تحقیقات تجربی از عوامل شایستگی موثر در موفقیت کسب و کار الکترونیکی در شرکتهای کوچک و متوسط اروپایی

In the last decade there was growing interest in strategic management literature about factors that influence a company's ability to use IT. There is general consensus that knowledge and competency are necessary in developing an IT capability, but there is very little understanding of what the necessary competencies are, and how they influence IS usage in different contexts. The small and medium-sized enterprise context is particularly interesting for two reasons: it constitutes a major part of the economy and it has been relatively unsuccessful in exploiting e-business. We explored the relationship between e-business competency and its success in European SMEs. A literature review was used to determine factors representing e-business competency, and develop hypotheses, which were tested using data collected from 339 SMEs in Europe. Our results provide evidence on the importance of certain e-business competencies on e-business success, and have implications for both research and practice in the field of SMEs.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are a major part of the industrial economies. Their survival and growth has therefore been a prominent issue, and considerable research has been initiated to determine e-business diffusion in SMEs. It has been assumed that success of e-business in the SME segment will increase a country's competitiveness, and that successful adoption and use of e-business technology are crucial for survival [12]. However, several studies have indicated that SMEs are sometimes unable to adopt and use e-business technology successfully. A number of studies have emphasized lack of e-business competency (see, e.g. [28] and [34]) as the major cause of this. Such competency is viewed as important not only for understanding the implications of e-business but also for developing the capabilities needed to perform well [23]. However, we have found no published systematic empirical work that identifies critical competencies for the successful adoption and use of e-business in SMEs. A number of researchers have emphasized the role of competencies for achieving and sustaining competitive advantage (see, e.g. [46]. The majority of these contributions have taken a resource-based perspective of the firm. Understanding and leveraging resources and competencies in the organization are essential for effective strategic management [17]. E-business usually implies a rethinking of business models, the network, and system infrastructure. Therefore, only businesses with access to significant e-business competency can expect to succeed with their efforts [10]. Resources and core competency are important in the successful utilization of new technology. SMEs, in general, have less financial and human resources than large enterprises (e.g. [9]). Firm size can affect several crucial organizational processes [47], and research dealing only with large corporations may create a bias in conclusions about IT [25]. The way that small firms deal with adoption and implementation issues can differ substantially [13]. Limited financial and IS resources create greater risks in small firms [9]. Forrest [21] found that resource scarcity led small businesses to co-operate more closely with others (e.g. suppliers, customers and partners). There are many different definitions of e-business and there also are related terms such as Internet business, Internet commerce, network economy, and electronic commerce. We adopted a relatively broad definition of e-business: the conduct of business with the assistance of telecommunication and telecommunications-based tools [8]. Definitions of SMEs also vary. The North American Industry Classification System uses measures such as: number of employees and total turnover, depending on the industry. The European Union (EU) has created a uniform definition: independent companies with fewer than 250 employees and having either a turnover of less than 40 million euro or total assets of less than 27 million euro [18]. Independent enterprises are ones that are not owned by another enterprise or several enterprises having 25% or more of the capital or voting rights. This definition has been adopted, with modifications, by most member states and some non-EU countries. Since our research was conducted as part of an EU program, we adopted this definition. We addressed the following research question: Which competencies are critical for SMEs to realize the potential value of e-business? To answer this question we first synthesized e-business competency from a literature review and several rounds of interviews with SME managers. These e-business competencies were subsequently operationalized into a survey instrument. We then surveyed 339 SME managers from three European countries. Finally, we performed a statistical analysis of the data to identify important areas of e-business competency significantly related to e-business success

We examined the competencies that affect e-business success in European SMEs. We used a research model that was developed from prior literature on IT competency, interview data, and survey data from 339 SMEs in Europe. In order to integrate the large number of formative indicators from previous studies, data analyses were conducted with PLS-graph 3.0. 7.1. E-business competencies in SMEs The empirical analysis identified three competencies, e-business strategy, IT-business process integration, and systems- and infrastructure-associated with e-business success. Building an IS capability depends on various types of competency. The empirical analysis showed that these three competencies are important for e-business capability and success in SMEs. Competencies in strategic planning and IT-management, however, were not found to be significant predictors. Organizations must understand how they can derive and leverage value through developing their IT capability. Our study has moved forward by empirically identifying types of competency that result in e-business capabilities that increase the likelihood of e-business success for SMEs. Our results show that a set of general IS competencies can predict the success of e-business, made possible by a variety of technologies. These findings have practical implications for SME managers and policy makers in programs directed at the SME segment. SME managers face resource constraints and need to know which types of competency have the greatest potential for increasing the IS capability. Highly relevant actions should be to initiate and/or participate in competency networks and to mobilize industry associations to run programs to increase e-business competency in member organizations. Public policy makers are important for stimulating programs for SMEs. 7.2. E-business success E-business success in terms of efficiency, complementarities, lock-in and novelty were significantly and substantially explained by competencies in e-business strategy, IT and business process integration, and systems and infrastructure. On average these competencies explained a substantial portion of the variance in success factors (36%). The results showed that the type and extent of competency in SMEs were important determinants for success. A possible weakness in this study relates to the measurement of e-business success, which was measured at the individual SME level. It is likely that success in e-business networks is heterogeneously distributed between partners, and that success for the e-business relationship as a whole is different from success for each participant. As a result, related competencies could also differ. Conclusions regarding competency that increases alliance success should therefore be based on analyses of more than one business partner. 7.3. Relationship competency Interestingly, competencies in sourcing and alignment were not found to have a positive influence on e-business success. The data indicate that a possible negative relationship existed between competency in alignment and e-business success in terms of lock-in effects. No negative relationships were found for other dimensions of e-business success. E-business represents new ways of conducting business, where electronic networks of companies to a large extent make e-business an inter-organizational activity. The performance of the inter-organizational alliance and ability of the partners to create value in such networks would therefore depend on their relationship competency. With better knowledge of how to influence their business networks, SMEs could increase their influence and their outcome of such relationships.