Title: Websites and SMEs: do they have productivity impact?

Authors: Enno Masurel

Addresses: Economic and Social Institute, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Free University, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract: As the Internet emerged only recently, hardly any data are available to measure whether early adopters of websites perform better than more conservative companies. This empirical study examines whether small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with websites perform better than their counterparts who have no websites. Our findings revealed that companies with websites are more than twice as large as those without websites, although company size does not seem to matter for the first year of having a website. Companies with websites grow at more or less the same pace as those without, which indicates comparable performance. However, the year of introduction of the website does have an impact on performance: early adopters perform better than late adopters. Apparently, the early adopters left their infant diseases behind them.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; innovation; internet; websites; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2004.004498

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2004 Vol.4 No.1, pp.20 - 27

Published online: 10 May 2004 *

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