A Model to eTransform SMEs in Developing Countries

Although research indicates e-commerce offers viable and practical solutions for organizations to meet challenges of a predominantly changing environment, the few available studies related to SMEs in developing countries reveal a delay or failure on the part of SMEs in adopting e-transformation technologies. The various factors identified as causes for the reticence can be broadly classified as Internal Barriers and External Barriers. The SMEs require support to overcome the barriers, some of which may be provided internally and some with the help of external interventions or both. With pilot exploratory interviews and a survey with SME organizations in Sri Lanka it was revealed that SMEs adopt the technologies in small but progressive steps. This created sub stages within the main stages of the roadmap. The sub stages were identified depending on the availability of technology infrastructure and applications, and also the extent of features adopted by SMEs. These findings led to the development of a model "the eSME roadmap" towards et transformation of SMEs in developing countries. This paper highlights efforts towards the eSME roadmap for SMEs in developing countries taking Sri Lanka as the test bed. In addition, barriers to adoption of ICT and e-commerce and the necessary support for SMEs in a developing country context were identified. A practical, yet an efficient framework to identify the SMEs level of ACT sophistication is proposed.