Abstract
During the recent period, the scientific literature has highlighted the role of E-commerce in business development and growth. In this article we revisit the specifics of E-commerce adoption, focusing on the case of Romanian SMEs. Using the online questionnaire survey method and the principal component analysis, we draw a comprehensive picture of Romanian SMEs with E-commerce activities, with reference to the determinants and barriers of E-commerce adoption, benefits emerged with the use of E-commerce and main problems in the E-commerce development. We find that the main factor determining E-commerce adoption is the perceived relative advantage brought by E-commerce activities pointing to higher productivity and efficiency inside the company, while the major barrier is the lack of compatibility between E-commerce activities and the SME’s way of doing business, and not the costs, as initially expected. The low competitiveness of the business environment has an important role in deterring E-commerce activity. We conclude that the launch of information campaigns for enhancing familiarity with E-commerce practices for increasing confidence in E-commerce activities for both SMEs managers and their clients is among the most effective measures for intensifying E-commerce activity in Romania.
Highlights
Electronic commerce (EC) was a major innovation that modified in a significant amount the traditional approach to doing business (Lefrebvre, et al, 2005)
The merit of the present study is that of gathering all these issues of interest for drawing a complete framework of Romanian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with EC activities, related to the determinants and barriers of EC adoption, benefits emerged with the use of EC and main problems in the EC development in Romania
Given the distribution of the companies according to the sector of activity, we divided the sample into two larger groups, the first one containing SMEs with activities in the field of Commerce and a second group, formed by SMEs in Other fields of activity (Manufacture, Transport and communication, Finance and related services, IT and others)
Summary
Electronic commerce (EC) was a major innovation that modified in a significant amount the traditional approach to doing business (Lefrebvre, et al, 2005). Though generally country-specific, these benefits range from access to an enhanced pool of customers and markets, towards cost reduction and positive results in terms of productivity and brand image. Despite this general agreement, the dedicated literature points out to the fact that, as the case of any innovation, the benefits of EC have been successfully harvested by companies in developed economies or big companies. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a prominent role in mature economies (Eikebrokk and Olsen, 2007) and in frontier developing economies Despite this fundamental relevance, SMEs have traditionally experienced a series of deficiencies in the adoption of EC. These problems are, as Rahayu and Day (2015) note, more visible for the case of developing countries
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