Obstacles to SMEs for E-Adoption in the Asia Pacific Region

Abstract

As electronic commerce (e-commerce) is becoming the way to trade, it is the large corporations that are exploiting their finances and technical expertise to jump into this abyss. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are finding too many obstacles to participate in e-commerce. SMEs in Asia Pacific in particular, face many obstacles and thus are still not comfortable with the concept of putting their business online, conducting transactions online or revamping entire business processes. This chapter describes the key factors that are hindering SMEs’ participation in e-commerce and the obstacles to SMEs for e-adoption in Asia Pacific. Although this study is limited to the Asia Pacific region many of the findings do contribute significantly to the factors hindering all SMEs’ e-adoption efforts.