Pomio District Electronic Tertiary Student Subsidy Funding (TSSF) system

This proposal document provides a discussion of the context of the project including the background, problem statement, purpose and significance of the project. It also discusses the review of literature pertaining to the project such as significant terms and concepts, high-level description of the proposed solution of the ETSSF system. Further, it discusses the methodology that could be used to develop the proposed solution including theories, models, processes and/or technologies. Finally, it discusses the tentative schedule and key deliverables of the project, glossary of key terminologies and references used to develop this proposal. Background†Going to university is big step in your life and career. It's a wonderful opportunity to further your knowledge, discover your passion and equip yourself with the right skills for your dream job. But, like most things in life, it requires a sacrifice of time, energy and financial resources† (Career Wise, 2017, para 1). It comes to the government attention that, they realised the students are the future human resource for the country and they must invest in them while still a student. Thus, the government introduce Tuition Fee Free Education which reduce the parent's burden. Pomio is located in the remote area of East New Britain Province (ENBP), Papua New Guinea (PNG) and it is also one of the District of ENBP known as Pomio District. Pomio District introduced the Tertiary Student Subsidy Funding in 2014, purposely to support the parents paying for their sibling's school fees. It is restricted only to the Pomio citizen who attended and will be attended recognized Tertiary institution. Since Pomio District is in the remote area, there are lack of roads connectivity due to the lack of development. Pomio District decided to allow its Local Level Government (LLG) to implement TSSF because people are scattered apart. Currently, in all the LLGs of Pomio District the student need to show their acceptance letter then will receive a TSSF application form. After filling the form they then attach the form with their acceptance letter and also the transcript except the new intake and submit them to the LLGs staff. The president sign the papers then bring all the application letter to the District Headquarter. Some LLG president will be traveling on the boat, some will be walking for one to two days and some will be traveling on the vehicle to reach the headquarters on a good weather condition. The District Administration then approve the list and travel on a boat to Kokopo bank branch to make the payment and send the list to registrars of Tertiary institution in PNG that the students attended. Problem statement Pomio District geographical is one of the factor that affect the travelling condition during bad weather for the Presidents of five LLG to reach the District Headquarter which caused delay in payment. Some non- Pomio citizens are also benefit from the TSSF through nepotism that is being practiced by the LLG staffs. There are also some student left out because their application form (papers) are being misplaced by either the LLGs staff or the District Headquarter staff. The staff need to thoroughly check through its student application form for necessary information needed and the same thing apply in the District Headquarter which is time consuming. Purpose & significance Electronic Tertiary Student Subsidy Funding (ETSSF) is an online financial scheme system for the Tertiary Student in the District level, in this case is the Pomio District. ETSSF help the LLG's staff to record all the student information through desktop application on time. The web application allow the district Headquarter staff to view the Tertiary student summary and either produce a cheque for school fee payment or make an online payment which make it easier to pay on time before the registration period of all Tertiary Institution. Literature reviewAbstraction ETSSF can also be referred to as the Tertiary Student Financial Scheme (TSFS) that practice in some countries. The developed Countries implementing TSFS in varies context online whereas the developing countries implementing the system manually in different context depending on government Policies. In this review focusing on ETSSF will be more elaborate on the functionality, previous project and benefit of the system. What is Electronic Tertiary Student Subsidy Funding? ETSSF is an online payment made by the LLGs to assist the parents in financial factor for their children who attend high institution. The fund is a public fund from the government allocate for the student.What are the functionalities of the ETSSF?ETSSF is the online system for the LLGs staff and the District Headquarters Staff that will be running on the desktop application and web application. The LLGs staff will use the desktop application to fill up the Student application Form or update the student detail on the Form then submit. The student data will be stored in the student database then the web application will retrieve the information in the database which will be viewed by the hand- user. The SOAP (simple object Protocol) allow the web server running on the hand-user computer using XML (extensible mark-up language). The hand-user can invoke web service and receive response since HTTP is installed and running in all operation system. The hand-users are the District Headquarter staffs that will view the Tertiary Student summary which the system will automatically create the total amount to be paid, list of student per institution then it can make an online payment or produce a cheque. Figure 1: illustrate the how the propose system process information. Previous Project Many countries have the FSFS system in the form of grant financial assistance and loan financial assistance but contradict in some measures applied by their government in Education sector. Apart from all the countries, Hong Kong has the similar project like the ETSSF which is managed by the student finance office abroad the nation (Student Finance office, 2015 & 2018, page 1). Benefits When implementing the system in the District Level, there are some benefits the ETSSF will provide such as; Reduce the transport cost- currently the transportation cost to the District headquarters from the different LLG is too costly because the district is in the remote areas where people a scattered apart from each other. All student will be registered- Everything will be done on time as schedule that will benefit the student especially during the registration week. Reduce Time consuming- application will be used to create application form to record student details, that will be stored in the database, then web application retrieve and manipulate it via network for the District staff to view student record rather than the manual system Conclusion Therefore, ETSSF is the system that will be implemented in the District Level to help the LLGs staffs and District Headquarters deal with subsidy funding for the Tertiary Student on time. The application will create accessibilities between the LLGS and the Headquarters. Proposed solution Description The Electronic Tertiary Student Subsidy Funding will have the desktop application and web application for the Pomio District Staff to access the system. ETSSF is a newly subsystem of TSFS that propose for the District level to access it whereas for the TSFS is a broad system for the whole country. The LLG staffs will use the desktop application to record the student details and update the student information. Regarding the confirmation purposes the system will verify the student to the District Database to prove if he or she is a citizen of Pomio. The hand user are the District staff such as the District Administration, Member of Parliament (MP) and Finance officer will use the web application to view the student detail, total number of student, list of student in each university, total subsidy funding, and provide fees payment option for the finance officer to either make the payment online or cheques payment. The system will provide the online payment accessibility and it also can produce a cheque. The ETSSF will automatically calculate the total fee and produce a list of the student under the university that they will be attended. The system will also keep record of how many student the District has been assisted with Funding scheme. ComponentsThe ETSSF system will include two external users, the LLG staffs and the Headquarter staffs. The desktop application and web application will be used to help the LLGs staff record and update student details. The District Headquarters staff will be able to view all the details which will be automatically generated by the system. The ETSSF will also allow the financial staff to do the payment either online or cheque payment which the cheque will be generated by the system also. 4.2.1 Context Diagram Figure 2: The diagram above show the information from the staff to the propose system and from the propose system to the District Headquarters staff. 5. Methodology 5.1 Project framework Tertiary Student Financial scheme is the large system practice in many developed countries online and also practice in Papua New Guinea manually. ETSSF is a subsystem of the TSFS and is a newly propose system that will be established in the district level. However, the propose system is an online system rather than manual system. The newly propose system will be developed using the iteration system development approach. The basic idea behind this method is to develop a system through repeated cycles (iterative) and in smaller portions at a time (incremental), allowing software developers to take advantage of what was learned during development of earlier parts or versions of the system (Wikipedia, 2018, para 2). After the system being implemented failure may be identify and the system should be updated in the future. The diagram below show the development of the propose system model using iteration system approach over the SDLC. Figure 3: show the iteration system approach which the propose system will be developed upon. Technologies The different technologies the propose system will be using are; Visual Studio.Net (2013/2010) C# or C++ – visual Basic is a technological tool use to create the desktop application for the data recording and updating. Object-oriented programming can be apply to produce the desktop application. Workbench MySQL and XAMPP server- is a server that store all the student record in the student database. It can be run on the web server in the datacentre for the district. ASP.Net – is a technology tool use to support or create web application to make it possible for the district headquarters by creating its website. It will be used to create the website of the system. Tentative schedule The propose system will be done according to the schedule below. Figure 4: show the schedule of the propose project in the iteration life cycle. If the system is test and encounter a problem then analyse the system again and repeat the whole process until the final system is complete. Key deliverables The Propose system key deliverable after completion is to deliver; Accessibility for the student to apply for the Subsidy funding and the Headquarters Staff to access the student application form. Transparency which will avoid wantok system or nepotism meaning no non-Pomio citizen will be subsidize under the District Fund due to their relative working in the LLGs. Time management which all task perform in a given time and finished off on a given time as schedule.  GlossaryETSSF (Electronic Tertiary Student Subsidy Funding) – is a government sponsorship financial scheme online system for the District level to financially assist Tertiary student in the district.Granted financial Assistance- the government assistance of the student that cover tuition fee, academic expense, and compulsory union fee.Incremental development- a development approach that completes parts of a system in several iteration and then puts them into operation for users.Iteration- System development process in which work activities-analysis, design, Implementation are done once, then again and yet again on different system components; they are repeated until the system is closer to what is ultimately neededLoan financial Assistance- is the government assistance of the student but it has a living expenses, meaning student will pay interested –bearing which the government set per annum chargeable from the commencement of the repayment period.TSFS (Tertiary Student Financial Scheme) – Is a public-funded program that provide financial Assistance to the student in the form of loan and granted which is administered by the Government student finance office.ReferencesProvide reference list of sources you have used to develop this document. Use APA referencing style Iterative and incremental development. (2018).Retrieve July 1, 2018, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iterative_and_incremental_developmentStudent Financial Office. (2015 & 2018). Hong Kong: TertiaryStude nt Financial Scheme. Retrieve from https://www.wfsfaa.gov.hk/sfo/en/index.htmCareer wise. (2017).Tertiary funding. Retrieve from https://careerwise.co.za/tertiary-funding/Satzinger, J. W., Jackson, R.B., & Burd, S.D. (2010). Systems analysis and design in a changing world. (5th ed.). Boston: Course Technology

Stefan’s Diaries: Origins Chapter 15

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I paused at the whitewashed door. The curtains on the windowpanes were pulled shut, and I couldn't see any candlelight seeping under the windows. For a second, I feared I had come too late. What if Katherine and Emily had retired to bed? Still, I rapped my knuckles sharply against the wooden door frame. The door creaked open and a hand grabbed my wrist. â€Å"Come in!† I heard a rough whisper as I was swept into the house. Behind me, I heard the click of the lock and realized I was standing face-to- face with Emily. â€Å"Sir,† Emily said, smiling as she curtseyed. She was dressed in a simple navy gown, and her hair fell in dark waves around her shoulders. â€Å"Good evening,† I said, bowing gently. I glanced around the little house, allowing my eyes to adjust to the dim light. A red lantern glowed on the rough-hewn table in the living room, casting shadows against the wooden beams of the ceiling. The carriage house had been in a state of disrepair for years, ever since Mother had died and her relatives had stopped visiting. But now that it was inhabited, there was a warmth to the rooms that was absent in the main house. â€Å"What can I do for you, sir?† Emily asked, her dark eyes unblinking. â€Å"Um †¦ I'm here to see Katherine,† I stammered, suddenly embarrassed. What would Emily think of her mistress? Of course, maids are meant to be discreet, but I knew how servants talked, and I certainly didn't want Katherine's virtue to be compromised if Emily was the type to engage in idle servant gossip. â€Å"Katherine has been expecting you,† Emily said, a glint of mischief in her dark eyes. She took the lantern from the table and led me up the wooden stairs, stopping at the white door at the end of the hallway. I squinted. When Damon and I were little, we'd always been vaguely afraid of the upstairs of the carriage house. Maybe it was because the servants had said it was haunted, maybe because every floorboard had creaked, but something about the space had stopped us from staying very long. Now that Katherine was here, though, there was nowhere else I'd rather be. Emily turned toward me, her knuckles on the door. She rapped three times. Then she swung the door open. I walked cautiously into the room, the floorboards creaking as Emily disappeared down the hallway. The room itself was furnished simply: a cast-iron bed covered by a simple green quilt, an armoire in one corner, a washbasin in another, and a gilt-plated, freestanding mirror in a third corner. Katherine sat on her bed, facing the window, her back to me. Her legs were tucked under her short white nightgown and her long curls were loose over her shoulders. I stood there, watching Katherine, then finally coughed. She turned around, an expression of amusement in her dark, cat-like eyes. â€Å"I'm here,† I said, shifting from one booted foot to the other. â€Å"So I see.† Katherine grinned. â€Å"I watched you walk here. Were you frightened to be out after dark?† â€Å"No!† I said defensively, embarrassed she'd seen me dart from tree to tree like an overcautious squirrel. Katherine arched a dark eyebrow and held her arms out toward me. â€Å"Y need to stop worrying. ou Come here. I'll help you take your mind off things,† she said, raising her eyebrow. I walked toward her as if in a dream, knelt on the bed, and hugged her tightly. As soon as I felt her body in my hands, I relaxed. Just feeling her was a reminder that she was real, that tonight was real, that nothing else mattered–not Father, not Rosalyn, not the spirits the townspeople were convinced roamed outside in the dark. All that mattered was that my arms were around my love. Her hand worked its way down my shoulders, and I imagined us walking into the Founders Ball together. As her hand stopped at my shoulder blade and I felt her fingernails dig through the thin cotton of my shirt, I had a split- second image of us, ten years from now, with plenty of children who'd fill the estate with sounds of laughter. I wanted this life to be mine, now and forever. I moaned with desire and leaned in, allowing my lips to brush hers, first slowly, as we'd do in front of everyone when we announced our love at our wedding, and then harder and more urgently, allowing my lips to travel from her mouth to her neck, inching toward her snow-white bosom. She grabbed my chin and pulled my face to hers and kissed me hard. I reciprocated. It was as if I were a starving man who'd finally found sustenance in her mouth. We kissed, and I closed my eyes and forgot about the future. All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain on my neck, as if I were being stabbed. I called out, but Katherine was still kissing me. But no, not kissing, biting, sucking the blood from beneath my skin. My eyes flew open, and I saw Katherine's eyes, wild and bloodshot, her face ghostly white in the moonlight. I wrenched my head back, but the pain was unrelenting, and I couldn't scream, couldn't fight, could only see the full moon out the window, and could only feel the blood leaving my body, and desire and heat and anger and terror all welling up inside me. If this was what death felt like, then I wanted it. I wanted it, and that was when I flung my arms around Katherine, giving myself to her. Then everything faded to black.

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Critically evaluate the claim that Britain is now a classless society - Essay Example The unique fair answer to claim of Dr. Goebbels that England and remains the country of "two nations", would be a recognition, that in practice there are three of them. But feature of English class distinctions is not in their injustice, but in their anachronism. They do not quite precisely coincide with the borders of economic distinctions. It is accepted to classify a modern society according to three parameters: the upper class that is bourgeoisie, middle class, that is petty bourgeoisie, and working class, that is proletariat (Abercrombie, 2001). England remains the one of last countries clinging external forms of feudalism. New titles are kept and are constantly established; the chamber of lords, basically consisting of hereditary peers, possesses real powers. At the same time in England there is no real aristocracy. Racial distinctions, on which the aristocracy is based, were erased already by the end of the Middle Ages, and the well-known medieval families practically have already disappeared (Abercrombie, 2001). It is interesting to note that the sharp line, not financial, but cultural, runs inside of middle class, separating those who aspires to a secular way of life, from the others. To standard measures everyone among the capitalist and living for the week salary can be in a crowd ranked as petty bourgeoisie. That is the farmer, the responsible official, the lawyer, the priest, the bank-worker, the enterprising contractor and the fisherman are enlisted in the same class. Anybody, who pays even least attention to class distinctions, will place the officer with the revenue in 1 000 pounds above on a public ladder, than shop-assistance with the revenue in 2 000 pounds. The similar distinctions exist even among the upper classes: It appears that more honour is given to the titled person, than to the untitled one, but richer. In practice the people of middle class are

Summaries on Chinese Yuan Currency Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Summaries on Chinese Yuan Currency - Assignment Example There is also a growing middle class in China that also benefits economic indicators. The article ‘White House Reviewing Proposed U.S. Legislation on the Yuan, Carney Says’ investigates potential policy legislation aimed at the Chinese yuan. White House press secretary Jay Carney has indicated that the Obama’s administrations views on the Chinese yuan currency is that the Chinese government has significantly undervalued this currency as a means of establishing Chinese economic gains. Specific measures in this policy would allow United States companies to seek duties on imports from China as a means of compensating for the unfair advantage Chinese businesses receive from the undervalued yuan currency. In terms of current statistical elements, the article indicates that, â€Å"China’s yuan rose after the central bank set a record daily reference rate, fueling speculation policy makers will favor currency gains as a means to tame inflation and support global exports. The currency gained 0.08 percent to 6.3938 per dollar in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.† It’s also indicated that China’s current economic policies have resulted in the United States losing more than 2.8 million jobs since 2001. It remains to be seen if this legislation will have a bipartisan character. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch has not rejected the potential legislation but has indicated that he will need to learn more about its specific elements. The article ‘Yuan Has Monthly Drop as Europe Debt Crisis Spurs Dollar Demand’ examines volatility related to the Chinese yuan. The article indicates that the Chinese yuan has declined for the first time since January. The currency has declined as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis will worsen bolstered demand for dollars. The Yuan trading volume greatly decreased in Shanghai as the Chinese government has set its strongest reference rate on record as a means of preventing further investment slide towards the dollar. The pervading notion in these regards is that investors feel the European sovereign debt crisis will slow Chinese economic growth because of strong investment between the nations; the subsequent expansion failure creates an investment environment where the dollar is a more stable investment option. In terms of global outlook in this context of discussion the article notes that, â€Å"European leaders have struggled to contain the region’s worsening debt crisis amid growing concern Greece will default. The International Monetary Fund cut China’s 2012 growth forecast to 9 percent from 9.5 percent on Sept. 20 on credit tightening and faltering demand for its exports.† Still, the Obama administration continues to note that the Chinese yuan remains substantially undervalued even though the currency appreciated 10 percent adjusted for inflation since June 2010. It’s believed that if more volatility and turmoil continue in relation to the yuan the People’s Republic of China will peg the yuan to the dollar. The article ‘Becoming number one’ considers how China’s economy could potentially overtake America’s within the next decade. Within this context of understanding it’s indicated that in 2010 the Chinese economy overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest economy. Analysts indicate that it

Graffitis impact on society Essay Example for Free

Graffitis impact on society Essay Who is responsible for the pervasion of this so called artcrime in todays society The word graffiti is derived from the Latin term graphium which means to write. Graffiti evolved during ancient times but first impacted on modern society in the late 1960s, when political activists used it as a medium of revolt against governing powers. Thereafter, individual artists began to gain recognition. TAKI 183 was the first known artist to write tags, starting in central New York subways. After seeing the regular appearance of TAKI 183s tags, new artists began to flourish throughout New York City, establishing personal tags visible to almost everyone. The artists goal was to be the most prolific and visible, leaving tags on subways, buses, trains and walls around the city. Graffiti later developed into an art form, where the writer with the most unique style and conspicuous presence was deemed the best. While the competition between artists in New York reached boiling point at this time, the rest of the world began to experience the first of these so called artcrimes. Graffiti is just another form of art, and art is all self expression, legally or illegally Inevitably, laws were introduced aiming to control the outbreak of graffiti artists. This provoked a race amongst artists to paint as many trains and subways as possible, before the law caught them. The recognition of style and technique gained more appreciation by fellow writers as the use of vivid colours and seemingly cryptic language developed. The original style of tagging progressively became an artform. Today there is a definite distinction between tagging to deface and  street art. Graffiti has developed over time to create a complex social framework, involving breakdancing, DJing, MCing and graffiti to form a popular youth culture referred to as The urban Hip-Hop culture. These arts arose from New York, where gangs used these various methods as a way of self expression and often in other ways to settle arguments. Recently, legal street art has been used by local government and youth centres to discourage the tagging and vandalism which regularly occurs in their area, to present to the upcoming youth a form of self expression without involving illegalities. But unfortunately, official attempts are often in vain. The reason these artists enjoy painting walls results from the adrenaline rush involved in expressing yourself illegally, which in our case just happens to be via graffiti. To me graffiti is just another form of art, and art is all self expression, legal or illegal states local Perth artist Dave K. Dave goes on to say, The ultimate rush comes from painting in a more difficult place, especially trains. There are plenty of new kids to the scene who just tag for a kick but dont understand the deeper meaning of graffiti as an artform and its those people who give us a bad name. Yet the continuation of youth projects such as that at the Claremont Showgrounds show a positive effect on the community, lighting up the walls and reducing vandalism in the area. A surfer travels the world for the perfect wave, writers travel the world for the perfect train yard Senior policeman, Constable, Nick Steele, has become a full time youth advisor, and organises legal graffiti for the kids of Perth. He says, We use it as a gateway for the kids, to discourage the unartistic forms of graffiti like tagging and scratching, and encourage youth to get involved in projects such as the Claremont Showgrounds wall. To me these projects have positive effects on the kids and the community. We can expect more legal graffiti to be organised in the near future. The graffiti explosion has touched over 75% of the world, creating a worldwide network where writers from Australia may travel in Europe to paint trains Graffiti is similar to surfing, as a surfer travels the world for the perfect wave, writers travel the world for the perfect train yard, says renowned artist CES of New York. The complexity of todays youth culture continues to grow. Todays graffiti problem is commonly considered a burden on society, as the regular removal of graffiti costs an enormous amount of money. An estimated $15 billion (US) worldwide each year is spent on the consistent removal of sprayed, marked and scratched surfaces. If, as Constable Steele suggests, the artistic form of graffiti as street art can override the more defacing form of tagging scratching, the graffiti culture may yet prove an asset to society by minimising graffiti done as vandalism.

E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Analysis of innovation of e-commerce in small and medium-sized enterprises In the last decade large organisations have realised the increasing impact of new and cutting edge technology. Clark (1989) emphasized on the importance of technology to gain competitive advantage but at the same time he warned that building and maintaining such advantage will always be a challenge. Information technology in the form of internet has allowed organisations and their management to benefit from better quality information and better decision making. White (1997) adds that the internet is extremely effective in attracting computer literate people. Especially Internet has made a prolific influence on the business world. The internet has become an area where consumers are able to find what they need (Amor, 2002). This is clearly evident by the growth of internet in the last few years as shown in figure 1. Being involved with the new technologies brought many opportunities and easiness to reach products to consumers anywhere, anytime in the world (McKenna,2002). The new technological innovations have allowed organisations to conduct business in a completely new way by using online electronic transaction mechanisms and the concept of E-Commerce evolved(Gunasegaram Love, 1999; Westland and Clark, 1999). Today in most of the business and commerce sector IT has taken the form of E-Commerce. Figure 1 Growth of internet E-commerce is a major innovation, which has benefited industries across the globe even the Small and Medium Industries. The SME’s in Itself amount to a large part of the economy, at the moment there are12000 SME’s using EDI, electronic data interchange to further their businesses. Although the SME’s are contributors to the national economy of any country, the whole framework used to build them lacks transparency. There are problems around the financial resources available to keep them going; there is not enough legislative and administrative support from the government. On the business front these enterprises lack the right kind of management vigour, style, knowledge, and experience in handling more developed innovative technologies, which are inundating the markets. This is something they need to be aware of in order to survive the competitive environment. The SME’sdon’t have a single development system, which can safeguard theirinterests. They need an integrated approach, which encompasses threelevels, strategic, institutional, and enterprise. The government andthe public/private sector need to offer support for the fulfilment ofthis long-term strategy, which will make SME’s into profit centres’-commerce brings in a host of advantages as well as disadvantages tome’s and this project is an attempt to learn more and develop deeper understanding into the effect of technical innovations in e-commerce on Small and medium sized enterprises [Kyiv, 1997]. This study attempts to add to the existing literature by looking at hawse’s are approaching to incorporate e-commerce into their business strategy or how they are trying to improve their existing approach. This study will also evaluate consumer experiences of online shopping and how e-commerce has impacted on their expectations and goes on to suggest how online stores may need to improve if they are to meet these new expectations. 2. Aims and Objectives Aims The main aim of this project is to explore how the SME’s are important to the national economies and how the use of e-commerce help them gain a better position in terms of growth and profitability. There search context is based on SME’s in England to get an even background to this research question. As one knows technology and innovation always have repercussions, this project would also explore how theses ME’s deal with the disadvantages and convert them into viable benefits. This project will also find out to what extent do small firms use-commerce in their business processes and what are the barriers to the adoption of e-commerce? Customers as well as organization’s perspective towards e-commerce will be found out. Alongside the study will also try to find out how much electronic transaction have influenced the small-scale industry? Additionally this dissertation will also provide with accurate, up-to-date, research-based information about possible future trends in e-commerce. And lastly, this research will provide some suggestions and recommendations to be considered for the improvement of-commerce for small firms to develop ideas for further research in this context. This study on SME’s under different situations and circumstances would help present an overall portrayal and even help understand the issues under a magnifying glass when faced in certain sectors like manufacturing. To summarize some of the questions that will be addressed through this research are as follows: †¢ What is the status of SME’s in today’s global business environment? †¢ What is the contribution of the SME’s in the national and global economies? †¢ How will innovations like the Internet in e-commerce help the businesses in SME’s grow and become more profitable ventures? †¢ What are the problems/mistakes in the E-business strategy adopted in general by small firms in U.K? †¢ What are the problems faced by customers and organisations while dealing on internet? †¢ What are the factors that influence the development of e-commerce? †¢ Does e-commerce open up new markets for small scale industries in the United Kingdom? Objectives 1. Critically evaluate the relevant literature on small firms and the importance/usage of the internet. 2. Understand small firms’ problems and barriers to the use of e-commerce through articles, newspapers, interviews and surveys. 3. Gain specific knowledge of internet usage for small firms in business through interviews, publications and company information. 4. Provide recommendations to improve the usage of internet as a competitive tool. 5. The advent of the e-commerce, its advantages and disadvantages. 3. Literature Review E-Commerce E-commerce may be defined as â€Å"The sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of Internet-based technology† (Riggins Rhee, 1998, p. 90). Alternately it may also be defined as â€Å"Anything that enhances your relationships with an existing customer and increases the revenue you get from the customer.† (Sullivan, 1998, p.24). The Internet and Electronic Commerce have made the world market smaller place to trade in. The Internet has opened up many possibilities of organising and running an online business. It has created a universal platform for buying and selling of goods which has resulted in faster transaction times and reduced transaction costs. Colin Turner (2000), in his book on the information of e-economy, talks about the e-commerce business accomplishment and strategies. E-commerce has its benefits and shortcomings, along with this belief; the companies are also battling with the pressures of information technology revolution coming to an end. â€Å"Despite all the hype surrounding electronic commerce, and the recent failure of many of that com companies, it does present real opportunities to small entrepreneurs in many countries.† (Fatal and Janet, 2004) Classification of E-commerce According to the applications or the nature of transaction of E-commerce, it can be categorized as follows: Turban et al (2000) divided E-commerce into three categories in terms of its applications: a) Electronic markets: It refers to buying and selling goods and services at an electronic marketplace, where the business centre is not a physical building but rather a network-based location. The market handles all the necessary transaction, including response to information request, purchase acknowledgement, shipping notice, purchase/service delivery, payment acknowledgement, and the transfer of money between banks and so on. In electronic market, the principal participants transaction handlers, buyers, brokers, and sellers, are not only at different locations but seldom even know one another. The means of interconnection varies among parties and can change from event to event, even between the same parties. b) Inter-organisational systems: They are facilitating inter and intra-organization flow of information, communication and collaboration. An IOS (inter-organisational information systems) involves information flow among two or more organisations. Its major objective is efficient information and transaction processing. All relationships are predetermined and there is no negotiation, just execution. A typical IOS includes a company and its suppliers and/or customers. Through it, buyers and sellers arrange routine business transactions and information is exchanged over communications networks using prearranged formats. Its main types aired (Electronic data interchange), extranets, electronic funds transfer, electronic forms, integrated messaging, shared databases and supply chain management. c) Customer service: It is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction, helping customers to resolve problems they encountered in any phase of the purchasing process. E-commerce plays a dual role in customer service. First, it provides customer service to a process that is done completely offline. Second, it provides help to online transactions. Types of customer service include answering customer inquiries, providing search and comparison capabilities, providing technical information to customers, allowing customers to track order status, and allowing customers to place an online order and so on. Kalakos Whinstone (1997) contended that there are three distinct general classes of electronic commerce applications: a) Inter-organizational Electronic Commerce: Like Turban et al above, Kalakos Whinstone consider that-commerce can be applied in following inter-organizational business: Supplier management: Electronic applications help companies reduce the number of suppliers and facilitate business partnerships by reducing purchase order (PO) processing costs and cycle times, and by increasing the number of Pops processed with fewer people. Inventory management: It shortens the order-ship-bill cycle and time of transmitting information. Businesses can also track their documents to ensure that they were received, thereby improving auditing capabilities. This also helps reduce inventory levels, improve inventory turns and eliminate out-of-stock occurrences. Distribution management: Electronic application facilitate the transmission of shipping documents such as bills of lading, pur chase orders, advanced ship notices, and manifest claims, and enable better resource management by ensuring that the documents themselves contain more accurate data. Channel management: Electronic application quickly disseminates information about changing operational conditions to trading partners. By electronically linking production-related information with international distributor and reseller networks, companies can eliminate thousands of labour hours and ensure accurate information sharing. Payment management: Linking companies with suppliers and distributors enables payment to be sent and received electronically. Electronic payment reduces clerical error, increases the speed at which companies compute invoices, and lowers transaction fees and costs. b) Intra-organizational commerce The purpose of intra-organizational applications is to help a company maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value. Its applications are as follows: Workgroup communications: It enables managers to communicate with employees using electronic mail, videoconferencing, and bulletin board, hence increase the dissemination of information, resulting in better-informed employees. Electronic publishing: It enables companies to organize, publish and disseminate human resources manuals, product specifications and meeting minutes using tools such as the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, it reduces costs for printing and distributing documentation, faster delivery of information and reduction of outdate information. Sales force productivity: These applications improve the flow of information between the production and sales forces, and between the firms and customers. The goal is to allow firms to collect market intelligence quickly and to analyse if more thoroughly. c) Consumer-to-Business Electronic Commerce Social interaction: Consumers can communicate with each other through e-mail, videoconferencing, and news group etc. Personal finance management: El ectronic applications enable consumers to manage investments and personal finances using online banking tools. Purchasing products and information: Consumers can find online information about existing and new products/services. Turban et al (2000) further goes on to describe E-Commerce based on the types of transactions and are more popularly known as: B2B (Business-to-Business): Most of E-commerce today is of this type. It includes the IOS transactions and electronic market transactions between organisations. B2C (Business-to-Consumer): These are retailing transactions with individual shoppers. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): In this category, consumers sell directly to consumers. C2B (Consumer-to-Business): In this category, consumers sell directly to organisations. Challenges to E-Commerce Although the Internet offers great deals of advantages to electronic commerce and businesses, it also provides a number of challenges. Some of these challenges as mentioned by Turban et al (2000) are discussed below: 1. Unsuccessful Business Models Not all companies that implement electronic commerce make benefits. Technologies changes so rapidly that keeping pace with change ultimately becomes too expensive or results in a failure. 2. Channel Conflicts Sometimes a company uses more than one distribution channel (Online as well as traditional channels) to sell its products and services. This can cause conflict between the dealers as it becomes important in such case to maintain a balance between the different channels. For e.g.it might be possible that a particular company tries to sell its product online at a lesser cost with some discount and maintains the original cost while selling it offline. This disparity can cause its dealers to create a problem. 3. Legal Issues Internet Law s are confusing and mostly non-existent. Also the Internet’s global and is used by individuals from different countries and thus it becomes difficult to decide which law to apply if a conflict arises. 4. Security Privacy This is the most important issue concerned with online transactions and businesses. Important information and valuable data like credit/debit card details, personal information, business plans and other company data can be easily leaked and tracked by hackers. Security risk in electronic payments has been one of the major reasons in making online businesses not to grow rapidly over the Internet. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Different countries define small medium enterprises in different ways. Teethe and Burn (2001) define small medium enterprises (SME) as â€Å"firms with less than 500 employees. This is further broken down into micro companies, those with less than 5 employees; small companies, those with 5 to 20 employees and medium companies, those with between20 and 500 employees. On the other hand, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, 1999) define SME’s as firms with 250 employees or fewer. The European Commission (2003) defines SME’s as follows: microenterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 10 employees, maximum turnover of 2 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of total of 2 million euros. While small enterprises are enterprises with maximum number of 50 employees, a maximum turnover of 10 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 10 million euros. Finally medium enterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 250employees, a maximum turnover of 50 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 43 million euros. Figure 2 SME Thresholds (European Commission, 2003) Buncombe (1999) points out that a number of studies have attempted to collect information on the make-up of Botswanas SME sector, by gaining access to official statistics and by conducting field surveys in connection with various research projects. According to the report, he defines enterprises according to the number of employees, annual turnover, and level of formality. There is no real universally standard definition for Small firms. In a study carried by the ILO, more than 50definitions were identified in 75 different countries, with considerable ambiguity in the terminology used. For the purpose of this study the author will go with the definition of Small firms which defines Small firms as firms with 49 or fewer employees. From the foregoing definition of small medium enterprises (SME’s) by different researchers, it can be seen that the number of employees and turnover are the determinant factors in the definition of SME, but, the criteria is different from country to country. SME’s and E-Commerce Internet became a main way for effective marketing in business. It is one of the most effective media all over the world and this makes it compulsory channel to use for market entries. Specifically, small firms have major problems with strong companies and existing small firms about market entries in the market. They have to prove their identity in the market as an enterprise despite all these rivalry and difficulties such as web design, domain name, site security responsibilities to customers, etc. They have to let customers know that they are in the market and internet is an efficient way to do so. Furthermore, cost advantages which come with e-commerce are reasonable for market entry. Small firms have a lot of to do as they are new tithe market or they need to grow in the market. They try to cut costs and increase investments in their business. Internet provides great opportunity to small firms for their activities in the market. Even as they serve a local or regional market rather than a national or an international market, it might be difficult to enter market or to reach customers. E-commerce appears as the most efficient way to gain successor small firms in existing fierce rivalry. The small firms generally provide the majority of the jobs and are significant contributor towards the national economy (Baldwin, 2001).Small and medium scale enterprises are considered to be the core out’s economy. According to Smith et al (2000) 99% of UK business firms can be categorized as small businesses and they employ up to 58% out’s total workforce. Hence small firms are extremely important in UK’s economy and the government expends considerable resources to support this sector. The UK government admits that small firms are neglected and left behind while the larger companies getting advantage over small businesses in the e-commerce world (Simpson; Docherty, 2004) Thus it’s very important to study the problems and barriers encountered in adopting a new economy cycle by the sector which represents the majority of the countries businesses. Sadowski et al (2002) notes that even after the widespread use of internet technologies in the corporate world, the amount of Internet use varies to a great extent in the small-scale sector. The adoption of any new technology in this sector is influenced by the several variables as stated by Martens et al (2001). These factors may include the characteristic of the firm, its competitiveness, the influence it has on third parties in the decision process, the management strategy and the characteristic of the new technology itself. All these factors lead company to strategic advantage if they used as they should be. It is important that the company sustains strategic advantage from e-commerce. Competitive business environment makes this matter more important (Hiding, 1999).As long as the company provides well designed web-site that suits with business and its requirements, then strategic advantage can be sustained. Thomas H. Davenport (1993), in his book, ‘Process Innovation –Reengineering work through information technology talks about, how revolutionary approach to information technology and its integration in our business processes can change the scenario. This can dramatically change the way business is conducted in small and medium enterprises also improve the performance keeping in view the competitive environment. New technologies and process innovation brings a new commitment and strategic evolution to these enterprises. Resources like information technology and e-commerce are largely untapped by the SME’s but once that scenario changes, there will be a lot of improvisations and growth avenues. Mandel (2001) says that every technological innovation and discovery finally has it downturn. When these new opportunities like e-commerce come into play, all businesses want ashore of this market. In their rush to get more profits, the investments are so heavy and lacking direction that invariably it leads to a loss since the economy infrastructure cannot support it. This has been proven with the dotcom burst and doom. According to some authors, these SME’s can actually use the innovation of e-commerce to march forward and become integral contributors to the economies. Due to their sizes they lack the initiative and financial power to go all out and compete in different markets, e-commerce could be the solution to some of the marketing gaps, which hold them back from becoming more successful. Importance of SME’s to countries’ economies Baraka (2001) reports that growing evidence indicates that Small Medium Enterprises play an important role in promoting the national economic development of any country. They create a lot of new jobs and produce much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress. Ninety present of the total number of companies in most countries is comprised of small medium enterprises, which provide on average 70% of job opportunities (OECD, 1997). 26% of OECD exports and35% of Asias export are directly produced by small medium firms as suggested by Tendon (2002). The existing literature from research in different studies points out that Small medium enterprises (SME) world-wide have found that Internet use has become a critically important aspect of their business. Porter(2001) supports this view and suggests that companies of all sizes should have a strategy of reacting to competitors and increased adoption of the Internet technology, which will lead to increase in competition within markets. He further points out that e-commerce reduces the difference among competitors offerings and frequently migrate competition to price rather than products features or brand perceptions. He also suggests that smaller businesses could improve their business competitiveness with either other small businesses or larger companies by adopting e-commerce. Porter (2001) is backed up by an earlier study (Jacobs and Rowland 2000). They suggest that smaller businesses have, in particular, been encouraged to adopt e-commerce as a means of improving their competitiveness, either with other small medium enterprises or with larger companies, where they have been promised that e-commerce can level the playing. According to Daniel and Wilson (2002), small and medium-sized enterprises are now increasingly making use of e-commerce. Daniel further suggests that â€Å"responding to competitive pressure was the main reason leading to companies to adopt e-commerce. Information sharing and communication between employees within the firm were found to bethe e-commerce activities where firms are realizing the greatest benefits. Hence, though the future of e-commerce is still unpredictable, it is important that developing countries, their governments and businesses should prepare for these new developments. Benefits of e-commerce to SME’s A growing number of organisations have implemented e-commerce in the hope of improving decision making, lowering costs and improving customer satisfaction levels. A major benefit of e-commerce is cost reduction as Tagliavini et al (2001) pointed out a correct adoption of-commerce could lead to a reduction of transaction costs and coordination costs. Also, Davies and Garcia (1999) argue that benefits for SME’s are faster communication, effective dissemination and collection of information and closer relationships throughout the supply chain. Meanwhile, Liu and Arnett (2000) suggested theatre-commerce can help business organisations cut costs, interact directly with customers, run more smoothly and in a timelier manner, and even better, it can help an organization outperform its competition. Further driving factors of e-commerce for SME’s are also identified by Auger and Gallagher (1997) as follows: access to an Affluent Customer Base, lower Information Dissemination Costs, lower Transaction Costs, broader Market Reach, increased Service, additional Channels for Customer Feedback and Consumer and Market Research. Reducing costs, better communication with customers, access to larger customer base, and extended market are the major benefits of using-commerce agreed by a number of authors. At the same time, the more detailed benefits of e-commerce to SME’s are summarized as follows: †¢ Innovative products, better services and exploring new market opportunities; †¢ Shift in value added and content components of what is made and sold; †¢ Changes to economies of scale and the traditional barriers and advantages of large enterprises; †¢ Untying work functions from specific locations and time constraints; †¢ Flattening and disaggregating of organisational structures; †¢ Scope for customization at low cost; and †¢ Commercialization of in-house content and know-how. However, a study conducted by Poon (1999) found that the benefits of Internet commerce could be classified into long-term and short-term benefits, direct and indirect benefits. He suggested that the short-term benefits should be achieved within a few months, while the long-term benefits may take longer and unable to be predicted. The use of e-commerce can benefit SME’s in terms of reducing costs and access to larger customer base in the short term, and business transformation in the future. The use of e-commerce will also have a great deal of effect on the SME’s business activities as Tagliavini et al. (2001)indicated that E-Commerce has an important influence on SME’s; range of activity, providing increased competition on a global scale and allowing them to access wider markets. From the above literature it could be rightly said that E-Commerce adoption is an essential business strategy for SME’s to obtain competitive advantage. Opportunities and Threats faced by SME’s There are major opportunities for new entrepreneurs and small- to medium-sized businesses to flourish in the maturing of e-commerce(Drew, 2003). The use of e-commerce has provided a variety of benefits for SME’s as well as a number of potential opportunities. â€Å"The Internet’s usually presented as an opportunity for smaller firms because it helps reduce transaction costs and level the playing field (Evans and Wurster, 1997). The opportunities for SME’s include expanding scope of marketing, wider and richer communication, reaching new market and reducing cost of operations and partnering with suppliers (Drew, 2003). According to a report conducted by Prevost (1998), there are variety of opportunities added to SME’s, including efficiency and productivity for business process, the development of new market opportunity (B2C andB2B) as well as access to global market. Also, the e-commerce give SME’s opportunity to exploit competitive and know how benefits as suggested by Tagliavini et al. (2001). Nevertheless, how to use e-commerce as an opportunity to SME’s will depend on the industry and firm factor implied by Drew (2003). These influenced factors include: The smaller firm’s technical and Internet knowledge; The rate at which the market is growing; The pace of innovation and change in the industry; The technical and Internet strengths of the larger competitors; The sources of competitive advantage for the smaller business; The strategic intent of the larger competitors; and The structure of the industry in which the firm competes. Generally, the market, industry structure, and macro-environment will be the major influenced factors that decide e-commerce as an opportunity or threat for SME’s. Therefore, although it is not doubt that e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity for SME’s in the range of business activities, the external and internal factors must be considered strategically while adopting e-commerce. However, Tagliaviniet al (2001) argued, the real opportunity of E-Commerce adoption force’s is still unclear(p.211). Global Trading The significant opportunity for SME’s is to extend existing market to international market addressed by a number of authors (OECD, 1998;Webb and Sawyer, 1998; Walczuch et al., 2000 and Giessen et al., 2001).Giessen (2001) remarks â€Å"the twin phenomena of globalization and-commerce pose new challenges and provide competitive opportunities for large and small firms alike†. It is an imperative opportunity force’s to access the global market, as the one of the important feature of e-commerce is global reach as stated by Loudon (2001). Therefore, ME’s are expecting the opportunity to extend existing market into globalization by using e-commerce. Undoubtedly, Internet has provided chance for SME’s to diminish the entry barrier and costs into global trading market as electronic commerce offers companies the possibility to sell internationally, effectively removing constraints of time and location and substantially enhancing their competitiveness, and it is the most imperative opportunity for SME’s to increase productivity andthe capability to entry markets and discover business partners globally(OECD, 1998). Indeed, the reach of global market is an exciting opportunity for SME’s to grow in terms of the size of company and competitive advantage. However, Jutland et al. (2002) proclaims that â€Å"globalization pressures arising from e-commerce operations often mean that SME’s have to acquire international trade knowledge. Publishing company’s website in the Internet is simple but trading in the global market is not so simple task for any of the SME’s. As Teethe and Burn (2001) points out that the challenge for SME’s are complicated byte general lack of clearly defined frameworks for analysis of the entire processes of strategy building, implementation and management with aspect to the emergent global information economy. However-commerce truly provides the great opportunity for SME’s to increase competence with lager firms in variety of business opportunities as well as an opportunity to extend trading geography. The various opportunities offered by e-commerce are the significant riving factors that encourage a firm to adopt e-commerce as its business operation. Threats Although the use of e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity force’s in range of business activities, e-commerce might become a threat for SME’s while trying to explore a variety of opportunity by using-commerce. As Drew (2003) indicates there are a number of threats of-commerce for SME’s. These threats include increasing competition from larger firms as the new medium allows larger firms to mimic the traditional strengths of SME’s in serving niche markets, developing customer intimacy E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) E-commerce in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Analysis of innovation of e-commerce in small and medium-sized enterprises In the last decade large organisations have realised the increasing impact of new and cutting edge technology. Clark (1989) emphasized on the importance of technology to gain competitive advantage but at the same time he warned that building and maintaining such advantage will always be a challenge. Information technology in the form of internet has allowed organisations and their management to benefit from better quality information and better decision making. White (1997) adds that the internet is extremely effective in attracting computer literate people. Especially Internet has made a prolific influence on the business world. The internet has become an area where consumers are able to find what they need (Amor, 2002). This is clearly evident by the growth of internet in the last few years as shown in figure 1. Being involved with the new technologies brought many opportunities and easiness to reach products to consumers anywhere, anytime in the world (McKenna,2002). The new technological innovations have allowed organisations to conduct business in a completely new way by using online electronic transaction mechanisms and the concept of E-Commerce evolved(Gunasegaram Love, 1999; Westland and Clark, 1999). Today in most of the business and commerce sector IT has taken the form of E-Commerce. Figure 1 Growth of internet E-commerce is a major innovation, which has benefited industries across the globe even the Small and Medium Industries. The SME’s in Itself amount to a large part of the economy, at the moment there are12000 SME’s using EDI, electronic data interchange to further their businesses. Although the SME’s are contributors to the national economy of any country, the whole framework used to build them lacks transparency. There are problems around the financial resources available to keep them going; there is not enough legislative and administrative support from the government. On the business front these enterprises lack the right kind of management vigour, style, knowledge, and experience in handling more developed innovative technologies, which are inundating the markets. This is something they need to be aware of in order to survive the competitive environment. The SME’sdon’t have a single development system, which can safeguard theirinterests. They need an integrated approach, which encompasses threelevels, strategic, institutional, and enterprise. The government andthe public/private sector need to offer support for the fulfilment ofthis long-term strategy, which will make SME’s into profit centres’-commerce brings in a host of advantages as well as disadvantages tome’s and this project is an attempt to learn more and develop deeper understanding into the effect of technical innovations in e-commerce on Small and medium sized enterprises [Kyiv, 1997]. This study attempts to add to the existing literature by looking at hawse’s are approaching to incorporate e-commerce into their business strategy or how they are trying to improve their existing approach. This study will also evaluate consumer experiences of online shopping and how e-commerce has impacted on their expectations and goes on to suggest how online stores may need to improve if they are to meet these new expectations. 2. Aims and Objectives Aims The main aim of this project is to explore how the SME’s are important to the national economies and how the use of e-commerce help them gain a better position in terms of growth and profitability. There search context is based on SME’s in England to get an even background to this research question. As one knows technology and innovation always have repercussions, this project would also explore how theses ME’s deal with the disadvantages and convert them into viable benefits. This project will also find out to what extent do small firms use-commerce in their business processes and what are the barriers to the adoption of e-commerce? Customers as well as organization’s perspective towards e-commerce will be found out. Alongside the study will also try to find out how much electronic transaction have influenced the small-scale industry? Additionally this dissertation will also provide with accurate, up-to-date, research-based information about possible future trends in e-commerce. And lastly, this research will provide some suggestions and recommendations to be considered for the improvement of-commerce for small firms to develop ideas for further research in this context. This study on SME’s under different situations and circumstances would help present an overall portrayal and even help understand the issues under a magnifying glass when faced in certain sectors like manufacturing. To summarize some of the questions that will be addressed through this research are as follows: †¢ What is the status of SME’s in today’s global business environment? †¢ What is the contribution of the SME’s in the national and global economies? †¢ How will innovations like the Internet in e-commerce help the businesses in SME’s grow and become more profitable ventures? †¢ What are the problems/mistakes in the E-business strategy adopted in general by small firms in U.K? †¢ What are the problems faced by customers and organisations while dealing on internet? †¢ What are the factors that influence the development of e-commerce? †¢ Does e-commerce open up new markets for small scale industries in the United Kingdom? Objectives 1. Critically evaluate the relevant literature on small firms and the importance/usage of the internet. 2. Understand small firms’ problems and barriers to the use of e-commerce through articles, newspapers, interviews and surveys. 3. Gain specific knowledge of internet usage for small firms in business through interviews, publications and company information. 4. Provide recommendations to improve the usage of internet as a competitive tool. 5. The advent of the e-commerce, its advantages and disadvantages. 3. Literature Review E-Commerce E-commerce may be defined as â€Å"The sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions by means of Internet-based technology† (Riggins Rhee, 1998, p. 90). Alternately it may also be defined as â€Å"Anything that enhances your relationships with an existing customer and increases the revenue you get from the customer.† (Sullivan, 1998, p.24). The Internet and Electronic Commerce have made the world market smaller place to trade in. The Internet has opened up many possibilities of organising and running an online business. It has created a universal platform for buying and selling of goods which has resulted in faster transaction times and reduced transaction costs. Colin Turner (2000), in his book on the information of e-economy, talks about the e-commerce business accomplishment and strategies. E-commerce has its benefits and shortcomings, along with this belief; the companies are also battling with the pressures of information technology revolution coming to an end. â€Å"Despite all the hype surrounding electronic commerce, and the recent failure of many of that com companies, it does present real opportunities to small entrepreneurs in many countries.† (Fatal and Janet, 2004) Classification of E-commerce According to the applications or the nature of transaction of E-commerce, it can be categorized as follows: Turban et al (2000) divided E-commerce into three categories in terms of its applications: a) Electronic markets: It refers to buying and selling goods and services at an electronic marketplace, where the business centre is not a physical building but rather a network-based location. The market handles all the necessary transaction, including response to information request, purchase acknowledgement, shipping notice, purchase/service delivery, payment acknowledgement, and the transfer of money between banks and so on. In electronic market, the principal participants transaction handlers, buyers, brokers, and sellers, are not only at different locations but seldom even know one another. The means of interconnection varies among parties and can change from event to event, even between the same parties. b) Inter-organisational systems: They are facilitating inter and intra-organization flow of information, communication and collaboration. An IOS (inter-organisational information systems) involves information flow among two or more organisations. Its major objective is efficient information and transaction processing. All relationships are predetermined and there is no negotiation, just execution. A typical IOS includes a company and its suppliers and/or customers. Through it, buyers and sellers arrange routine business transactions and information is exchanged over communications networks using prearranged formats. Its main types aired (Electronic data interchange), extranets, electronic funds transfer, electronic forms, integrated messaging, shared databases and supply chain management. c) Customer service: It is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction, helping customers to resolve problems they encountered in any phase of the purchasing process. E-commerce plays a dual role in customer service. First, it provides customer service to a process that is done completely offline. Second, it provides help to online transactions. Types of customer service include answering customer inquiries, providing search and comparison capabilities, providing technical information to customers, allowing customers to track order status, and allowing customers to place an online order and so on. Kalakos Whinstone (1997) contended that there are three distinct general classes of electronic commerce applications: a) Inter-organizational Electronic Commerce: Like Turban et al above, Kalakos Whinstone consider that-commerce can be applied in following inter-organizational business: Supplier management: Electronic applications help companies reduce the number of suppliers and facilitate business partnerships by reducing purchase order (PO) processing costs and cycle times, and by increasing the number of Pops processed with fewer people. Inventory management: It shortens the order-ship-bill cycle and time of transmitting information. Businesses can also track their documents to ensure that they were received, thereby improving auditing capabilities. This also helps reduce inventory levels, improve inventory turns and eliminate out-of-stock occurrences. Distribution management: Electronic application facilitate the transmission of shipping documents such as bills of lading, pur chase orders, advanced ship notices, and manifest claims, and enable better resource management by ensuring that the documents themselves contain more accurate data. Channel management: Electronic application quickly disseminates information about changing operational conditions to trading partners. By electronically linking production-related information with international distributor and reseller networks, companies can eliminate thousands of labour hours and ensure accurate information sharing. Payment management: Linking companies with suppliers and distributors enables payment to be sent and received electronically. Electronic payment reduces clerical error, increases the speed at which companies compute invoices, and lowers transaction fees and costs. b) Intra-organizational commerce The purpose of intra-organizational applications is to help a company maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value. Its applications are as follows: Workgroup communications: It enables managers to communicate with employees using electronic mail, videoconferencing, and bulletin board, hence increase the dissemination of information, resulting in better-informed employees. Electronic publishing: It enables companies to organize, publish and disseminate human resources manuals, product specifications and meeting minutes using tools such as the World Wide Web. Meanwhile, it reduces costs for printing and distributing documentation, faster delivery of information and reduction of outdate information. Sales force productivity: These applications improve the flow of information between the production and sales forces, and between the firms and customers. The goal is to allow firms to collect market intelligence quickly and to analyse if more thoroughly. c) Consumer-to-Business Electronic Commerce Social interaction: Consumers can communicate with each other through e-mail, videoconferencing, and news group etc. Personal finance management: El ectronic applications enable consumers to manage investments and personal finances using online banking tools. Purchasing products and information: Consumers can find online information about existing and new products/services. Turban et al (2000) further goes on to describe E-Commerce based on the types of transactions and are more popularly known as: B2B (Business-to-Business): Most of E-commerce today is of this type. It includes the IOS transactions and electronic market transactions between organisations. B2C (Business-to-Consumer): These are retailing transactions with individual shoppers. C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): In this category, consumers sell directly to consumers. C2B (Consumer-to-Business): In this category, consumers sell directly to organisations. Challenges to E-Commerce Although the Internet offers great deals of advantages to electronic commerce and businesses, it also provides a number of challenges. Some of these challenges as mentioned by Turban et al (2000) are discussed below: 1. Unsuccessful Business Models Not all companies that implement electronic commerce make benefits. Technologies changes so rapidly that keeping pace with change ultimately becomes too expensive or results in a failure. 2. Channel Conflicts Sometimes a company uses more than one distribution channel (Online as well as traditional channels) to sell its products and services. This can cause conflict between the dealers as it becomes important in such case to maintain a balance between the different channels. For e.g.it might be possible that a particular company tries to sell its product online at a lesser cost with some discount and maintains the original cost while selling it offline. This disparity can cause its dealers to create a problem. 3. Legal Issues Internet Law s are confusing and mostly non-existent. Also the Internet’s global and is used by individuals from different countries and thus it becomes difficult to decide which law to apply if a conflict arises. 4. Security Privacy This is the most important issue concerned with online transactions and businesses. Important information and valuable data like credit/debit card details, personal information, business plans and other company data can be easily leaked and tracked by hackers. Security risk in electronic payments has been one of the major reasons in making online businesses not to grow rapidly over the Internet. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Different countries define small medium enterprises in different ways. Teethe and Burn (2001) define small medium enterprises (SME) as â€Å"firms with less than 500 employees. This is further broken down into micro companies, those with less than 5 employees; small companies, those with 5 to 20 employees and medium companies, those with between20 and 500 employees. On the other hand, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, 1999) define SME’s as firms with 250 employees or fewer. The European Commission (2003) defines SME’s as follows: microenterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 10 employees, maximum turnover of 2 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of total of 2 million euros. While small enterprises are enterprises with maximum number of 50 employees, a maximum turnover of 10 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 10 million euros. Finally medium enterprises are enterprises with a maximum number of 250employees, a maximum turnover of 50 million euros and a maximum balance sheet of a total of 43 million euros. Figure 2 SME Thresholds (European Commission, 2003) Buncombe (1999) points out that a number of studies have attempted to collect information on the make-up of Botswanas SME sector, by gaining access to official statistics and by conducting field surveys in connection with various research projects. According to the report, he defines enterprises according to the number of employees, annual turnover, and level of formality. There is no real universally standard definition for Small firms. In a study carried by the ILO, more than 50definitions were identified in 75 different countries, with considerable ambiguity in the terminology used. For the purpose of this study the author will go with the definition of Small firms which defines Small firms as firms with 49 or fewer employees. From the foregoing definition of small medium enterprises (SME’s) by different researchers, it can be seen that the number of employees and turnover are the determinant factors in the definition of SME, but, the criteria is different from country to country. SME’s and E-Commerce Internet became a main way for effective marketing in business. It is one of the most effective media all over the world and this makes it compulsory channel to use for market entries. Specifically, small firms have major problems with strong companies and existing small firms about market entries in the market. They have to prove their identity in the market as an enterprise despite all these rivalry and difficulties such as web design, domain name, site security responsibilities to customers, etc. They have to let customers know that they are in the market and internet is an efficient way to do so. Furthermore, cost advantages which come with e-commerce are reasonable for market entry. Small firms have a lot of to do as they are new tithe market or they need to grow in the market. They try to cut costs and increase investments in their business. Internet provides great opportunity to small firms for their activities in the market. Even as they serve a local or regional market rather than a national or an international market, it might be difficult to enter market or to reach customers. E-commerce appears as the most efficient way to gain successor small firms in existing fierce rivalry. The small firms generally provide the majority of the jobs and are significant contributor towards the national economy (Baldwin, 2001).Small and medium scale enterprises are considered to be the core out’s economy. According to Smith et al (2000) 99% of UK business firms can be categorized as small businesses and they employ up to 58% out’s total workforce. Hence small firms are extremely important in UK’s economy and the government expends considerable resources to support this sector. The UK government admits that small firms are neglected and left behind while the larger companies getting advantage over small businesses in the e-commerce world (Simpson; Docherty, 2004) Thus it’s very important to study the problems and barriers encountered in adopting a new economy cycle by the sector which represents the majority of the countries businesses. Sadowski et al (2002) notes that even after the widespread use of internet technologies in the corporate world, the amount of Internet use varies to a great extent in the small-scale sector. The adoption of any new technology in this sector is influenced by the several variables as stated by Martens et al (2001). These factors may include the characteristic of the firm, its competitiveness, the influence it has on third parties in the decision process, the management strategy and the characteristic of the new technology itself. All these factors lead company to strategic advantage if they used as they should be. It is important that the company sustains strategic advantage from e-commerce. Competitive business environment makes this matter more important (Hiding, 1999).As long as the company provides well designed web-site that suits with business and its requirements, then strategic advantage can be sustained. Thomas H. Davenport (1993), in his book, ‘Process Innovation –Reengineering work through information technology talks about, how revolutionary approach to information technology and its integration in our business processes can change the scenario. This can dramatically change the way business is conducted in small and medium enterprises also improve the performance keeping in view the competitive environment. New technologies and process innovation brings a new commitment and strategic evolution to these enterprises. Resources like information technology and e-commerce are largely untapped by the SME’s but once that scenario changes, there will be a lot of improvisations and growth avenues. Mandel (2001) says that every technological innovation and discovery finally has it downturn. When these new opportunities like e-commerce come into play, all businesses want ashore of this market. In their rush to get more profits, the investments are so heavy and lacking direction that invariably it leads to a loss since the economy infrastructure cannot support it. This has been proven with the dotcom burst and doom. According to some authors, these SME’s can actually use the innovation of e-commerce to march forward and become integral contributors to the economies. Due to their sizes they lack the initiative and financial power to go all out and compete in different markets, e-commerce could be the solution to some of the marketing gaps, which hold them back from becoming more successful. Importance of SME’s to countries’ economies Baraka (2001) reports that growing evidence indicates that Small Medium Enterprises play an important role in promoting the national economic development of any country. They create a lot of new jobs and produce much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress. Ninety present of the total number of companies in most countries is comprised of small medium enterprises, which provide on average 70% of job opportunities (OECD, 1997). 26% of OECD exports and35% of Asias export are directly produced by small medium firms as suggested by Tendon (2002). The existing literature from research in different studies points out that Small medium enterprises (SME) world-wide have found that Internet use has become a critically important aspect of their business. Porter(2001) supports this view and suggests that companies of all sizes should have a strategy of reacting to competitors and increased adoption of the Internet technology, which will lead to increase in competition within markets. He further points out that e-commerce reduces the difference among competitors offerings and frequently migrate competition to price rather than products features or brand perceptions. He also suggests that smaller businesses could improve their business competitiveness with either other small businesses or larger companies by adopting e-commerce. Porter (2001) is backed up by an earlier study (Jacobs and Rowland 2000). They suggest that smaller businesses have, in particular, been encouraged to adopt e-commerce as a means of improving their competitiveness, either with other small medium enterprises or with larger companies, where they have been promised that e-commerce can level the playing. According to Daniel and Wilson (2002), small and medium-sized enterprises are now increasingly making use of e-commerce. Daniel further suggests that â€Å"responding to competitive pressure was the main reason leading to companies to adopt e-commerce. Information sharing and communication between employees within the firm were found to bethe e-commerce activities where firms are realizing the greatest benefits. Hence, though the future of e-commerce is still unpredictable, it is important that developing countries, their governments and businesses should prepare for these new developments. Benefits of e-commerce to SME’s A growing number of organisations have implemented e-commerce in the hope of improving decision making, lowering costs and improving customer satisfaction levels. A major benefit of e-commerce is cost reduction as Tagliavini et al (2001) pointed out a correct adoption of-commerce could lead to a reduction of transaction costs and coordination costs. Also, Davies and Garcia (1999) argue that benefits for SME’s are faster communication, effective dissemination and collection of information and closer relationships throughout the supply chain. Meanwhile, Liu and Arnett (2000) suggested theatre-commerce can help business organisations cut costs, interact directly with customers, run more smoothly and in a timelier manner, and even better, it can help an organization outperform its competition. Further driving factors of e-commerce for SME’s are also identified by Auger and Gallagher (1997) as follows: access to an Affluent Customer Base, lower Information Dissemination Costs, lower Transaction Costs, broader Market Reach, increased Service, additional Channels for Customer Feedback and Consumer and Market Research. Reducing costs, better communication with customers, access to larger customer base, and extended market are the major benefits of using-commerce agreed by a number of authors. At the same time, the more detailed benefits of e-commerce to SME’s are summarized as follows: †¢ Innovative products, better services and exploring new market opportunities; †¢ Shift in value added and content components of what is made and sold; †¢ Changes to economies of scale and the traditional barriers and advantages of large enterprises; †¢ Untying work functions from specific locations and time constraints; †¢ Flattening and disaggregating of organisational structures; †¢ Scope for customization at low cost; and †¢ Commercialization of in-house content and know-how. However, a study conducted by Poon (1999) found that the benefits of Internet commerce could be classified into long-term and short-term benefits, direct and indirect benefits. He suggested that the short-term benefits should be achieved within a few months, while the long-term benefits may take longer and unable to be predicted. The use of e-commerce can benefit SME’s in terms of reducing costs and access to larger customer base in the short term, and business transformation in the future. The use of e-commerce will also have a great deal of effect on the SME’s business activities as Tagliavini et al. (2001)indicated that E-Commerce has an important influence on SME’s; range of activity, providing increased competition on a global scale and allowing them to access wider markets. From the above literature it could be rightly said that E-Commerce adoption is an essential business strategy for SME’s to obtain competitive advantage. Opportunities and Threats faced by SME’s There are major opportunities for new entrepreneurs and small- to medium-sized businesses to flourish in the maturing of e-commerce(Drew, 2003). The use of e-commerce has provided a variety of benefits for SME’s as well as a number of potential opportunities. â€Å"The Internet’s usually presented as an opportunity for smaller firms because it helps reduce transaction costs and level the playing field (Evans and Wurster, 1997). The opportunities for SME’s include expanding scope of marketing, wider and richer communication, reaching new market and reducing cost of operations and partnering with suppliers (Drew, 2003). According to a report conducted by Prevost (1998), there are variety of opportunities added to SME’s, including efficiency and productivity for business process, the development of new market opportunity (B2C andB2B) as well as access to global market. Also, the e-commerce give SME’s opportunity to exploit competitive and know how benefits as suggested by Tagliavini et al. (2001). Nevertheless, how to use e-commerce as an opportunity to SME’s will depend on the industry and firm factor implied by Drew (2003). These influenced factors include: The smaller firm’s technical and Internet knowledge; The rate at which the market is growing; The pace of innovation and change in the industry; The technical and Internet strengths of the larger competitors; The sources of competitive advantage for the smaller business; The strategic intent of the larger competitors; and The structure of the industry in which the firm competes. Generally, the market, industry structure, and macro-environment will be the major influenced factors that decide e-commerce as an opportunity or threat for SME’s. Therefore, although it is not doubt that e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity for SME’s in the range of business activities, the external and internal factors must be considered strategically while adopting e-commerce. However, Tagliaviniet al (2001) argued, the real opportunity of E-Commerce adoption force’s is still unclear(p.211). Global Trading The significant opportunity for SME’s is to extend existing market to international market addressed by a number of authors (OECD, 1998;Webb and Sawyer, 1998; Walczuch et al., 2000 and Giessen et al., 2001).Giessen (2001) remarks â€Å"the twin phenomena of globalization and-commerce pose new challenges and provide competitive opportunities for large and small firms alike†. It is an imperative opportunity force’s to access the global market, as the one of the important feature of e-commerce is global reach as stated by Loudon (2001). Therefore, ME’s are expecting the opportunity to extend existing market into globalization by using e-commerce. Undoubtedly, Internet has provided chance for SME’s to diminish the entry barrier and costs into global trading market as electronic commerce offers companies the possibility to sell internationally, effectively removing constraints of time and location and substantially enhancing their competitiveness, and it is the most imperative opportunity for SME’s to increase productivity andthe capability to entry markets and discover business partners globally(OECD, 1998). Indeed, the reach of global market is an exciting opportunity for SME’s to grow in terms of the size of company and competitive advantage. However, Jutland et al. (2002) proclaims that â€Å"globalization pressures arising from e-commerce operations often mean that SME’s have to acquire international trade knowledge. Publishing company’s website in the Internet is simple but trading in the global market is not so simple task for any of the SME’s. As Teethe and Burn (2001) points out that the challenge for SME’s are complicated byte general lack of clearly defined frameworks for analysis of the entire processes of strategy building, implementation and management with aspect to the emergent global information economy. However-commerce truly provides the great opportunity for SME’s to increase competence with lager firms in variety of business opportunities as well as an opportunity to extend trading geography. The various opportunities offered by e-commerce are the significant riving factors that encourage a firm to adopt e-commerce as its business operation. Threats Although the use of e-commerce has provided a huge opportunity force’s in range of business activities, e-commerce might become a threat for SME’s while trying to explore a variety of opportunity by using-commerce. As Drew (2003) indicates there are a number of threats of-commerce for SME’s. These threats include increasing competition from larger firms as the new medium allows larger firms to mimic the traditional strengths of SME’s in serving niche markets, developing customer intimacy