Title: The influence of B2B e-commerce on SMEs' performance and efficiency: a review of the literature

Authors: Anas A. Al-Bakri, Aileen Cater-Steel, Jeffery Soar

Addresses: School of Information Systems, Faculty of Business, University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia. ' School of Information Systems, Faculty of Business, University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia. ' School of Information Systems, Faculty of Business, University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia

Abstract: The adoption of Business-to-Business (B2B) systems by enterprises can be expected to improve the efficiency of processes, reduce costs, improve the quality and availability of information, reduce inappropriate behaviour, streamline the supply chain and improve service (Devaraj and Kohli, 2003; Gulati, 2000). B2B systems can provide managers with better control over their enterprise|s functions and activities and their relationship with local and global trading partners and suppliers (Akoh, 2001). Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the internal and external organisational factors that influence adoption of B2B systems in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through a review of related literature. It also aims to explore the influence of B2B adoption on performance and efficiency in SMEs.

Keywords: business-to-business; B2B; e-commerce; electronic commerce; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; information systems; business performance; efficiency; cost reduction; quality improvement; inappropriate behaviour; SCM; supply chain management; control; globalisation; trading partners; suppliers; organisations; internal factors; external factors; managers; literature review.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSE.2010.033356

International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry, 2010 Vol.3 No.3, pp.213 - 224

Published online: 01 Jun 2010 *

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