Abstract
Employing the Internet as a tool can help address some of the critical issues affecting SMEs in Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, such as increased global competition, increased consumer demand for quality, increased partnerships between large/intermediate and small businesses, rapidly changing market environment, growing need for immediate access to current business information from a variety of sources, The purpose of this study was to assess the current level of Internet usage as a business tool by SMEs that formed the basis for an earlier study, The small companies have experienced a variety of difficulties in their adoption of the Internet as a business tool, and there have been a variety of benefits realized by small companies. Lastly, they have experienced problems such as cost increases since their adoption of the Internet as a business tool.
Highlights
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been recognized as important contributors in the economy of many countries and new opportunities are opening for them in domestic and international markets
The mean for phase totals was 5.17 and the median, 5.00 Analysis of the SMEs included in the study revealed that in spite of the fact that all were provided with up front services such as Web site design and training sessions on how to market on the Internet, and 75% of respondents continued to maintain a Web site, none had progressed beyond using their Web sites for limited purposes
This study found statistical significant support for the hypotheses that a majority of SMEs do not use the Internet for business solutions other than establishing Web sites for promotional purposes, nor does the establishment of a Web site lead to further involvement with use of the Internet for business solutions
Summary
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been recognized as important contributors in the economy of many countries and new opportunities are opening for them in domestic and international markets. There is no single theory which can sufficiently explain growth of an SME but the importance and use of the Internet is becoming increasingly visible among small and medium enterprises ( Harindranath, et al, 2008 ). The World Bank’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Department promotes local small business growth in developing nations. ”Out of the four key ways that the World Bank helps SMEs, one of them is through helping smaller enterprises obtain access to the Internet and information technology. The World Bank aims to help SMEs leverage technology and the Internet to discover market information, link up with suppliers and sell to global customers. Are most SMEs in third world countries really ready to do business using the Internet? Or do they have more pressing needs?
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