Small Business Sales Growth and Internationalization Links to Web Site Functions in the United Kingdom

Robert Williams, Gary Packham, Brychan Thomas, Piers Thompson

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The potential of the internet to both geographically expand customer bases and provide a source of growth has led to a rapid embracement of the Internet by a majority of small businesses in the United Kingdom. However, many studies suggest that much of this adoption takes the form of simple websites representing little more than an electronic brochure. This paper investigates the level of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)website adoption and functionality and how this relates to growth aspirations, specifically the geographical expansion of customer bases. One potential explanation for this slow uptake of true e-commerce is a lack of employees with basic and advanced IT skills. The possibility that IT shortages could explain the gap between the Internet's potential and the extent of involvement by a vast majority of UK SME is explored.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)40 - 74
    Number of pages35
    JournalInternational Journal of E-Adoption
    Volume1
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2009

    Keywords

    • e-commerce
    • sme
    • it

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