The Impact of Risks and Challenges in E-Commerce Adoption Among SMEs

2011 ◽  
pp. 1838-1844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Ratnasingam
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Small Business Administration ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Managerial Skills ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Tax Returns ◽  
Use Of The Internet

E-commerce provides different opportunities to small businesses as it overcomes part of their technical, environmental, organizational, and managerial inadequacies (Bergeron, Raymond, & Rivard, 2001; Hussin, King, & Cragg, 2002). According to Forrester Research, e-commerce in the US will grow at 19% reaching $230 billion by 2008. Further, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated that in 2003, there were 27 million small business tax returns. Small businesses are an important and integral part of every nation’s economy (Hambrick & Crozier, 1985). The US Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a small business as “an independent business having fewer than 500 employees or is independently owned and not dominant in its field of operation.” Small firms play an increasingly crucial role in US economy. They employ more than one half of the US private sector work force, are responsible for about one-half of the GDP, and generate more than one half of all sales in the US create 60%-80% of net new jobs annually (Ibrahim, Angelidids, J. & Parsa, 2004). Alternatively, small businesses are often more challenged than larger firms by resource constraints, such as lack of fi- nancial capital, and technical or managerial skills, knowledge and expertise that significantly reduce the number and types of options available to management (Hodgetts & Kuratko, 2001). Previous research suggests that although most small businesses were connected to the Internet, the potential use of the Internet in their business was rarely explored. Security concerns has a direct impact on every critical part of the small business including reputation, productivity, and business continuity, as they need to adhere to the legal requirement for information management. The research question thus designed for this study is what factors inhibit or pose challenges for e-commerce adoption among small businesses? We discuss the findings of an exploratory case study with four firms, across a section of different industries, on the risks and challenges they encountered when adopting e-commerce. The study contributes to managerial and theoretical implications by increasing the importance and awareness of small businesses in e-commerce adoption.

Future of Small Business E-Commerce

2011 ◽  
pp. 2159-2163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simpson Poon
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Electronic Mail ◽  
The Internet ◽  
File Transfer Protocol ◽  
File Transfer ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
E Mail

The use of the Internet for business purposes among small businesses started quite early in the e-commerce evolution. In the beginning, innovative and entrepreneurial owners of small businesses attempted to use rudimentary Internet tools such as electronic mail (e-mail) and file transfer protocol (FTP) to exchange messages and documents. While primitive, it fulfilled much of the business needs at the time. Even to date, e-mail and document exchange, according to some of the latest research findings, are still the most commonly used tools despite the fact that tools themselves have become more sophisticated.

Future of Small Business E-Commerce

2005 ◽  
pp. 1253-1256
Author(s):  
Simpson Poon
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Electronic Mail ◽  
The Internet ◽  
File Transfer Protocol ◽  
File Transfer ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
E Mail

The use of the Internet for business purposes among small businesses started quite early in the e-commerce evolution. In the beginning, innovative and entrepreneurial owners of small businesses attempted to use rudimentary Internet tools such as electronic mail (e-mail) and file transfer protocol (FTP) to exchange messages and documents. While primitive, it fulfilled much of the business needs at the time. Even to date, e-mail and document exchange, according to some of the latest research findings, are still the most commonly used tools despite the fact that tools themselves have become more sophisticated.

U.S. African-American Small Business Owners' Leadership Perspectives Around Business Development, Sustainability, and Succession Transition

2021 ◽  
pp. 413-423
Author(s):  
Orna T. Bradley-Swanson ◽  
Darrell Norman Burrell
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Business Development ◽  
Small Business Owners ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Leadership Perspectives ◽  
The U.S

Small businesses produce near 50% of the gross domestic product and are responsible for over 6 out of 10 new jobs. These numbers point to the importance of small business ownership and leadership is important in the US economy. In 2020, there are 124,004 African-American-owned businesses in the U.S. In spite of these numbers, African-American-owned small businesses face tremendous challenges. This exploratory qualitative study examines U.S. African-American small business owners' leadership perspectives around business development, sustainability, and succession transition.

Monopoly capital and entrepreneurship: whither small business?

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1577-1595
Author(s):  
Thomas E Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
First Century ◽  
Business Regulation ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Economic Stagnation ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Economic Concentration ◽  
Creation Rate

Abstract There has been a growing body of literature over the last several years on a possible decline in US entrepreneurship and the reasons for it. US small business formation and the jobs created by small businesses are supposed to be key elements in US economic growth. Many claim that without growth in small businesses and the jobs they provide that the US economy will either not grow at all or only very slowly. Therefore, small business is a key to understanding capitalism in the twenty-first century since under monopoly capital, there is claimed to be a tendency towards economic concentration (at the expense of small business) and towards economic stagnation. Some of the general causes mentioned for less US entrepreneurism include high levels of debt among the US populace and the increasing challenges that small businesses face against larger ones. Another concern is the amount of increasing business regulation and government presence in the US economy with which small businesses struggle more than larger ones. If entrepreneurism requires risk taking, then high levels of household debt and large, well-financed potential competitors may be hindering prospective entrepreneurs. This exploratory paper finds that these factors are highly correlated with the slowdown in the entry rates of new firms into the US economy since the late 1970s as well as with a slowdown in the job creation rate of these firms.

The Role of SBA Loans in Small Business Survival after Disaster Events

2021 ◽  
pp. 0739456X2110282
Author(s):  
Maria Watson
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Conditional Logistic Regression ◽  
Small Business Administration ◽  
Confounding Factors ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Business Survival ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Local businesses are important for recovering communities, yet program analyses of the effectiveness of Federal disaster loans—particularly for businesses—are limited and contradictory. This study looks at the role U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Loans played in the long-term survival of small businesses in Galveston County, Texas after the 2008 Hurricane Ike. This research uses quasi-experimental design, matching methods, and conditional logistic regression to tease out the effect of the loan from potential confounding factors. The results show that businesses that received a disaster loan were significantly more likely to survive than their controls, and businesses that moved were also more likely to survive.

The Evolution of Balance Scorecard and its Impact on Web Services Quality

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-56
Author(s):  
Pauline Ratnasingam
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Web Services ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Balanced Scorecard ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Services Quality ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Application Development

Web services quality have become a significant part of small businesses who use it to facilitate the seamless flow of business transactions and financial growth. While previous research focused on the technological, operational and infrastructure capabilities such as; reducing the cost of application development, systems integration and increasing interoperability among heterogeneous software components, applications and platforms. Small businesses on the other hand, are often more challenged than larger firms by resource constraints such as; lack of financial capital, and technical or managerial skills. Further, they are often confronted with the reality of their business performance. “If you can't measure it, you can't manage it,” since effective performance management requires accurate performance measurement. The author applies the integrated evolved Enterprise-Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (E-DMAIC) balanced scorecard methodology to examine web services quality in a small business firm. The integrated framework applies the traditional balanced scorecard four perspectives namely; learning and growth, internal business processes, customer and financial perspectives and the nine stages of the E-DMAIC balanced scorecard approach along with quality indicators. The new approach serves three purposes; first, as a measurement system monitoring performance and the quality of their goods and services. Second, as a communication tool providing diagnostic feedback of their performance, and lastly, as a strategic management system focusing on the small business visions. The author then tests the framework via an exploratory case study and reports the findings. The findings contribute to guidelines that will inform, educate and promote small businesses on the importance of web services quality.

Franchising and Information Technology

2011 ◽  
pp. 118-139
Author(s):  
Ye-Sho Cehn ◽  
Robert Justis ◽  
P. Pete Chong
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Small Business Administration ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Local Distribution ◽  
Small Business Development ◽  
Business Opportunity ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
The U.S

According to Justis and Judd (1998), franchising is defined as “a business opportunity by which the owner (producer or distributor) of a service or a trademarked product grants exclusive rights to an individual for the local distribution and/or sale of the service or product, and in return receives a payment or royalty and conformance to quality standards. The individual or business granting the business rights is called the franchisor, and the individual or business granted the right to operate in accordance with the chosen method to produce or sell the product or service is called the franchisee.” Although the business of the franchisor is usually larger than the “satellite small businesses” of the franchisees, most franchisors manage mostly small and medium-size enterprises (Stanworth, Price, and Purdy, 2001). The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recognizes this fact and sponsors various seminars in franchising, for example, business plan and raising capital, through regional Small Business Development Centers (Thomas and Seid, 2000). In addition, SBA sets up programs specifically designed for franchises (for example, Franchise Registry Web site: www.franchiseregistry.com) to streamline the review process for SBA loan applications (Sherman, 1999) and provide special incentives for franchisees to open locations in economically depressed areas (Thomas and Seid, 2000).

Accounting and Marketing—Key Small Business Problems

1983 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Wichmann
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Administration ◽  
Small Business Administration ◽  
Business Failure ◽  
Business Managers

The Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that small businesses represent 97 percent of all businesses in the United States [5, p. 1]. The SBA defines a small business as “one that is not dominate in its field.” While the ma and pa shops fall within this definition, much larger firms are considered small under SBA criteria. The owner-managers of these small firms face unique problems—success or failure is keyed to solving these problems. Each year in the United States, some 500,000 new businesses start and 400,000 businesses discontinue operations [1, p. 47]. These discontinuances are not all due to business failure (a bankrupt firm). Some small firms are merged with larger companies, while the spark of life leaves other small firms because the owner retires without a son or daughter to take over the reins of leadership. The purpose of this article is to aid small business managers by (1) reviewing the process of beginning a business, (2) identifying some of the attributes that characterize a successful or unsuccessful small business, and (3) discussing small firms’ problems common to the frontier states of Alaska and Wyoming.

A US—EU Computer Science Curriculum Development Initiative

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-147
Author(s):  
Willis K. King ◽  
Michel Israel
Keyword(s):  
Vocational Training ◽  
Science Curriculum ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
International Project ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Software Project ◽  
The Us ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
First Time

This paper describes the use of the Internet in an international project supported by the US Department of Education and the European Union's DG XII under the United States–European Union Programme for Cooperation in Higher Education and Vocational Training. The paper focuses specifically on a novel software project course. Students from both sides of the Atlantic work cooperatively to design and implement a piece of software in a semester project. As expected, there are major hurdles to overcome. The authors describe how the course is designed and implemented and documents the experience of offering the course the first time. There are a number of surprises.

Women Entrepreneurs

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-157
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Small Business ◽  
International Research ◽  
Women Entrepreneurs ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Women Business Owners ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Set Up

‘Internet Review’ identifies relevant and useful Websites related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This issue's article reviews Websites on women entrepreneurs. The US Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy estimated that there were 9.1 million women-owned firms in 2001, employing 27.5 million people and contributing $3.6 trillion in sales and revenue to the US economy. Over 18 million women business owners set up one-third of the companies created in the European Union. International research results suggest that the needs of women entrepreneurs worldwide are similar and that their major problems are finance/capital, education/training and networks/markets.

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