Cloud Computing and Mobile Technologies as a Marketing Strategy towards Innovation and Business Growth among Small Tourism Enterprises

Abstract

This study examined the impact of Cloud Computing and Mobile Technologies as marketing strategy towards innovation, business growth among small tourism enterprises (STEs). Mobile commerce is viewed as next generation, e-commerce refers to any transactions, either direct or indirect, via mobile devices, such as phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs). Most significant features of mobile technology are mobility and portability. Ability to access services ubiquitously, on the move, through wireless networks, various devices. The study highlights business risk of being left behind and gives a contemporary research gap, how frequent businesses are engaging with mobile technologies and innovation marketing strategies. Positivist Paradigm- Targeted population were Southern African border countries players in STEs. Data analysis utilised SMARTPLS, Tested CFA, Model Fit, Reliability and Validity, Path Modelling and hypothesis. Raosoft calculator was used to calculate sample size. Calculation considered population of approximately 350 STEs officially registered with Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), a 5% margin of error, 90% confidence interval & recommended 50% distribution, and returned a minimum sample size of 184 respondents. Findings revealed transactions can be business to business applications (targeted to other firms, business to consumer applications (targeted to final customers, e.g. advertisements based on SMS/ MMS) e- catalogues on what the small tourism enterprise offers and networking regionally and at global level. Keywords: cloud computing, innovation, mobile technology, tourism enterprise, marketing strategy, business growth