E-business development : an exploratory investigation of the smaller firm/ created by Ian Fillis and Beverly Wagner

Drawing on existing research on e-business and the small firm, this article presents a review of the literature and the formulation of a conceptual framework of e-business development. Macro-level, industry sector, firm and managerial factors are examined, together with attitudes towards e-business and the benefits of and the barriers to its development. The research is positioned within a framework that adopts the Marketing/Entrepreneurship interface paradigm as an aid to understanding how combinations of formal and informal competencies contribute to competitive advantage. A series of in-depth interviews with company managers was carried out in Central Scotland. Results indicate that industry factors, customer influences, the degree of entrepreneurial orientation of the key decision maker and the level of competency development within the organization play important roles in the level of e-business development achieved. Also, some small firms only embrace e-business to a certain level and even revert to more conventional business practices.