eCommerce adoption in developing countries: a model and instrument

Several studies of eCommerce in developing countries have emphasized the influence of contextual impediments related to economic, technological, legal, and financial infrastructure as major determinants of eCommerce adoption. Despite operating under such constraints, some organizations in developing countries are pursuing the eCommerce agenda while others are not. However, our understanding of what drives eCommerce among businesses in developing countries is limited by the absence of rigorous research that covers issues beyond contextual imperatives. This paper discusses a holistic and theoretically constructed model that identifies the relevant contextual and organizational factors that might affect eCommerce adoption in developing countries. It provides a research-ready instrument whose properties were validated in a survey of 150 businesses from South Africa. The instrument can be used as a decision tool to locate, measure, and manage some of the risk of adopting eCommerce. Implications of the study are outlined; they indicate a need to consider eCommerce, micro, meso, and macro issues in understanding the adoption of eCommerce in developing countries.     

Strategic orientation and performance of internet-based businesses

Abstract. Many of the pure internet‐based businesses that proliferated over the past 5 years have encountered serious problems as their lofty valuations have plunged. Industry observers have attributed this phenomenon to a variety of factors, generally framed in terms of poor conceptualization or implementation of the ‘business model’. This study explores an often‐used concept in strategic management called ‘strategic orientation’ and applies it to internet‐based businesses. Based on an analysis of over 100 public businesses, firms that cluster together with similar strategic orientation are observed. These strategic groups are then analysed for performance differences. The results are discussed with the intent of learning from the dot‐burn effects as we evolve to the next generation of internet‐based business.     

Do e-business strategies matter? The antecedents and relationship with firm performance

Previous studies in e-business strategy focus on the issues of strategic positioning and its impact on firm performance. However, these studies do not address the antecedents to business strategies formulation and their impact on business performance or the role of business models in explaining e-business firm performance. This study applies Porter’s generic strategies to the e-business context. It also identifies business models that are applied to the e-business environment and environmental factors and then examines these factors influence on firm performance with survey data. This study finds that uncertainty has a negative impact on the choice of strategic position of e-business firms, whereas market turbulence positively affects the level of adoption of all the strategies. Among the strategic positions, marketing differentiation positively influences firm performance. The research methodology, test results, and implications are further discussed.     

The adoption of eCommerce communications and applications technologies in small businesses in New Zealand

This research investigates the impact of 10 factors, extended from the technological innovation literature, on the adoption of different eCommerce communications and applications technologies (EC) in small businesses (SMEs) in New Zealand (NZ). The research results showed that the CEO’s innovativeness was the only determinant of external-email adoption. CEO’s involvement was found to be the only determinant of Intranet adoption. Relative advantage and competition were found to influence Extranet/VPN adoption significantly and positively. However, support from technology vendors appeared to violate its hypothesised effect on Extranet/VPN adoption. Regression analysis found that pressure from suppliers was the only determinant of Internet-EDI adoption. The adoption of Web sites was influenced by the information intensity of products and the CEO’s innovativeness. The significant factors suggested the uniqueness of the adoption phenomenon in SMEs in NZ. However, the factors that appeared to be significant and the ones that appeared to be insignificant factors and the implications arising from these factors led to a conclusion which suggested the weakness of the EC adoption phenomenon in SMEs in NZ. The research discusses theoretical implications emerging from the research factors and portrays a path for future research.     

Strategic and organizational determinants of information system sophistication: an analysis of the uptake of database marketing in the financial services industry

This paper investigates strategic and organizational determinants of adoption/non-adoption of strategic marketing information systems that differ in degree of sophistication. We identify potentially relevant variables and relate them to the use of database marketing (DBM) systems. Using an obtained sample of 49% of all major banks, building societies and insurance companies in the UK, we compare users and non-users and, within the users, we identify intercorrelations with those variables linked to degree of sophistication.Adoption of DBM systems is closely associated with the organization placing a greater strategic importance on direct marketing decisions, strategic integration of information technology (IT) and marketing, the possession of a large direct marketing grouping and a strong marketing and information orientation. These factors, coupled with a greater degree of organizational slack and weaker organization control of resources and more decisive decision making, which separate adopting organizations from non-adopters.Once adoption has occurred, greater DBM sophistication is closely linked to the power of the direct marketing function, the importance placed on the strategic integration of IT and marketing, the size of the direct marketing grouping, and the organization's overall information orientation.     

Potential of critical e-applications for engaging SMEs in e-business: a provider perspective

Against a background of the low engagement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in e-business, this paper investigates the emergence of, and potential for, critical e-applications defined as ‘an e-business application, promoted by a trusted third party, which engages a significant number of SMEs by addressing an important shared business concern within an aggregation.’ By a review of secondary data and empirical investigation with service providers and other intermediaries, the research shows that such applications can facilitate the engagement of SME aggregations. There are three key findings, namely: the emergence of aggregation-specific e-business applications; the emergence of collaboratively based ‘one to many’ business models; and the importance of trusted third parties in the adoption of higher-level complexity e-business applications by SMEs. Significantly, this work takes a deliberately provider perspective and complements the already considerable literature on SME IT adoption from a user and network perspective. In terms of future research, the importance of a better conceptual understanding of the impact of complexity on the adoption of information technologies by SMEs is highlighted.     

E-commerce and corporate strategy: an executive perspective

Despite the recent downturn in Internet-based business, the dollar value of electronic commerce (EC) transactions is increasing at an astounding rate. In consumer-to-business applications, the amount of money spent by online shoppers is nearly doubling every year and is expected to approach US$ 100 billion by 2004 while business-to-business sales is expected to reach US$ 1.3 trillion by 2003. These opportunities, powered by the evolving computing and communication technologies, enable companies to gain tremendous operational efficiencies, personalization, and information based products and services. More and more conventional brick and mortar firms see e-commerce initiatives as offering strategic opportunities to transcend their normal operations. This study proposes that e-commerce initiatives are important strategic initiatives and that firms with a stronger EC market orientation will be more successful. Content analysis of CEO’s letter to shareholders of 145 Fortune 500 firms was conducted to evaluate the importance of EC and strategic orientation. The results provide support to the study’s propositions and indicate that EC must be pursued carefully as a strategic initiative rather than as an appendage to an existing organization.     

IT centrality,IT management model,and contribution of the IT function to organizational performance: A study in Canadian hospitals

The characterization of the IT function in organizations represents a central topic of investigation in the information systems field. The main purpose of this study was to predict the contribution of the IT function to organizational performance by focusing on the centrality of IT and the IT management profile as primary determinants. A cross-sectional survey of CIOs working in Canadian hospitals reveals that IT centrality positively influences the strategic orientation of the IT management model. In turn, the stronger the strategic orientation of the IT management model in place, the greater is the IT function’s contribution to organizational performance.     

Business-to-business adoption of eCommerce in China

There is an absence of research on business-to-business eCommerce in developing countries which covers wide-ranging issues beyond contextual imperatives. This paper analyzes eCommerce adoption by businesses in China from internal, external and contextual perspectives.     

The Early Bird Gets the Worm,But the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: Non‐Technological Innovation in Creative Industries

In the context of economic turmoil, firms in the creative industries (CIs) must make fast decisions as to when to break through with innovations. This paper discusses non‐technological, organizational innovation of early‐adopters, first movers and early followers in order to overcome persistent economic decline, and the implication of different strategies for innovation success. The strategic principle of the pioneer's advantage rests on pre‐emption – the premise that ‘the early bird gets the worm’ and this often applies to business model innovation (BMI). ‘But the second mouse gets the cheese’ points at early followers who may have a more systematic, strategic approach towards innovation. Greater understanding of the advantages of each strategic approach and their significance for innovation performance is critical for CIs where unpredictability and the accelerating pace of change pervade the decisions concerning innovation. Drawing on five exemplary cases of archaeological firms in Spain, this paper explores different innovation process dynamics. The study develops a contingency model where pioneers who challenge their current business model, may be outperformed by early followers who incorporate complementary management innovation (MI) initiatives into the BMI.     

The future of inter-organisational system linkages: findings of an international Delphi study

To perform effectively in markets that are becoming increasingly turbulent and volatile, organisations should form information system linkages with their business partners. This study seeks to produce a ‘vision’ for the future of such linkages. A number of recent developments in information systems and technology (IS/IT) appear to promise the ability to make improvements in this domain. These are electronic hubs, web services, widespread adoption of common enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and enterprise portals. This study, which is carried out by means of the Delphi technique, explores the expected future role and use of these information systems. The expert participants in the study believe that the focus of enterprise systems is shifting from an internal to an external orientation. They suggest that ERP systems may be reaching a structural limit concerning their capabilities and adjunct technologies will be required to integrate multiple inter-organisational operations. The participants expect that the three other systems and technologies considered can provide those necessary adjunct technologies, either used singly, or more likely in combination. Finally, we find that the transition to a greater external orientation is expected to include an extension in the types of organisations that will be integrated electronically into networks.     

Mobile commerce and device specific perceived risk

This study examines the role of perceived risk and access device type on consumers’ on-line purchase decisions. We use a two-step hurdle approach to estimate consumer behavior. In the first step, the decision of whether to engage in eCommerce is estimated and in the second step, how many orders to place is estimated. We use a large multi-year survey sample of households from Canada’s national statistical agency—Statistics Canada. The sample size is such that we are able to conduct sub-sample analysis of PC-only users, mobile-only users, and other-users. We show that online security and price significantly influence mobile eCommerce. We also show that there is a statistically significant difference in the intensity of eCommerce engagement across device type and consumer risk type (high/low). One of our main findings is that perceived risk affects purchase decisions for mobile users more than PC users, however additional comparisons are carried out with our analysis.     

Towards a web services and intelligent agents-based negotiation system for B2B eCommerce

With the explosive growth of the number of transactions conducted via electronic channels, there is a pressing need for the development of intelligent support tools to improve the degree and sophistication of automation for eCommerce. With reference to the BBT business model, negotiation is one of key steps for B2B eCommerce. Nevertheless, classical negotiation models are ineffective for supporting multi-agent multi-issue negotiations often encountered in eBusiness environment. The first contribution of this paper is the exploitation of Web services and intelligent agent techniques for the design and development of a distributed service discovery and negotiation system to streamline B2B eCommerce. In addition, an effective and efficient integrative negotiation mechanism is developed to conduct multi-party multi-issue negotiations for B2B eCommerce. Finally, an empirical study is conducted to evaluate our intelligent agents-based negotiation mechanism and to compare the negotiation performance of our software agents with that of their human counterparts. Our research work opens the door to the development of the next generation of intelligent system solutions to support B2B eCommerce.     

How political processes shaped the IT adopted by a small make-to-order company: a case study in the insulated wire and cable industry

This paper explores how political processes shape the information technology (IT) systems implemented by small-medium sized firms. Systems designers, consultants and users often interpret technology in different ways. This may result in the implementation of inappropriate systems. Small business managers work on short time scales and may be more concerned with operational matters rather than strategic considerations. A case study of CableCo, a small make-to-order company, is used to explore the political processes that shaped the selection and implementation of the Company’s IT system. The incongruence between the ‘technological frames’ of the stakeholders is examined. Researchers, consultants and managers will learn that the implementation of IT is determined by the dominant ‘frame’.     

How to Develop More Creative Strategic Plans: Results from an Empirical Study

What factors help and hinder creativity within the strategic planning process? An exploratory study examined the strategic plans of groups of graduates for their own business school. The students were assessed for rigidity of cognitive orientation, and divided into open‐minded groups, and two other groups of more rigid orientation. Strategic plans were rated for originality and relevance. An open minded orientation affected the production of a strategic plan in a positive way. The productivity (quantity) of the more closed‐mind type of group was enhanced in the elaboration of a strategic plan through interventions introducing creativity. The quality of production was only marginally enhanced. We conclude that creativity‐enhancing techniques had a marginal direct effect on efforts to deal with ill‐defined problems such as a strategic plan. Additional indirect effects (by influencing rigid cognitive orientation) may be occurring.     

Dynamic stakeholder interaction analysis: Innovative smart living design cases

In order to become more innovative, companies that operate in the Smart Living domain increasingly initiate and participate in networked business environments that transcend industry boundaries. Inter-organizational collaboration is often characterized by conflicting strategic interests and incoherent operational business processes and procedures. Although many scholars and practitioners use stakeholder analysis to gain insight into the actors’ relationships and interactions, existing literature on stakeholder analysis focuses mainly on high-level strategic analysis, often limited to a conceptual and static understanding of stakeholder interests. In this paper, it is argued that a ‘true’ understanding of stakeholders can be achieved by looking at their interactions and interdependencies at a more detailed level. This study uses a conceptual framework from the service innovation and business model domain, the VIP framework, to extend stakeholder analysis by including an analysis of their dynamic interactions and processes. The qualitative evaluation of the framework’s application in illustrative design cases shows that this extension provides additional insights into stakeholders, and their potential operational conflicts and critical dependencies. By making these conflicts and interdependencies explicit, products and services are potentially easier to implement and commercialize.     

Building novel capabilities to enable business intelligence agility: results from a quantitative study

The class of business intelligence (BI) systems is widely used to guide decisions in all kinds of organizations and across hierarchical levels and functions. Organizations have launched many initiatives to accomplish adequate and timely decision support as an important factor to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Given today’s turbulent environments it is increasingly challenging to bridge the gap between establishing a long-term strategy and quickly adopting to the dynamics in market competition. BI must address this field of tension as it was originally used to retrospectively reflect an organization’s performance and build upon stability and efficiency. This study aims to understand and achieve an agile BI from a dynamic capability perspective. Therefore, we investigate how dynamic BI capabilities, i.e., adoption of assets, market understanding, and intimacy as well as business operations, impact the agility of BI. Starting from a literature review of dynamic capabilities in information systems and BI, we propose hypotheses to connect dynamic BI capabilities with the agility to provide information. The derived hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling on data collected in a questionnaire-based survey. The results show that the lens of dynamic capabilities provides useful means to foster BI agility. The study identifies that technological advancements like in-memory technology seem to be a technology enabler for BI agility. However, an adequate adoption and integration of BI assets as well as the focus on market orientation and business operations are crucial to reach BI agility.     

An Empirical Study of Factors Affecting e-Commerce Adoption among Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in a Developing Country: Evidence from Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine determinants of e-commerce adoption among Malaysian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study tested eight hypotheses on determinants affecting e-commerce adoption with empirical data from several survey instruments: an online questionnaire-based survey, mailed survey and questionnaire collected in-person from a sample of 307 SMEs in Malaysia. The findings show that e-commerce adoption within Malaysian SMEs is affected by perceived relative advantage, perceived compatibility, managers/owner's knowledge and expertise, management characteristics and external change agents. This study contributes to enhancing the understanding of the determinants of adopting e-commerce in SMEs and provides some interesting perspective from Malaysia. Those parties interested in promoting their business online may find these results helpful in guiding their efforts.     

The competitive impact of information technology: can commodity IT contribute to competitive performance?

Despite polarizing arguments on the strategic potential of information technology (IT), academic research has yet to demonstrate clearly that information systems initiatives can lead to sustained competitive performance (CP). We investigate this question using data from 165 hotels affiliated with two brands of an international lodging chain. We study the effect of successful use and unreliability of an incremental IT-enabled self-service channel on overall CP. We find that the effect of the incremental service channel depends on the firm’s organizational resources. We also show that different organizations experience significantly different use and unreliability rates. Further, we find that the positive association between the use of an IT-enabled self-service channel and CP endures over a 2-year period, despite competitors’ widespread adoption of the technology enabling the incremental service channel (self-service kiosks). Our findings corroborate research on the strategic role of IT resources when appropriately coupled with complementary resources. They lead us to question the notion that IT is a strategic commodity. Indeed, the findings suggest that IT-dependent strategic initiatives have the potential to generate sustained CP, even when the technology that enables them appears ‘simple’. These findings suggest the need for a theoretical explanation of the complementarities and interaction among the elements of IT-dependent strategic initiatives.     

Perceived benefits of and barriers to the adoption of teleworking: peculiarities of Spanish family firms

The use of information and communication technologies has allowed employees to perform work at an approved alternative worksite. Although family firm is the predominant form of business organisation, no study has analysed their peculiarities in adopting teleworking practices. Family firms are characterised by the alignment of interests of ownership and management, long-term orientation and the pursuit of non-economic objectives. Grounded in the socio-emotional wealth approach and the Technology Acceptance Model, this study examines the idiosyncrasies of family governance in the perception of teleworking benefits and barriers to the adoption of teleworking. Using a sample of 200 Spanish companies, differences are found in the perceived barriers to teleworking. Although family firms perceive higher barriers, they do not influence on teleworking adoption. In contrast, in non-family firms, the decision to adopt teleworking is influenced by both the perceived benefits of teleworking and the perceived barriers. This means that Spanish family firms adopt teleworking evaluating only the perceived benefits. Although family firms may fear problems arising from teleworking when they decide to adopt it, they are more confident in their ability to implement it.