Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (4-Volumes) P134

Factors Affecting E-Business Adoption by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa Table 2. The Internet and SMEs in Nigeria Preference for conducting business: Face-to-face Telephone / fax The Internet Others Does your business have a web page? Yes No Are you planning having a web page in the near future? Yes No Undecided Missing data Does your business have Internet access? Yes No Missing data Which one in particular? Email WWW (web page) Intranet / extranet Others Missing data How often do you use the Internet (email, WWW etc.)? Very often Often Sometimes Never used it Where do you (and your business) access the Internet? Own business premises Cyber café Public places (library etc.) Friend’s Other places Accepting the Internet as a source of business and business information Surely Not too sure It cannot be No comment Number (N) 63 29 14 11 5 58 51 4 4 4 57 4 2 53 5 2 2 1 35 23 3 1 8 49 1 2 2 56 5 1 1 Percent (%) 100 43 22.2 17.5 7.9 92.1 81 6.3 6.3 6.3 90.5 6.3 3.2 84.1 7.9 3.2 3.2 1.6 56.5 37.1 4.8 1.6 12.9 79 1.6 3.2 3.2 88.9 7.9 1.6 1.6 1264 Factors Affecting E-Business Adoption by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa VRRQWKDWFRXOGKDYHLQÀXHQFHGWKHUHVSRQVHV received. Lastly, the use from two sources may have impacted the results of this study. FINDINGS AND RESULTS The response provided by the participants is provided in Table 2. All the participants in this study accepted that they prefer doing business face-to-face with their customers. Of which, 43% also picked the tele-phone/fax as a medium by which business could EHFRQGXFWHG7KLVLVFRQVLVWHQWZLWK¿QGLQJVE\ Duncombe and Heeks (1999), where direct contact with customers is regarded as the most effective method in business dealing for SMEs in Botswana. Though, in that report 70% use the telephone/fax, which is more than what is obtained in this study. This difference is perhaps explained by the more favorable telecommunication and infrastructural indicators for southern parts of Africa (ITU, 2004). In this study, only 22.2% indicate they could use the Internet for doing business, in addition to face-to-face dealings. This might be a result of social factors. To illustrate this point, a proprietress RIDFRQIHFWLRQDU\EXVLQHVVFRPPHQWV³,PDNH wedding cakes and also participate in the [wed-ding] ceremonies; my presence is a must for my business…The Internet can’t help my business.” Further, some scholars commentated about the sociocultural imperatives that might somewhat LQÀXHQFHWKHQHHGWRKDYHface-to-face business dealings in SSA (see for example: Ojo, 1996; Okoli & Mbarika, 2003; Sachs & Warner, 1997; Udo & Edoho, 2000; Woherem, 1996). Essentially, the societies in SSA thrive on informality in contrast to the mechanistic preponderance that may exist in the West (Ojo, 1996). Also, the fear of using credit cards due to fraud or lack of experience with such facilities are reasons why online business may be lagging in the region (Ajakaye & Kanu, 2004; Chitu, 2003; Travica, 2002). Regardless, DERXWRIWKHUHVSRQGHQWV³VXUHO\´DFFHSW that the Internet could be a source of business and business information. Likewise, assess to the Internet, in particular the e-mail seems to be from cyber cafés. Very few organizations in this sample indicated that they have facilities such as intranets and extranets. With respect to Web page ownership, only 7.9% of our participants have such a facility. A closer look reveals that entities directly involved in the technology-related business responded to having such Web pages. In contrast, evidence from the developed countries, show pervasive use and ownership of Web pages by businesses—small and large (Beck et al., 2003; Lockett and Brown, 2003). In that respect, Walczuch et al. (2000), ZULWHWKDW³RI`XWFK¿UPVPDOOEXVLQHVV had their own Web site by February 1999.” In the UK, the body tasked with promoting the spread of e-business by SMEs in the country has long overtaken the target of getting 1.5 million SMEs online. Furthermore, 50% of our respondents plan to have Web pages in the future. Realistically, this study indicates that SMEs in Nigeria are yet to get WKH³K\SH´$O4LULPFLWHV.DODNRWDDQG Robinson (2001) where the phases of e-commerce HYROXWLRQDUHKLJKOLJKWHG7KH¿UVWSKDVHLQYROYHV SMEs having some sort of Web presence regard-OHVVZKHWKHUWKH\NQRZZKDWWKHEHQH¿WVDUH7KH study suggests that a majority of Nigerian SMEs are yet to get on this initial phase of e-business HYROXWLRQOHWDORQHH[SHULHQFLQJWKH¿QDOVWDJH of using online business to strategically increase SUR¿WVDQGFXVWRPHUYDOXH Regarding access to the Internet, about the same number of people in this survey responded to having Internet access, which is similar to the results in Duncombe and Heeks’ (1999) study. Fifty-seven percent of our responding SMEs have Internet access, of which e-mail is the commonest—slightly more than half of the respondents have/use e-mail. Approximately XVHWKHHPDLO³YHU\RIWHQ´DQGXVHLW ³RIWHQ´$QGWKHUHVXOWVLQGLFDWHWKDW,QWHUQHW access for SMEs in Nigeria seems to be from 1265 Factors Affecting E-Business Adoption by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa cyber cafés as in other SSA countries (Oyelaran-Oyeyinka & Adeyas, 2004; Mbarika et al., 2002). Mbarika, Kah, and Keita (2004) have discussed the diffusion of cyber cafés in SSA as the pos-sible signs of better tomorrow in opening Africa up to the rest of the world. The current situation of Internet access from cyber cafés in Nigeria is encouraging (Ajakaye & Kanu, 2004) following the liberalization policy in the telecommunication sector (Ajayi, 2003). Other sources through which the Internet could be accessed by Nigerian SMEs include own premises, which incidentally is found among medium-sized organizations, and as was mentioned above, among technological-related business. Public access is not common. Overall, about 30% of the respondents use the Internet to promote their services and product. A follow-on interview revealed that a few of them occasionally communicate with suppliers especially partners (foreign) using e-mails; in addition to participating in online yellow pages registration and so on. A respondent working for an oil services company QRWHV³:HXVHWKH,QWHUQHWLQFRPPXQLFDWLQJ with our local customers and overseas partners as well; if for example, we want to check out and order some products.” In general, the results in Table 3 show that those involved with small business in Nigeria search Web pages and conduct research (business-related or otherwise) more than any other activities. They also randomly search the Web for information, which has highest area of usage for the Internet by our respondents. This evidently is consistent with anecdotal evidence of what Nigerians do in the cyber cafés (Ajakaye & Kanu, 2004). Moderate usage is seen for activities relating to offering in-formation for customers, internal communication, contacting governmental agencies and receiving order from customers. The least areas of usage for the Internet by Nigerian SMEs concerns ac-tual e-commerce, e-banking and entertainment purposes. Oyelaran-Oyeyinka and Adeya (2004) had similar breakdowns in their study. 7DEOH7KHVSHFL¿FXVHRIWKH,QWHUQHWE\60(VLQ1LJHULD What does your business use the Internet for? Promotion of product and services Searching for web pages Randomly looking for information Obtaining information from suppliers Offering information to customers Contacting governmental agencies Internal communication Receiving inquires/orders from customers Research purposes Entertainment E-banking Advertising E-business / e-commerce Others Frequency 21 43 58 28 16 17 11 9 42 5 3 0 3 24 Percent (%) 33.3 68.3 92.1 44.4 25.4 27 17.5 14.3 66.7 7.9 4.8 0 4.8 38.1 1266 Factors Affecting E-Business Adoption by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa Furthermore, the respondents indicated the extent to which they believe the Internet could EHQH¿WWKHLUEXVLQHVVHV7KHLWHPVDUHDQFKRUHG on a Likert-type scale ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). The result is shown in Table 4. )LUVWWKHEHQH¿WDVVRFLDWHGZLWKUHGXFLQJGLV-tance barrier and facilitating access to internation-al markets rates highest. Also, our respondents are of the view that the Internet would allow them to gather useful data, increase their productivity and sales in that order. Communicating with partners and suppliers rated well for our sampled SMEs. Lowering of their costs of acquiring new custom-ers and obtaining information from government VHHPWREHSHUFHLYHGDVDOHVVSRWHQWLDOEHQH¿WRI using the Internet by our sampled SMEs. In the same vein, the reasons for not using the Internet by SMEs in Nigeria that was rated by our UHVSRQGHQWVLQGLFDWHGWKDW³ODFNRI,7VNLOOVIRU e-commerce development” as the most crucial. This harks back to the general limitations for the region as deliberated in the IS literature by PDQ\VFKRODUVVHH,¿QHGR2GHGUDHWDO 1993; Ojo, 1996; Ojukwu & Georgiadou, 2004; Oyelaran-Oyeyinka & Lal, 2004; Woherem, 1996). The next factor in the relative ranking order LV ³¿QDQFH´ ZKLFK %HOLDPRXUQH/XW] contends as the major determinant of ICT diffu-sion in developing countries. The cost of buying computers and other ICT equipment is thus linked with this reason. One manager working for an Agric-based business made comments regarding FRVWVRISURFXULQJ,&7HTXLSPHQWDVIROORZV³7R do buying and selling online, our company needs facilities [computers, telephones etc.]; we’re a small business, we can’t afford to invest such huge VXPVZKHQLQIDFWRXUEXVLQHVVFDQEHQH¿WIURP this spare cash.” In the same fashion, a majority of the feedback received indicate that computer [the Internet] usage in business is not a norm for businesses in the country—low critical mass. 6LPLODUO\ ³WHFKQLFDO FRPSOH[LW\ RI XVLQJ IT in business,” which plagues a majority of small business everywhere, also ranked highly as a hindrance, here. To illustrate this point, DIHHGEDFNIURPDQ,7FRQVXOWDQWUHDGV³7KH IT market place in Nigeria is still growing; for example, we ourselves in this business are only beginning to build Web pages for ourselves and others, just imagine what can others [without the IT skills] do with the Internet … My inference 7DEOH7KHEHQH¿WVRIWKH,QWHUQHWIRUSMEs in Nigeria %HQH¿WV Reduce barrier associated with distance Allow us to reach international markets Effective for our data collection effort Increase our productivity Communicate with partners / suppliers Increase our sales Engage in e-commerce / e-business Increase our customers’ satisfaction Lower our cost of acquiring customers Obtain information from govt. and others Min. Mean 3 4.84 3 4.41 2 4.35 1 4.25 1 4.24 3 4.00 1 3.71 2 3.51 1 3.49 1 3.48 Standard deviation Max. .41 5 .75 5 .70 5 .84 5 .93 5 .76 5 1.24 5 .84 5 .74 5 1.16 5 1267 Factors Affecting E-Business Adoption by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa of the effects arising from emerging technology and business models is that it may take time to consolidate as customer knowledge, IT support and infrastructure improve in Nigeria.” This re-mark underscores the limitations of technological environment in Nigeria. The cost of owning and subscribing to tele-phones lines in Nigeria rates highly as a reason for not having the Internet by Nigerian SMEs. In fact, SSA countries are among the most disadvantaged in the world on such indictors (Dutta et al., 2003; ITU, 2004). Further, the policy of the govern-ment on e-business being unclear also ranked moderately high. Other moderately ranking reasons include factors relating to energy supply, knowledge and awareness, suitability for business and security reasons. A respondent’s comments above expressed doubts as to how the Internet in KHUEXVLQHVVFRXOGEHRIDQ\VLJQL¿FDQFHDQRWKHU manager/co-owner of a Business Center notes WKDW³,I\RX>RQH@GREXVLQHVVZLWKWKH,QWHUQHW would NEPA [National Electric Power Author-ity] understand and improve power supply?” She mentioned that due to the poor power supply, her business had to procure a generating plant to pro-vide electricity. Lastly, the slowness of the Internet DQGWKHGLI¿FXOW\ZLWKLWVXVHUDQNHGDPRQJVWWKH least reasons why Nigerian SMEs do not have the Internet in their business operations. In general, the study by Walczuch et al. (2000) with respect WREDUULHUVDQGEHQH¿WVRI,QWHUQHWFRPPHUFHIRU a developed nation—Holland—in the late 1990s is comparable with some of results in this study. See Table 5. This may suggest a commonality Table 5. Reasons for NOT having the Internet used by SMEs in Nigeria Reasons for NOT having the Internet used in your business N Lack of IT skills for e-commerce development 63 *HQHUDOODFNRI¿QDQFH 63 Too expensive to buy computers 63 Technical complexity of using IT in business 63 Telephone costs is too high 63 Internet subscription fee is too high 63 Not clear government policy and support 63 Poor energy (power) supply 63 Not many of many our customers use the Internet 63 Not suitable for our business 63 The Internet is not safe for our business 63 `RHVQRWOHDGPRUHHI¿FLHQF\RUORZHUFRVWV 63 Lack of time 60 The Internet is too slow 63 7KH,QWHUQHWLVWRRGLI¿FXOWWRXVH 63 Does not lead to more sales in our business 63 Never thought about it 57 Min Mean 2 4.84 3 4.43 3 4.25 3 4.11 3 4.10 2 3.97 2 3.97 2 3.87 1 3.60 1 3.49 1 3.32 1 3.14 2 3.08 1 2.89 1 2.75 1 2.62 1 2.25 Std dev. Max .54 5 .78 5 .74 5 .79 5 .89 5 1.08 5 1.15 5 1.11 5 1.01 5 1.03 5 .76 5 1.12 5 .79 5 1.32 5 1.29 5 .73 5 .93 5 Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1) 1268 ... - tailieumienphi.vn