Exploring the constraints to the evolution of electronic business: the portuguese reality

It is imperative for an organization to identify potential constraints to e-business in order to minimize the risk derived from its e-business initiative. Hence, in this paper, we have used a maturity stage model (Stages Of Growth Model for e-business – SOGe) to identify the maturity stage of the biggest Portuguese enterprises and to report the findings of a study that sought to explore a range of constraints that the literature suggests influences e-business evolution, so that organizations could be better equipped in anticipating any difficulties while in progress through their e-business initiatives. Questionnaires were applied to investigate the research problem. It was administered to 1000 managing directors of the biggest (according to the amount of business) Portuguese enterprises. Results suggest that Portuguese enterprises had a positive evolution between 2005 and 2007, and that, in lower maturity stages, the constraints are more significant