business within their operational environment using the members of the Geelong Chamber of Commerce as a base for survey participants. The results focus on e-business security and identifying mechanisms that SMEs use to safeguard their e-business systems.

BIM adoption within Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) : an innovation diffusion model

Despite the envisaged benefits of BIM adoption for SMEs, BIM in SMEs has remained an underrepresented area within the available academic literature. This study proposes and draws upon a framework grounded on innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to provide an illuminating insight into the current state of BIM and the main barriers to BIM adoption within Australian SMEs. Based on analyses of 135 questionnaires completed by SMEs through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and grounded on the proposed framework, the current state of BIM adoption and barriers to BIM adoption for SMEs are discussed. The findings show that currently around 42% of Australian SMEs use BIM in Level 1 and Level 2 with only around 5% have tried Level 3. It comes to light that lack of knowledge within SMEs and across the construction supply chain is not a major barrier for Australian SMEs. In essence, the main barriers stem from the risks associated with an uncertain return on investment (ROI) for BIM as perceived by key players in SMEs. The findings also show the validity of the framework proposed for explaining BIM adoption in Australian SMEs.

IT and ecommerce outsourcing in small to medium-size enterprises in New Zealand : an exploratory research

In New Zealand, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a very important role in the economy by their contribution to both employment and also to gross domestic product. Addressing issues pertinent to SMEs is of paramount importance in driving this sector forward. Information Technology (IT) emerges as one main enabler for SMEs in automating their operations, seeking new opportunities and enhancing their strategic business positioning in local and international markets. However, the dynamic nature of IT and inability of SMEs, due to problems inherent in their size and structure, makes it difficult for them to take appropriate decisions to benefit from the IT technologies. The advent of eCommerce (EC) has only compounded this problem. One way out of this complex situation is to outsource the IT and EC technology requirements by the SMEs. This study endeavours to identify the pattern of IT and EC outsourcing issues of SMEs within New Zealand. It reveals that the main driver for IT outsourcing is access to expertise and used mainly for maintenance purposes only. The study also identifies the problems in IT outsourcing and makes suggestions for further research in this crucial sector.

Quality methods in Australian small and medium sized enterprises: a research framework

Quality methods in Australian industry gained much attention in the late 1980s and for most of the 1990s. In particular, quality methods such as quality systems and quality system certification had prominence, as Governments and large private sector firms attempted to improve their supply-chains. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a rigorous and holistic approach to investigating the applicability of quality methods in Australian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). It describes the research framework developed to further investigate the impact of quality methods on Australian SMEs, and illustrates how the framework leads to a broader exploratory study.

Explaining the levels of innovation and R&D in New Zealand's small and medium-sized enterprises : too many small firms?

This paper is concerned with explaining the levels of innovative activity in New Zealand's SMEs. It is arguable that New Zealand provides a special case where innovation and R&D levels are comparatively low in SMEs, yet, paradoxically, it is also a nation of high rates of entrepreneurial activity. This paper seeks to examine the factors that affect innovation levels in New Zealand SMEs from an analysis of panel data set of 1500 SMEs. We test research propositions based on existing theory and literature on innovation levels in SMEs and discuss our findings. Firm size is found to be significant; we argue that New Zealand has too few growth firms rather than too many small firms and we suggest that barriers to innovation, such as access to finance, remain an issue which should be a focus for government support.

Social capital for knowledge management : the case of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Asia-Pacific Region

This article proposes a conceptual framework that explains that the social capital of a community shapes the innovation performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through knowledge management within the firm. The study's significance stems from the unprecedented effort in explaining how community social capital matters in the innovation performance of SMEs, a departure from previous studies that have typically examined market-related or hierarchical social capital in the form of formal networks and directly linked them to a firm's innovation performance without due regard for knowledge management within the firm as an antecedent of organisational innovation performance. The aim is to stimulate further thinking and empirical research on the subject of social capital of a community in the SME and/or entrepreneurial context.

What drives the adoption of electronic markets in Australian small-and-medium sized enterprises? – an empirical study

This paper reports a study of the critical determinants for adopting electronic markets (e-Market) in Australian small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. Structural equation modelling and logistic regression are used for identifying the critical determinants for the adoption of e-Markets by Australian SMEs through testing a proposed conceptual model and proposing an alternative model. This study contributes to existing research by enriching an understanding of the critical determinants of adopting an e-Market in Australian SMEs and by providing a validated model for the interrelationships of the determinants in technology adoption.

Organizational commitment in Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises: the role of extrinsic, intrinsic and social rewards

This study investigates the relationship between organizational rewards and employee commitment in Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyse survey data from 286 employees of 11 organizations. In line with what was hypothesized extrinsic rewards were found to be strongly related to both affective and continuance commitment, whereas satisfaction with supervision and role clarity positively influenced affective commitment. In contrast to previous empirical findings, autonomy and training provision were only found to influence continuance commitment. These findings have significant managerial implications regarding the utility of providing organizational rewards to enhance the commitment of Chinese employees. In order to promote employee commitment, SME managers could start by giving their employees greater autonomy and clarity regarding their role in the organization, as well as improving supervisor support. These are relatively inexpensive measures compared to the costly alternatives of improving extrinsic benefit packages and investing in employee training.

Intervention strategies to engage small and medium sized enterprise in environmental good practice

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are an important part of the world economy but they are thought to be responsible for around 60% of all carbon dioxide emissions by businesses in the UK and 70% of all pollution. SMEs often have major problems with limited resources, limited knowledge and limited technical capabilities to deal with their own environmental impact. SMEs exhibit widely differing characteristics and behaviours where environmental issues are concerned. Yet under these conditions they are all expected to engage in environmentally responsible business for the greater good of society. Interventions that encourage good environmental behaviour are often polarised between regulation and legislation at one extreme and voluntary environmental agreements at the other. It is clear that a holistic mixture of interventions is necessary to achieve maximum engagement by all SMEs. This paper categorises the main behaviours observed in SMEs towards environmental issues and develops a selection or 'tool kit' of intervention strategies that might be deployed within each category of SME for maximum effect.