Abstract
Since the turn of the century, there has been a growth in the use of e-business by both large and small companies worldwide, a trend that has been given further impetus by the move to online trading in the COVID-19 pandemic era. For small companies, there are the potential benefits of increased efficiencies and market share gain, associated with the re-engineering of selling and marketing processes; but in developing countries, such as Nigeria, research into how small businesses are using e-business systems and technologies is limited. This article builds upon earlier case study research in the Nigerian small business sector to develop a framework for e-business strategy development, implementation and review. Using an inductive approach, data was collected from six small businesses, using interviews and questionnaires, to profile the e-business operations of these companies. This study found that e-business strategy was generally lacking in these companies, but interview material was used to support the development and validation of the strategy framework, which provides a process and a checklist for small businesses pursuing e-business initiatives in developing world environments.
Highlights
The need for a properly documented plan and strategy to aid the successful deployment of e-business technologies is generally recognised
This article presented an overview of the SAPP-STEER-SCOR framework for ebusiness strategy development, implementation and review in Nigerian small business enterprises (SBEs)
The majority of the existing frameworks are not geared to assisting small business owners to pursue e-business initiatives because they are either largely theoretical or developed for implementation by practitioners
Summary
The need for a properly documented plan and strategy to aid the successful deployment of e-business technologies is generally recognised. The research objectives (ROs) for this study were two-fold: first (RO1), to combine an analysis of existing literature and the six case study profiles to build a framework to guide SBEs in e-business strategy initiatives; second (RO2), to validate the framework through semi-structured interviews and provide operational guidance as to how the framework can be deployed. Following this introduction, the relevant literature, definitions and models are reviewed, and an outline of the conceptual framework and research questions are set out.
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