SME EIS adoption: Towards development of EIS for SMEs in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) compose a large portion of Sri Lankan economy due to their significant contribution in terms of employment, domestic resource usage, innovation, exports, regional development, and stimulating other economic activities. This sector is believed to be the ‘backbone’ of both developed and developing economies. Therefore healthy performance of SME sector is paramount important in economy of any country. The businesses, irrespective of their scale of operation, are digitizing rapidly, to enhance their presence and delivery. The information systems have become a smart approach of exploiting in this digitization. However, necessitate of these ‘chief players’ in the economy have been ignored by majority of Enterprise Information System (EIS) applications. The paper first identifies and prioritises factors that determine SMEs willingness and attractiveness towards EISs, using TOE (Technology-Organisation-Environment) Framework following recommendations EIS vendors, SME and IT policy makers can adapt to address the gap in current level and the potential for SME EIS adoption in Sri Lanka. The research findings will assist SMEs to create business opportunities with information management and reconcile pressures from competition. Further specific SME ICT needs to be addressed strategically, in order to ensure their competitive position in the economy, will be discussed.