The e-business capability of small and medium sized firms in international supply chains

Abstract

The reality of trade is that it takes two or more parties to do business, and therefore the capabilities of both selling and buying firms are important. Where over 60% of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the USA and Canada have adopted some form of business process through a computer mediated network, such as the Internet, other countries have significantly lower adoption rates. In Asia and Latin America, where as many as 99% of all firms are classified as SMEs, low adoption rates may be an impediment to increased international trade. This paper takes a critical look at the existing research on adoption of e-business technology by SMEs internationally. In particular, we identify the gap in our knowledge about what makes SMEs in different countries capable of using the technology in their domestic and international supply chains. We present a typology of the business processes networked over computer-mediated processes from our preliminary empirical field research, interviewing 40 SMEs in Canada, Japan, China and Mexico. This is used to propose a model of international SME capability to guide future empirical research.