S/EI/18. Dissertation. Analysing the Bridle behind SMEs using E-commerce and New Creative Explications

Since the introduction of the World Wide Web, there has been, for the first time the ability for small business to compete on an equal footing as large international companies. But before this opportunity can be realised SMEs must understand and address the issues surrounding e-commerce. This project examines the realities of e-commerce barriers and the effect they have on SMEs. To achieve a project that appropriately tackles the problems of e-commerce entry, a joint venture with a company that provides private health care through Belgium hospitals was setup. Its purpose was to investigate the obstacles the company might expect if it joined the e-commerce market and what the targeted senior Internet user sector of this market would want and expect from a website. Market research was employed to establish the senior Internet user sectors usability requirements. From this data, a website was created to provide the company with web presence and online web forms for enabling the exchange of information online. Through this project it is revealed that the barriers faced by small businesses in adopting e-commerce can be defeated one by one if it can take the first step and trust that the benefits of e-commerce outweigh the costs.