ABSTRACT

The Internet has doubled in size every year in recent years and now spans the globe, facilitating the exchange of all matter of digital data. Recent development has been categorized by an explosion in new commercial activity. Despite overwhelming coverage in the popular press, relatively little is understood regarding the impact the Internet is having on firms which use this medium to facilitate commerce. Even less is understood about the impact on small enterprises - the largest segment of US, Japanese, and Western European businesses. This paper reports the results of an exploratory study examining critical issues surrounding the use of the Internet in emerging enterprises. The survey (1) describes how small businesses develop and use their on-line sales presence, (2) explores factors which motivate firms to invest in electronic commerce, (3) assesses the importance of the expected benefits of an on-line sales presence on the decision to go on-line, and (4) examines some of the barriers that prevent small businesses from further developing their on-line presence. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by grants from the Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises Center and the Snyder Innovation Management Center at Syracuse University. The authors thank the directors of the centers: David L. Wilemon and Allan Young for their support and encouragement. The authors contributed equally to the research project. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Paper
• Tables
1. Table 1: The Impact of Firm Size of Site Characterisitics
2. Table 2: Factors for the Importance of Expected Benefits
3. Table 3: Factors for Barriers to Realizing Further Benefits
• References