Benefits and barriers emerging market SME’s face when adopting e-commerce

Abstract

The study aims to research the possible benefits that SME’s can attain as well as any barriers that they face in an emerging market economy when adopting e-commerce. E-commerce has been growing globally at an astounding rate and even more so in the emerging markets, albeit from a low base. The expectation is that with the looming FIFA World Cup during 2010 in South Africa, more reliance will be put on the adoption of e-commerce’s functionality by Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s), both in the Business-to-business (B2B) and Business-to- Customers (B2C) sectors. The research instrument utilised in this quantitative research takes the format of a survey which will explore some of the factors affecting the SME’s. The study aims to prove that certain barriers, or perceived barriers, actually does exist specifically in an emerging market like South Africa, and that when they are overcome, there definitely are benefits for the SME’s that have taken the decision to adopt e-commerce. It also interrogates the effect that the owners view on technology has on the decision to adopt e-commerce and once the internet has been acquired, how successful the SME leverage of the internet functionalities.