E-Readiness of SMEs

Increasingly, SMEs are achieving and sustaining competitive advantages using ICT that are propelling and accelerating the globalization of businesses. The growth of the Internet has created a global, cost-effective platform for businesses to communicate and conduct commerce. The Internet is making it possible for SMEs to enjoy the benefits that were once only afforded to larger businesses. A study by Ramayah et al. (2003) in Malaysia revealed that most SMEs in that country are increasingly embracing e-commerce and spending increasing amounts of money on information technology, with subsequent higher revenues. SMEs in the digital economy have significant advantages over larger competitors (Dejonckheere et al., 2003) arising out of: Increased outsourcing of information activities, resulting in • new business opportunities The low degree of capital intensity of many e-businesses, which has resulted in relatively low start-up and exploitation costs; Enhanced speed of decision-making and innovativeness; Electronic networking and clustering, which allow SMEs to combine the advantages of being small-sized with the various benefits of large scaleBenterprises.