Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The proposed objectives for the study were to explore the use and barriers to use of electronic commerce by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Great Britain. By means of a postal questionnaire, the study sought to understand: which SMEs are using electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications and for what business activities? What benefits they are reaping - are these consistent with those forecast for larger corporations or can SMEs gain unique advantages from adopting e-commerce? What are the challenges faced in developing and adopting such services - what are the key success factors for SMEs achieving business benefits from e-commerce? In particular, it was intended that the research would demonstrate the following: the characteristics and incidence of SMEs adopting e-commerce; the business applications it is being used for in those companies; the benefits and challenges of e-commerce adoption; best practice for deployment of e-commerce.
Main Topics:
The dataset contains responses to the postal questionnaire, and is available from the UKDA in either Excel or SPSS format. Each case is identified by a unique respondent number. Variables are numbered according to the question order on the questionnaire, e.g. Q1P2P1 contains the responses to Question 1, Part 2, item 1. Topics covered include use of e-commerce, factors driving consideration/use of e-commerce, exactly which activities it is used for, company information systems, benefits and challenges of e-commerce, and background information.
The database contains two separate samples: 1. A database of SMEs held internally at Cranfield School of Management (variable Database = 1.00) was used. This contains companies that have attended, or made enquiries about, an executive education programme aimed at SMEs. 2. Names and company addresses were bought from a commercial database company (Database = 2.00). Companies were chosen from their records on the basis that they had 250 employees or less. All data have been anonymised to protect respondent confidentiality.
Postal survey
