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Management,22（4）,272-285.

原文

ChallengesfacingSMEsintheadoptionofICTinB2BandB2CE-commerce

Asare,SampsonD;

BontleGopolang;

Mogotlhwane,Opelo

Abstract

Purpose-Companiesandgovernmentdepartments,aswellasnon-governmentalorganizations（NGOs）indevelopingcountries,aretryingtoadoptinformationandcommunicationtechnology（ICT）intheirdailyactivities.Amongthesecompaniesaresmalltomedium-sizedenterprises（SMEs）whicharealsotryingtogetonboard.However,theseSMEsarefacedwithmyriadchallengesintheadoptionofICT.ThepurposeofthispaperistocomparethechallengesfacedbySMEsinbothGhanaandBotswana.Statisticalinferenceshavebeendrawnthatconcludethattherearesimilaritiesinthechallengesfacedbythesetwocountries,butalsotherearesurprisingdifferencesbetweenthem.

Design/methodology/approach-TargetedSMEsinbothBotswanaandGhanawereapproachedwithacarefullydesignedquestionnaire.Toprankingstaff,suchasDirectors/Managers/CEOs,wereaskedtofillthequestionnaires.DatacollectedwerecapturedandanalyzedusingSPSSANOVAand2-tPearsoncorrelations.Findings-TheresultsindicatethatbothBotswanaandGhanashareanumberofchallenges,butalsosurprisinglythereareanumberofdifferencesinthewaySMEsperceivetheirproblemsinthesetwodevelopingcountries.Forinstance,bothagreethatfrequentpowerdisruptionisahindrancetoSMEsintheiradoptionofICT,butthatSMEsdonotconsiderlackoftechnicalknow-howtobeahindrance.

Originality/value-ThepaperseekstobringtolightthecomparativechallengesfacingtwodevelopingcountriesinAfrica.Mostpapersareonindividualcountries,butthisoneseekstocompareGhanaandBotswana.

Keywords:

Ghana,Botswana,Developingcountries,Informationtechnology,Communicationtechnologies,Informationcommunicationtechnology,Smalltomedium-sizedenterprises,E-commerce,B2C,B2B

1Introductionandbackgroundstudy

ThemotivationtoconductthisstudywasborneoutofthefactthatGhanaandBotswanahavebeenhailedbytheWestasbeaconsofdemocracy.Theresearcherswantedtofindoutwhetherthereisacorrelationbetweenthetwocountriesintermsofthewayinformationandcommunicationtechnology（ICT）isusedbysmalltomedium-sizedenterprises（SMEs）.SMEsinSouthernAfrica,includingBotswanaarereferredtoasSMMEs（[13]OECDReport,2002;

[15]Garcia-Murillo,2004）.SMEshavedifferentdefinitionsdependingonthepersonorpeopledefiningthemandthegeographicalregiontheyapplytoOR"

underinvestigation."

Forthepurposeofthisresearch,anSMEhasbeendefinedas"

anorganizationthatemploysupto99peopleinclusive."

Someauthorsusedefinitionsthatincludetheturnoverofthecompany,etc.WeareoftheopinionthattheuseofICTinbothgovernmentandthepublicsectorhasenhancedthegrowthoftheeconomiesinthesecountries.Thisisevidentbythefactthatmoreandmoregovernmentdepartmentsandtheprivatesectoraredoingbusinessovertheinternet,whichispartofE-commerce（[7]KauffmanandWalden,2001;

GhanaandICTdevelopment,availableat:

Turban（2002）definesE-commerceastheprocessofbuying,selling,ortransactingbusinessproducts,servicesandinformationusingcomputernetworksincludingtheinternet.

BotswanaandGhanahavebeendescribedasbeaconsofdemocracyandgoodgovernancebytheWestandmostofthefinancialinstitutionsintheWest.Fromaneconomicpointofview,bothcountriesseemtobedoingwell（[3]WorldEconomicForum,2004）.Thiseffectcouldbeattributedtoseveralfactors.AmongthemistheuseofICTinbothpublicandprivateservices.OfspecialconcernistheuseofICTinSMEs,especiallythoseinB2BandB2Ctransactions.WerealizethatseveralchallengesfacetheseSMEsastheyadoptICTintheirdailybusinesstransactions.Someofthesechallengesaresecurityissues,infrastructure,technicalknow-how,frequentpoweroutages,lackofaproperforumtoeducateSMEsonhowtouseICTfacilities,etc.（[13]OECDReport,2002;

[14]Moodley,2002;

[15]Garcia-Murillo,2004）.ThispaperattemptstocomparesomeoftheB2BandB2CconcernsaffectingSMEsinGhanaandBotswana.Therestofthepaperisarrangedasfollows:

Section2discussesthemethodologythathasbeenused,followedbySection3whichsharessomeoftheexperiencesandchallengesfacedbyanumberoftheSMEs.ResearchfindingsarepresentedinSection4,whileSection5enumeratesprofferedsolutionstosomeofthechallenges.Section6mentionsanacknowledgementtooursponsorsandconcludesthepaper.

2Methodology

Themethodologythathasbeenusedinthisresearchpaperhasbeenthatofmainlycollectingdatathroughtheuseofquestionnaires.Targetgroupswereidentified,whoweremainlySMEsorSMMEs（asusedmainlyinBotswana）.Upontheidentificationofthetargetgroups,researchassistants（RAs）weredispatchedwithsamplesofthequestionnaireforpilottestingthedatacollectioninstrument.Afterthepilotstudy,theresearchersmetwiththeRAstodiscusstheproblemsandchallengestheyfacedduringtheexercise.Somechangeswereincorporatedintothequestionnaireforthemaindistribution.Someofthechallengeswerethatthequestionnairewastoolong,tootextual,somequestionswererepeated,andtherewerejumpsfromsomequestionstoothers.

InMay2010,theRAsweredispatchedwiththemainquestionnairestoselectedtowns/villagesinthetwocountries.Upontheirreturn,theRAskeyedinthedataintoanSPSStoolspecificallydevelopedforthisresearch.Uponcompletion,theresearcherscarriedoutaverificationoftheinputdata.Thiswasdoneinarandomizedway;

becausethetotalnumberofcasesofthequestionnaireswasover300,wecouldnotlookateachsinglecase.Wethereforehadtouserandomizationorsamplingapproachtocrosscheck.ItappearedthattheRAsdidaverywonderfuljob,asveryfewomissionswereidentified.Afterthedataentry,theanalysiswascarriedoutbyoneoftheresearcherswhoalsodoubledasacomputerscientist/statistician.Therespondentscamefromvariedareas.Directors/CEOs/MDsconstituted57（19.1percent）,supervisorsconstituted48（16.1percent）,generalmanagerstook37（12.4percent）andmarketingmanagerstook15（5percent）,withtherestgoingtoothers.Theresultswerecollatedandtabulated,andtheyareasshowninSection4.1.

3ExperiencesandchallengesfacedbytheSMEs

Thesurveysampledatotalof380SMEsinbothGhanaandBotswana.Fromtheanalysisofthissurvey,wegatheredthatthefollowingposedachallengetomostoftheSMEsjustasisreportedintheliterature（[7]KauffmanandWalden,2001;

[8]RigginsandRhee,1998;

[9]Seigel,1999;

highelectricitychargesfordoingbusiness,hightariffsforconnectingtoandstayingonline,lackoftechnicalpersonneltosupportICTwhenthingsgowrong,tolackofsupportfromthegovernment.

InourinteractionwiththeSMEsandalsoasreportedfromthesurvey,respondentswereasked,"

whatdoyouthinkthegovernmentcandotoenableSMEstodoB2Band（/or）B2CE-commerceeffectively?

"

inotherwords,howcanthegovernmentaddresssomeoftheidentifiedconcernsandchallenges?

Theanswerswerevaried,rangingfromgrantingofloanstoSMEsbythegovernment,provisionofmanpowerwiththerequisitetechnicalknow-howtoassistSMEswithICTandE-commercerelatedsolutionstotheirproblems,hostingofmoreworkshopsbytherelevantstakeholderstokeepSMEsinformedaboutICTissues,minimizingpowersupplyoutages,improvingtelecommunicationinfrastructure,loweringthecostofconnectingtotheinternet,loweringthemaintenancecostintermsofpowerandotherutilitiesrequiredbytheSMEstoconductbusinesstransactions.AnumberofquestionsfromthequestionnairedweltontheadoptionanduseofICT.Suchquestionswerecollatedandanalyzed,andtheresultsareasshowninSections4.1and4.2.

4Resultsandfindings

Outof380distributedquestionnaires,302werereturnedfilled.AlltherespondentssaidthattheysomehowuseoneormoreofICTequipmentincarryingoutbusinesstransactions.WedefinedICTequipmentasoneofthefollowing,althoughnotlimitedtoandboundbythislist:

telephone（landline）,mobilephone,fax,internet,electronicpointofsale（e-POS）,PCande-mailamongothers.Intermsoftotals,Botswanarespondentsconstituted52percent（156respondents）ofthosewhomakeuseofICTwhilethatofGhanaformed48percent（144respondents）,withaPearsoncorrelationof0.000indicatingthatitisacceptablewithinthe95percentconfidenceinterval.About45.8percentofrespondents（110cases）fromGhanamakeuseofthetelephoneinconductingbusiness,whilethatofBotswanais54.2percent（130cases）,whichcorrespondto0.940withsignificancefactorof0.112onthePearsoncorrelation（two-tailed）withaconfidenceintervalof95percent.Thismeansthatithastoberejected.Fortheuseoffax,Botswanarepresents71.1percent（108cases）whilethatinGhanais28.9percent（44cases）.ThiscorrespondstoaPearsoncorrelationfactorof0.000,whichishighlysignificant.Similarly,forinternetuse,Botswanarepresents62.8percent（103cases）whilethatofGhanais37.2percent（61cases）.Thisrepresentsacorrelationfactorof0.866,meaningthatitisnothighlysignificantonthePearsoncorrelationco-efficientfactor.

Respondentsstatingthattheymakeuseofe-