Comparing theories to explain e-commerce adoption

E-commerce is a strategy for rapid growth, especially by small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). However, the adoption rate of e-commerce by SMEs in Latin America is still undersized. The authors compare the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the theory of reasoned action (TRA) using structural equation modeling to determine which is better at predicting e-commerce adoption intentions among 210 SME managers/owners in Chile. Contrary to previous research with American respondents, the study does not find significant differences between the two theories. Thus, academics should select the more parsimonious model (TRA) to study e-commerce adoption issues in developing countries.     

跨境电商对中小企业发展带来的机遇与挑战

在全球化背景下,跨境电商作为一种贸易新业态,为中小企业走向国际市场带来良好的发展机遇。全球化布局的常态化为中小企业发展跨境电商铺平了道路,其中新兴市场的崛起开辟了巨大的市场空间,平台服务生态的改善提供了重要支撑,新技术主导则为其提供了“弯道超车”的机会,持续政策支持也为中小企业打通跨境电商市场提供保障。然而机遇的背后存在着巨大的挑战,中小企业在发展跨境电商时,应积极布局,从策略创新入手,选择好市场的突破口;立足于管理创新,不断提升跨境物流效率,并且重视人才支持体系建设,更好地促进中小企业跨境电商的发展。     

E-Commerce Adoption: Perceptions of Managers/Owners of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand

ABSTRACT

E-commerce can be an important source of competitive advantage for most business organizations, especially small- and medium-sized (SMEs) businesses. Recently, researchers have focused on e-commerce adoption both in the United States and other countries. This study examines the factors that influence e-commerce adoption in Thailand. The results show that the major reason behind e-commerce non-adoption is that the organization is not ready to make that change because of cultural, technological, financial, and/or logistical reasons. Additionally, organizational readiness strongly influences e-commerce implementation, and managerial support and financial, logistical, and technological factors weigh heavily in determining if an SME in Thailand can pursue e-commerce implementation. We believe that the e-commerce adoption model in this study will have both managerial implication for practitioners in Thailand, as well as those in other developing countries, and academic implications for researchers who are interested in e-commerce adoption in developing countries.     

The indirect effect of online marketing capabilities on the international performance of e-commerce SMEs

International e-commerce is a strong global trend pushed by a tail wind of bolstering economic policies, changing customer behaviors, and improved logistics and technologies. This study investigates the reasons for performance variations among international e-commerce SMEs. Building on the capabilities perspective and market orientation literature, a research model is developed and tested with linear regression and mediation analysis on an effective sample of 99 Swedish SMEs which use e-commerce as an international sales channel. Our study shows that online marketing capabilities are necessary but not sufficient to increase performance among these companies. Our results show that marketing ambidexterity, reflected by both market-driven and market-driving approaches, is instrumental to leverage the effect of online marketing capabilities.     

Exploring SME cybersecurity practices in developing countries

The continued use of information technology systems by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries has the potential to bring significant benefits but, at the same time, expose them to online cybersecurity threats. Addressing these threats is, therefore, of paramount importance for developing countries, not only because SMEs are seen as the vehicle for employment and job creation, but because research on SMEs and cybersecurity in this context is limited. This study is a contribution toward addressing this gap.

The purpose of this study is, therefore, to explore SME cybersecurity practices and the challenges they face in developing countries. The goal is to sensitize practitioners and government institutions about the challenges and practices faced by SMEs, so that the various parties can work collaboratively in providing context-specific solutions to address these challenges and improve current cybersecurity practices. The study follows a qualitative enquiry approach to solicit information from three South African SMEs that had implemented cybersecurity practices. The findings show that an SME’s perception of cybersecurity is constrained by internal factors of budget, management support, and attitudes. Further findings show that SMEs’ cybersecurity practices are affected by the landscape of cybersecurity, as well as institutional pressures.     

Trustmarks: Strategies for exploiting their full potential in e-commerce

Internet-based commerce has undergone explosive growth over the past decade and is expected to keep growing. With the increasing popularity of online marketplaces, trust is seen as a key foundation for consumers’ willingness to purchase, in particular, from unknown sellers. While trust has been examined in various contexts, limited focus has been placed on the importance of displaying institutional trust assurances such as trustmarks on retailers’ websites. We conducted two studies into how the use of trustmarks impacts consumer trust, consumer risk perceptions, and, consequently, influences consumer purchase intentions. The results of the two studies suggest that the use of trustmarks increases consumer online trust and purchase intentions, as well as reducing their perceived risk. We use these results to inform managerial decision making in e-commerce, particularly for marketers and e-retailers. We provide three important managerial lessons to be learned from our insights. Our implications are important not only for mature e-commerce markets to create a competitive advantage but also for growing and emerging e-commerce markets, where new retailers are trying to establish trust among their consumers to increase market share.     

全球零售电子商务发展现状、格局变化及未来趋势

全球零售电子商务发展整体仍处于快速增长阶段,电子商务在零售业中的地位越来越重要。全球电子商务市场格局也正在发展变化,以中国为代表的发展中国家市场正在占据全球零售电子商务市场的主导地位,发展中国家本土化平台正在崛起,各个国家之间发展水平存在着较大差异,有着较大的增长潜力。发达国家在平台地位、商业模式创新等方面仍占据着优势,但其主导地位正在下降。电商整体上出现了线上线下深度融合、电商自有品牌方兴未艾、移动电商高速增长等趋势。从监管上看,对电商进行征税也成为一种重要手段。     

An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing E-Commerce Adoption/Non-Adoption in Slovakian SMEs

While the global emergence of e-commerce has led businesses to take advantage of the technologies available to them to enhance their use of e-commerce, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are known for not adopting information technology to create jobs. Due to the dearth of studies of SME adoption of technology in transitioning European countries such as Slovakia, (Saffu, Walker, and Mazurek 2012 Saffu, K., J. H. Walker, and M. Mazurek. 2012. Perceived strategic value and e-commerce adoption among SMEs in Slovakia. Journal of Internet Commerce 11 (1):1–23. doi:10.1080/15332861.2012.650986.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), it is imperative to understand the factors that differentiate SME e-commerce adopters from non-adopters. Adoption and non-adoption factors of 230 Slovakian SMEs were empirically examined using logistic regression. Compatibility and Organizational Readiness, Decision and Operational Aids, and External Pressure were significant for discerning e-commerce adoption. Practical, policy, and research implications are presented. This study goes beyond the determinants of e-commerce adoption and contributes to the understanding of factors that distinguish between adopters and non-adopters of e-commerce for Slovakian SMEs.     

The Diffusion of E-commerce among SMEs: Theoretical Implications and Empirical Evidence

As a specific institution of distributive trades, e-commerce displays similarities with retail stores and mail order companies. As well as providing theoretical support for the assumption that e-commerce is a way to sell certain goods and services at prices potentially lower than those of traditional distributive channels, this paper analyses its inter-firm diffusion among a sample of firms (mostly SMEs) in Italy. The paper has three main purposes. Firstly, it challenges the view of e-commerce as a "technological revolution", by pointing out its nature as a cost-minimizing marketing channel. In particular, it shows how, under certain conditions, e-commerce is a source of transaction cost advantages analogous to those yielded by mail order business. Secondly, the paper identifies from a theoretical viewpoint the circumstances under which e-commerce sales might achieve a significant level of penetration among those SMEs that would otherwise incur high costs in organizing a proprietary distributive channel. Thirdly, it employs a unique data set of Italian manufacturing, service, and hospitality firms (nearly 90% of them with fewer than 100 employees) to estimate a diffusion model based on the logistic curve. According to the estimates, by the fourth quarter of 2003 nearly 50% of the population of firms in the geographical area surveyed will have introduced e-commerce among their marketing channels.     

Global value chain linkages: An integrative review of the opportunities and challenges for SMEs in developing countries

This study reviews the literature on the challenges and opportunities of the global value chain (GVC) participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. A three-step approach to the literature review is used for synthesizing the relevant research works. In the end, we retain that SMEs are drivers of economic growth and despite the many challenges they face, the opportunity for developing country SMEs to benefit from their GVC linkages does exist, notably the high-quality information that they would otherwise not have access to. However there are necessary preconditions, resources and strategies that need to be put together to ensure the successful integration and growth (upgrading) of these SMEs within GVCs. The findings and proposed model contribute to enrich existing GVC research and offer a theoretical guide for possible practical measures to be adopted by SMEs and governments in developing countries.     

Lean Implementation in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises in Less Developed Countries: Some Empirical Evidences From North Africa

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploration and analysis of lean implementation in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in less developed countries. Therefore, exploratory empirical evidences were collected from a survey study among a sample of 84 SMEs in North Africa. Moreover, statistical tests were conducted to assess the overall picture of lean among SMEs in this region. Although SMEs have expressed their immense need for lean, the level of its implementation is found to be very low. The findings could encourage further extensive studies to develop strategies to promote the use of lean in these countries.     

E-commerce in Least Developing Countries: Summary Evidence and Implications

ABSTRACT

We undertook a review and classification of research on electronic commerce (e-commerce) in developing countries. We analyzed 181 articles published in a broad range of journals covering e-commerce, global information technology, and development issues. The analysis provides a roadmap that not only indicates the current state of e-commerce for development research but also identifies gaps and priorities for future research. This will be of significant value to both academics and practitioners who are working on, or plan to work on, e-commerce in developing countries.     

WTO电子商务谈判与数字贸易规则博弈

2019年1月,76个WTO成员签署《电子商务联合声明》,确认启动与贸易有关的电子商务议题谈判,旨在制订电子商务/数字贸易领域的国际规则。本文在对谈判成员、提案内容和规则议题进行梳理的基础上,研究分析了数字贸易规则博弈焦点和国家间立场分歧。研究发现:从成员构成看,发达经济体是谈判的主导者,发展中经济体参与谈判和提交提案的比例偏低;从议题设计看,谈判内容远超以往电子商务谈判,更多聚焦于跨境数据流动、源代码披露等数字贸易规则议题;从博弈焦点看,谈判核心包括数据要素、市场空间、监管治理、技术发展与收益分配5个方面,发达经济体和发展中经济体的诉求差异巨大。在此形势下,中国既要加快完善国内体制机制,营造有利于数字经济和数字贸易发展的环境,又要积极参与数字贸易国际规则制订,提出中国规则主张。     

The Determinants of the Location of Foreign Direct Investment by Japanese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Japanese manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have actively undertaken Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Asia since the mid-1980s. FDI contributes to economic growth of the FDI recipient countries, as it brings in not only financial resources for investment but also technologies and managerial know-how, which are important factors for promoting economic growth. Recognizing these benefits of receiving FDI, policy makers in developing countries have formulated various strategies to attract FDI. This paper examines the factors in the host countries that would attract FDI by Japanese SMEs. Our results show the importance of both supply-side and demand-side factors in the recipient countries for attracting FDI by Japanese SMEs. Supply-side factors include abundance of low-wage labor, availability of well-developed infrastructure, and good governance of the host government, while an important demand-side factor is the presence of sizable local market. In addition, Japanese SMEs regard industrial agglomeration, which has a element of both supply and demand factors, as an important factors making FDI decision. Supply-side factors are found to be important for attracting Japanese FDI in developing countries, while demand-factors play a role in attracting Japanese FDI in developed countries. A comparison of the results for SMEs to those for large firms reveals that SMEs are more sensitive to the conditions in the host countries in making their FDI decision. In particular, SMEs regard the availability of low-wage labor, well-developed infrastructure, and industrial agglomeration as important elements much more than large firms. High sensitivity of SMEs to local economic conditions in their decision on FDI location may be explained by their limited availability of financial and human resources and high dependence on overseas production in their business. In light of these findings, we conclude that countries interested in hosting FDI have to provide a very attractive business environment.     

Small and medium-sized transnational corporations: Trends and patterns of foreign direct investment

This paper provides an analysis of small and medium-sized transnational corporations (TNCs). Statistical evidence is provided on trends and patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). There are virtually no countries for which consistent and systematic FDI data are available by firm size, but data complied by or made available to the author for the UNCTAD Programme on Transnational Corporations allow an analysis of broad characteristics, trends and patterns.FDI by SMEs is more concentrated in developed countries than that by large TNCs. However, small and medium-sized TNCs, especially those from Japan, are increasingly investing in developing countries. Although absolute size of FDI is still small, SMEs account for a large share in terms of the number of investment cases and the number of parent firms. South and East Asia became the primary host region of small and medium-sized TNCs during the 1980s and early 1990s. The industrial distribution of FDI by SMEs in developing countries is quite wide, but concentrated in electrical goods, chemicals, textiles and some services industries. SMEs also engage in non-equity investments.Transnational Corporations Affairs Officer United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Geneva, SwitzerlandThe author is grateful for advice and comments by Hafiz Mirza     

Overcoming the double hurdles to investing in technology

Technological activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have received considerable attention from researchers and policy makers since the mid-1980s. Small firms could nurture entrepreneurship and facilitate the creation and application of new ideas. In spite of their potential in generating innovations, it is also observed that SMEs shy away from formal R&D activities, and the firm size itself seems to be a barrier for R&D activities. SMEs operating in developing countries face extra hurdles to investing in R&D. Given the massive share of SMEs, it becomes crucial to realize their developmental potential in developing countries. In this paper, we study the drivers of R&D activities in SMEs in Turkish manufacturing industries by using panel data at the establishment level for the 1993–2001 period. Our findings suggest that SMEs are less likely to conduct R&D, but if they overcome the first obstacle of conducting R&D, they spend proportionally more on R&D than the LSEs do. R&D intensity is higher in small than in large firms. Moreover, public R&D encourages firms to intensify their R&D efforts. The impact of R&D support is stronger for small firms.     

中小企业基于电子商务的竞争策略研究

电子商务作为一种创新经济运行方式,为中小企业提供了一个新的发展契机。电子商务的应用对于企业提高市场竞争力起着至关重要的作用,中小企业应该充分认识电子商务的重要性,长远规划电子商务,努力实现企业流程再造,有效利用第三方服务平台和联盟优势提高中小企业电子商务综合竞争力。文章主要分析了我国现阶段中小企业实施电子商务存在的不足,并就其所遇到的困难给予相应的对策。     

How augmented reality (AR) experience affects purchase intention in sport E-commerce: Roles of perceived diagnosticity,psychological distance,and perceived risks

How does augmented reality affect consumers’ online purchase intentions? The authors used media richness theory and construal level theory to test hypotheses that augmented reality will improve consumers' perceptions of diagnosticity, psychological distance, risks, and purchase intention of e-commerce products (in Study 1), as well as to examine the relations among these constructs (in Study 2). The results indicate that (1) perceived diagnosticity and (2) purchase intention were higher, and (3) psychological distance and (4) perceived risks were lower in the group that experienced augmented reality e-commerce, compared to the group that experienced conventional web-based e-commerce. The impact of perceived diagnosticity on purchase intention was fully mediated by (5) psychological distance and (6) perceived risks. This research adds to the literature on augmented reality, particularly in the context of sport e-commerce, and suggests important practical implications.     

大银行信贷与中小企业融资的适配性问题研究

传统意义上,人们认为大银行信贷不适合中小企业融资,文章研究认为大银行是否适合中小企业,要考虑两个关键问题：首先是企业本身处于哪个阶段,由于风险和收益的影响,大银行不适合向初创期和衰退期的企业放贷,而处于成长期或成熟期且具有发展潜力的企业应该成为银行的主要服务对象;其次是银企之间的信息不对称,阻碍了大银行向中小企业贷款。在中小企业信用系统不健全,银行欠缺高效的贷款技术之前,大银行不适合直接面向中小企业贷款,而应该借助信息中介,例如民间金融、中小银行、电子商务平台等,才能提高银行的贷款效率,缓解中小企业融资难和融资贵的问题。     

Foreign direct investment location choice of small- and medium-sized enterprises: The risk of value erosion of firm-specific resources

Drawing on the resource-based view and FDI theory, the present study introduces the risk of value erosion as a core concept to explain the moderating effect of SMEs’ resources (knowledge intensity and international experience) on the relationship between motives (market seeking, resource seeking, strategic asset seeking) and FDI location choice (developed countries vs. developing countries). Testing our theoretical predictions on survey data obtained from 100 German SMEs, our results indicate that knowledge intensity and international experience significantly influence the relationship between motives and SMEs’ FDI location choice. Adding this perspective, we provide an enhanced understanding of SMEs’ FDI location choice and beyond.