An evaluation model for electronic commerce activities within SMEs

The exponential growth that has recently characterized the diffusion of electronic commerce (EC) applications could lead companies of any size to plan new investments. The first business experiences show that EC should be considered a competitive instrument not simply affecting economic transactions, but significantly influencing the business organizational structure and strategic objectives. Although this issue has recently been object of considerable attention, the research on the evaluation of EC adoption for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is still relatively new. This paper aims at supporting SMEs in choosing the most suitable EC approach according to their peculiarities and strategic goals. This objective has been pursued through the classification of five main EC activities, which are characterized by different requirements and attainable results. The identification of the main business variables involved in an EC project and the resulting classification of SME profiles should help the entrepreneur in becoming aware of his/her organization. Finally, a cross analysis between EC activities and SME profiles allows developing a framework suggesting the most suitable EC approach for each business profile. This framework provides SMEs with a simple and easy to use tool to perform a qualitative evaluation of the EC opportunity