An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Business-to-business Electronic Commerce Adoption on the Business Operations of Hong Kong Manufacturers

This paper explores the impact of B2B e-commerce in attaining the far-reaching productivity and operational efficiency in the manufacturing industries and discusses the effect of B2B e-commerce on the management of supply chain. Attempts have been made to examine B2B e-commerce, its benefits and elements for their feasibility in Hong Kong industries. Same attention is placed to monitor the changing nature of the manufacturing industries over the last two decades and this study draws some important conclusions that may have an effect across a large section of Hong Kong business. This paper presents an attempt to empirically validate a relationship between B2B e-commerce adoption and operation performance and/or supply-chain management (SCM). Based on a survey, conducted among a cross-section of manufacturing companies in Hong Kong, this paper establishes the current adoption of B2B e-commerce and tries to project potential use in the manufacturing industries. This paper discovers that the motivating factors for the adoption of B2B e-commerce appear to be rooted in tangible economic gains such as reductions in inventory and operating costs. Intangible benefits in the form of improved supplier-manufacturer-customer relations are also perceived as important elements of B2B e-commerce adoption in the manufacturing industries