E-readiness in developing countries: A conceptual e-readiness framework for small tourism enterprises

E-commerce is said to be growing in developed and developing countries, and has been described as offering significant benefits to small businesses. In developing countries however, the use of ecommerce by small businesses has proven to be the exception rather that the norm. Small businesses in developing countries face a broad range of obstacles, some of which are: access to capital, availability of telecommunications and lack of internal skills. This paper proposes a conceptual e-readiness framework for small tourism enterprises. The framework identifies factors with three contextual areas that collectively contribute to the e-readiness of a business